THE TRFAT.MEXT OV JUVEXII.E OFFENDERS. 22g 



anost useful and fascinating-, but in this short paper I am referring- 

 'Only to the juvenile criminal, and I would here state my very great 

 indebtedness to Mr. J. de Villiers Roos, the Secretary for Justice, 

 -tind Mr. Bright, the Acting- Superintendent of Tokai, for informa- 

 .tion willingly and courteously given, and also to a paper delivered 

 some time ago before the Royal Statistical Society by Miss Bar- 

 rett. It took a Charles Reade to get the gaol system put on 

 humane and common-sense lines in England; I don't pre- 

 tend to be a Charles Reade, but I feel very strongly 

 about the waste of our national assets, the children, and 

 only publicity will do any good, and so I venture to try and get a 

 scientific body to take some interest in a question of national 

 importance. 



It has been said that any fool can be a destructive critic, but 



it takes a w-ise man to construct; without wishing to pose as a 



wise man, I feel that having complained of the malady, I should 



try and point out the remedies in which I am much helped by the 



■experience of older countries than ours. 



First, then. From start to finish white and coloured prisoners 

 awaiting trial or sentence should be kept absolutely and entirely 

 separate. 



Secondly, up to at least i8 years of age, boys and girls should 

 Td3 privately tried quite away from Police Court surroundings anl 

 under no circumstances should they ever be associated with or 

 even see convicts. This means, of course, that either the reforma- 

 tory or the convict station at Tokai would have to be moved. 1 

 sincerely hope the convict station will be and the reformatory kept 

 for coloured lads only. For girls, separate industrial schools are 

 wanted under careful and competent women; for this class of work 

 Sisterhoods have proved most satisfactory. 



Thirdly, before sentence, the juvenile should be detained in 

 some suitable and pleasant place pending the most careful investi- 

 gation being made into the circumstances of their homes and the 

 causes of their delinquency. For instance, if a boy has — to revert 

 to my previous illustration — stolen grapes, he should be sentenced 

 according to all the circumstances; if his parents are respectable 

 and it was a boyish freak, he should be returned to them whh a 

 warning ; if his parents are not likely to help him he is probably 

 much better in a reformatory for five years learning a trade, and 

 if his parents are able they should be ordered to contribute to his 

 support, as is done in the Transvaal, though perhaps in this class 

 of case apprenticing to a respectable tradesman is a better method, 

 but then it is very difficult to get just the right class of tradesman. 

 But the magistrates must understand that the main idea is to 

 make that boy an asset and not a burden to the State, and every- 

 thing must be adopted with a view to attaining that desirable end. 



Fourthly : The Transvaal system of Visiting Committees should 

 be adopted throughout ; they have already been referred to. 



Fifthly : I would recommend applying to the Admiralty for a 

 training ship to be moored in Table Bay, and send all the white 

 boys in South Africa whom it is found should be detained for five 



