THE TREATMENT OF JU\'EXILE OFFENDERS. 



By James Mlirhead Potter Mlirhead, F.S.S., F.R.S.E. 



Every child born in a country should be an asset to it ; if for 

 any reason it does not become so, it is the duty of the State to 

 take such steps as will as far as possible make it fulfil this its 

 proper and reasonable function. In this country we have for- 

 tunately not yet any permanent pauper class such as older 

 countries have ; indeed, it is difficult to imagine a time when there 

 will be any excuse for the existence of such a class unless it 

 spring's from crime, that most fruitful mother of pauperism ; but 

 in the past we have been and still are making- criminals by wrong 

 methods of procedure, failing to recognise that prevention is better 

 than cure ; it is quite impossible in a paper of the duration of this 

 one to deal with the whole vast but fascinating subject of crimino- 

 logy ; but I wish to point out how child criminals are treated here 

 and in other countries, the systems adopted for their regeneration 

 and how we can learn to take the necessary steps to make the 

 child an asset and not a liability to the State. In Great Britain, 

 children under 12 may under the Summary Jurisdiction Act by 

 consent of their parents be tried summarily, as may those between 

 12 and 16 for certain offences. Under 7, in Great Britain and 

 South Africa, New York, Russia and Portugal, a child cannot be 

 a criminal ; in France and Belgium 8, Italy and Spain g, Norway,. 

 Greece, Austria, Denmark and Holland 10, Germany 12, Switzer- 

 land 14, Sweden and Finland 16. 



In Great Britain, till 183S, children of 7 years of age and over 

 were regular!}- committed to prison for petty offences, and lads 

 of 10 and over to hulks and convict ships, but in that year the 

 first State attempt was made to differentiate between the treat- 

 ment of adult and juvenile offenders, to-day few children under 

 16 are sent to gaol, as civilisation has altered the national view 

 of dealing with young delinquents, though it is still a national 

 blot that there are no preventive measures for bovs over 16; 

 they must go to gaol if found guilty, and the permanent criminal 

 ranks are enormously increased by this disgraceful condition of 

 affairs. A boy of 15 found guilty of an offence punishable by 

 imprisonment may be sent to a. Reformatory School, till he is ig,, 

 but should he have " turned " 16 to gaol he must go, as the- 

 Reformatory Schools are only for children found guilty between 

 the ages of 12 and 16; if he is o\ er 14 it must be a first offence,. 

 however; Industrial Schools are for children under 14, mostly 

 first offenders, and for those under 12 whose parents cannot con- 

 trol them or who are beggars. This system is a vast improve- 

 ment on the awful days pre\ ious to 1838, and five years after the 

 system was established juvenile prisoners had diminished by 50- 

 per cent., but it still leaves much to be desired. 



In France the excellent and obviously reasonabU' custom pro- 

 vails of separating juvenile from adult prisoners during trial, and' 

 while under arrest, a. feature I will refer to later when dealing 



