The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1854-07-21

no incentive to steal, beyond the evil intent OF
bad heart If such be consigned to prison,
even for short period, how certainly do they
return, when dismissed from confinement, to
their old associates, and how generally do they
repeat the offence
But | would not be understood as intimaing
that offences of any grade or class, however low
or insignificant, should be overlooked or forgiv-
en- without correction. My object is TO indicate
degree TO which reformatory efforts should ex-
tend. There is, on the other hand, class Of
hardened offenders, whose dabolica crimes al
most exclude them entirely from the range of
mercy or hope, and whose deprivation OF the
liberty OF the citizen is demanded by the safety
OF the community. For such there can be but
little sympathy. But for youthful and far less
hardened offenders, retormatory measures are
sanctioned by justice and a wise public policy.
The statistics of crime in England, OF a re-
cent date, contain much evidence OF the truth
OF this position. Mr.. Pearson, in a statement
to committee of the House of Lords, in 1877,
shows that the number OF criminals unGer TWEEN
ty years OF age compilted TO prison in 1885,
was G,S03 and thar in 1914, they amounted
TO II ,34S, about one third of whom, he says.
had been previously committed for like Of
fences.
The Inspector Of the Prison at Liverpool, in
1910, reports that sc per cent. of the male
conyIcts for the year, were youths who had
been previously IN prison and the startling
fact that % out of each sc who had been pre-
viously committed, bad been in jail four times
ln the metropolitan districts, the recommltaS
amounted to 80 per cent. Oh the whole number
OF convictions, and in the other FIVE jals in
England, TO - per cent. The Chaplain OF the
Liverpool Prison, in a report in l847 says
at is pleasing 10 notice that, while the insan-
ces Of relapse of Juveniles into crime, in 1913,
| 1914, and 1S45, have ranged from 49 TO 80
per cent. for the year 1917 the recomnitments
were only Al per cent" A Judge Shaw, at
Dublin, in 1S49, said that ssabout one-ihird Of
those tried before me have been convicted of
former offences" Othes instances could be gi-
ven, but these will suffice to show the correct
ness Of the position assumed.
On this point, it is remarked in the Journal
of Prison Discipline, for the year 1851, in
better terms than can employ: ''No wonder
that offenders against the laws, on liberation
from prison, with none to care for them, asso-
ciae and combine together. Hence the pau
per child, who absconcs from the almshouse,
and is punished by imprisonment, is drawn into
the companionship of thieves; the infant beg
gar, who only obeys the parents orders. aud is
imprisoned, becomes numbered among crimi-
nails the vagtant child, who sleeps in some out
house or archway, when he has no better place
TO rest in, Is taken to Jail, and thus begins his
downward career the incipipnt, untaught, un-
fed, juvenile delinquent, who, without fear or
knowledge of the laws Of God or man. commits
some petty theft, and is whipped, imprisoned,
and discharged, takes bis place among the
mics Of society. Thus, ielons, burglars, and
highwaymen are produced. Our neglect of
common sense, not to say of Christian means of
prevention, is the national mandatory of aban-
doned criminals. When shall we become wise
When sha! the natIon seek TO prevent crime
by instrncting the fallen in the precepts of our
holy religion, and by training TO habits of in
dustry, the destitute and the depraved Should
we even ait for their incarceration in Jail, or
graduation as feionS. ere we attempt their re-
formation! Ought we not TO discontinue to
associate the earliest recolectons of ou: iuve-
nile offenders with prisons, and cease the pur-
suit of system, which, from the data of past
experience, makes daring and skilful marau
derS Ought we not make more use of the
school and the spade, and less of the policemen
and the Prison?"
To illustrate still further the idea that this
class Of criminals should be reformed rather than
punished, let me relate few practical Incl
dents. The schoolmaser in Newgate tells the
story of boy, in 1881, ''who came to his IA
theirs breakfast room, and seeing nothing TO eat,
exclaimed 'What nothing for breakfast 0,
wa-a-bit 80 He then went out, and in
quarter of an hour returned with a rump-steak
and pint of rum. He had gone out and stolen
piece Of linen at Ludgate Hill, and sold ii for
the trophies he brought back. This boy was
transported for theft when he was only fourteen
years of age. How clear it is, in such a case,
that the parent should be punished, and the
child sent to retormatory school The same
author informs US that there are whole families
of boys and girls in London, who, with the con-
sent and under the direction of their parents,
devote themselves to theft. He describes the
lamentations of mother on receiving the news
of the sentence of transportation against the Sc
venth son she had lost in the same way. 'EAh
know not, SAYS she, Swhat | shall do, now
poor Ned is going He was good lad 10 me,
and though say it myself he as good a
hand at this business as any IN London. Now,
there's little Dick, my eldest sons boy, ] think
he Will never make the man his father was.
He is dull besides, he is only elght-he is not
old enough for good cross business" 1t were
sheer barbarity to sentence child reared under
such auspices to a felon's cell. Every moral
sensibility OF the child's nature had been per-
verted by the force OF pernicious parental ed
ucation and example. Ii had been made the
duty, the interest, the pride and pleasure Of the
boy, to steal. He was sensible of no wrong, ex-
cept the disgrace of being caught and of failure
in his profession. Humanity and Justice would
indicate for such offenders a reiofmatorv svs-
tern of punishment