-226 THE TREATMENT OF JU\ ENII.E OFFENDERS. 



'with our own Cape antiquated and utterly wrong system. Yet 

 .the French system otherwise also leaves much to be desired ; 

 ■children under 16 who acted without discernment may be either 

 - acquitted or returned to their parents, but if found guilty of acting 

 "with knowledge," they must go to gaol for one-third to one- 

 half of their sentence before being sent to a penitentiary, and the 

 gaols are rarely cellular, so that the juvenile criminal gets his 

 ■ criminality confirmed by mixing with old offenders. France, how- 

 <ever, started reform work earlier than England, and as far back 

 as 1850 had five agricultural homes for juvenile offenders " with- 



• out discernment"; there are also at present three reformatories 

 for boys under 12 run entirely and successfully by Sisterhoods. 

 There is also one very French penitentiary for girls where the 



' State is making the interesting experiment of compulsory aboli- 

 Ttion of all religious instruction. 



In Germany, children from 12 to 18 found guilty "without 



•discernment," are usually acquitted, though they may be sent to 

 reformatories or boarded out; even if found guilty "with know- 

 ledge," the punishments are usually very light indeed, still there 

 ::re over 400 reformatories in Germany and the juvenile criminal 



" is becoming a growing and increasing danger. 



In Austria, children under 15 found guilty of an offence arc 

 usually sent to reformatories, where they are taught trades and 



^discharged when 20 years of age; it is noticeable that Austria 

 pays particular attention to the moral and religious training of 

 reformatory inmates. In Holland, the system of with or without 

 discernment is acted on and juvenile criminals after sentence arc 

 kept separate from adults, unfortunately those awaiting trial are 

 not, which probably partly accounts for the abnormal growth of 

 juvenile criminals of late years. 



It is impossible to refer to the United States as a whole, for 



^each State has its own laws and it would take up too much space 

 to refer to them all at length, I will therefore deal only with New 

 York as a fair specimen. A child under 14 is deemed incapable 

 -of crime unless the jury find " proof of capacity " where what 

 would be felony in an adult is regarded as a misdemeanour and 

 lie is sent to a reformatory, the utmost care is taken that nowhere 

 and under no circumstances can he mix with adult criminals, cases 



"involving the trial of children are even heard quite apart from 



• other cases and often under different surroundings. Even proved 

 vicious boys of 7 to 16 are sent to a farm run entirely by the 

 Brotherhood of St. Christopher and the results are wonderful, 



' o\er 90 per cent, becoming good citizens ; they are all taught 

 trades after the system of our own Salesian Institute, and get to 

 love their work. There is probably no town in the world where 

 more is done for the prevention of crime on proper lines than in 

 New York, aye and for the prevention of sin among children, and 

 nowhere have the convictions so marvellously decreased, a clear 

 proof, if proof were needed, of the value to the State of humane 



: and sensible treatment. 



Turning to a British country, in Canada all children under 16 

 ..are tried separately atul without publicity, and pre\ious to trial 



