Morning journal and courier., 1883-11-06
CRIME AND ITS REPREss1oN.


 paper on the repression of crime read before the British Social Science Congress recently by MT. Howard Vincent contained much that Is interesting. He gave drink as the cause of two-tenths of the crimes com- noitted, and immortality as the cause of two tenths more. Four-tenths, or one-tenth of each, he attributed to defective training, in- capacity, evil companionship and bad tenn per. Two-tenths remained, assignable to poverty, the difficulty of obtaining employ ment. the difficulty of retrieving lost char. acter, the temptations to dishonesty offered by the carelessness of owners of property, and the facilities for disposing of stolen property.
 In England the proportion of serious crime has much decreased of late years. In 1882, for instance, there were only 101 more convicts than in 1871, though the population had increased by three and half millions The temperance movement home missions, board schools, rsformatories and industrial schools have had very much to do with this improvement. In 1880 and 1881, of the four cities Paris had proportionatsly the most murders and robbsries with violence, Berlin the most forgsries, Vienna the most hurglaries, and London the most larcenies from the person. London, with more than double the population of Paris, and nearly five times that of Berlin and Vienna, has much fewer capital crimes than those cities. The reason for that, according to Mr. Vin- cent, Is that the certainty of capital punish ment is much less in the other cities than in London. In Great Britain the proportion of executions to sentences Is about 50 per cent, in France less than 46 per cent, in Austria 2 per cent, and in Germany one-fifth per cent.
 Mir. Vincent calls attention to the fact that the difficulty of retrieving lost charater is one of the leading causes of crime, and asks, "Would 1t not be far better if, while justice was vindicated, some means could be found of reforming the character without giving the prison taint?" He approves the Massa- ehusetts system of probation for criminals of whom there is hope. It consists in releas- ing persons found guilty upon probation when the circumstances of the case appear to justify such course. Probation is mere ly the suspension of sentence by the court, for the purpose of giving the offenders an opportunity to reform without punishment Their liberty Is conditional on their good con- duct, and If they violate the conditions they can be brought up without formality and sentenced on the previous finding. The Probation officer of Massachusetts, in his report for 1882, says that eighty-fve per cent, or 462 of those put upon prob ation, had go conducted themselves as to merit 3D. probation and had been honorabIy discharR- ed. Fifty-one returned to their vicious ways and were arrested again, 9 ran away Go es- cape arrest and Is, having behaved well and been discharged, were subsequently, In court again for offences against the laws.
 MT. Vincent favors the substitution for capital punishment of peaal service for life, really for life," and he also Havors "the in- terrogation of prisoners by judges and magistrates, not by police or counsel" for Sin many cases few question would frus- trate miscarriage of justice" Those of our readers who have been much in courts will recognize the importance of this.