Evening star., 1928-12-26
DEATH PENALTIES
FOR MINORS Barred
Were Given in Britain 100
Years Ago, Home Office
Report DiSCIoSeS.
BY ROSE PATTERSON,
staff Correspondent of The Star and Nor
American Newspaper Alliance.

LONDON, December 26.-The arnaz-
Ing difference between England's treat
ment of her young offenders a hundred
years ago and today Is shown vividly
In the newly issued report of the home
office on the work of the children's
branch.
The frontispiece is a reproduction Of
an old broadsheet now in the London
Museum headed:
The Dreadful Life and Confess
sion of a Boy. Aged II Years, Who
was Condemned to Die at the Last
Old Bailey Sessions.
Printed by James Catnach, the IA
nous Seven Dials publisher of street
literature, about 1920, this broadsheet
records the career of boy criminal, T.
King.
with horror we attempt to relate
the progress of evil generally prevail
ing among children" the broadsheet
begins, and it goes on to blame the
parents of the unfortunate 1T. King"
THE horrors of guilty conscience
crieth to Heaven for vengeance against
such wretched parents who har-
bored the vilest characters and wicked
ly encouraged the only son in lying,
stealing, etc." it says
Tells of WickedneSS.
Then 1t tells how, at the age OF Z,
the parish bound young King as an
apprentice, and how his wickedneSs
soon caused his master to discharge
him. Later he was bound to chimney
sweep in the borough, in whose Serv-
ice he "plundered every place that he
was sent to work at" and was duly i'm
prisoned.
Eventually his parents bound him to
a gang of thieves, who sent him down
the chimney of a jeweler in Swallow
street, where he unbolted the
shon window and handed con-
siderable quantity of articles to them"
The noise made by the wretched
child alarmed the family and he was
seized, although his grown-up accom-
pliceS escaped. So he was tried and
sentenced to death.
Mothers Warned in Verse.
The old broadsheet is completed by
a picture representation of the boy in
prison, kneeling, with his arms out
stretched in an attitude of desperate
appeal to priest, while his jailers
stand by. There are added some verses
headed "A Copy of Verses" and be-
ginning:
Give ear. We tender mothers dear,
And when this tale you read
OF little boy of IL years old
Twill make your hearts to bleed.
The report says the particular case
of r. King cannot be traced in the Old
Baily Sessions papers, but it is well
known that it was not uncommon in
those days for boys to be sentenced to
death, though the sentence was not
carried out. T. Kings sentence pre-
sumably was commuted to one of trans
lortation, which is terrible enough, con-
sidering the nature of his offenSe and
his age.
The author of "Old Bailey Expert
ences," printed in 1888, says: Nothing
can be more absurd than the passing
of sentence of death on boys under IA
for petty offenses. have known five
in one session in this awful situation;
one for stealing comb almost value
less. two for child's sixpenny story
book, another for mans stock and the
fifth for pawning his mothers shawl
I'm four CT these cases the boys put
their hands through broken pane of
glass in shop window and stole the
articles for which they were sentenced
to death and subsequently transported
for life"
In 1888 the boys prison at Park
hurst YVES established, and boys under
16 sentenced to transportation were
sent to it. Even there they were guard
ed by warders with fixed bayonets. Not
long afterward, under the influence of
Matthew Davenport Hill and Mary
Carpenter, the first of the reformatory
schools was established.
The modern system of treatment for
young delinquentS, of which the Juve-
nile Court of today is the outcome, be-
gan about the middle of the nineteenth
century.
The new report, dealing with the
work Of the Juvenile Courts, the edu-
cation of boys and girls in home Office
schools (reformatory and industrial
work. records that even the period
which has elapsed since 1925 (when
the last report was issuedD has been
marked by a growing interest in the
treatment of the young offender and in
the protection Of neglected young peo-
pie.
Decrease Is Indicated.
The figures indicate a genuine de-
crease in Juvenile deIinuuency. and
this decline, it is pointed out, is par
ticularly satisfactory because it has
taken place during period of unpre-
cedented unemployment.
Among the educational features of
the treatment of young delinquents of
today reference is made to school plays.
There are dramatized history and Eng
lish lessons. as well as set plays.
There are even school magazines. to
which the pupils contribute.
copyright. 1928. by North American News
paper AllianceD