STATE PAPERS. 



S6S 



peisons have suffered, and what 

 crimes have been planned and 

 perpetrated, or how far the in- 

 crease of offences may be caused 

 by those whose duty it is to lessen 

 their number, by the early appre- 

 hension of offenders, your com- 

 mittee have no means of ascer- 

 taining; but in closing this sub- 

 ject they are decidedly of opinion, 

 that the system, as it is, cannot be 

 too soon abandoned, as furnishing 

 allurements to officers to beti'ay 

 their trust — to witnesses to break 

 their oaths, as bringing punish- 

 ment on the innocent, and aff.iid- 

 ing encouragement to a descrip- 

 tion of persons of all others, the 

 most fatal to the peace and well- 

 being- of society — those who go 

 about to ensnare the guiltless and 

 entrap the unwary, who, whilst 

 they shut their eyes to the com- 

 mission of offences for which no 

 reward can be obtained, jilan the 

 perpetration of crimes, in order to 

 profit by the conviction of the 

 perpetrator. 



The next head of inquiry upon 

 which your committee wish par- 

 ticularly to direct the attention of 

 the house, is that of the propriety 

 of establishing a penitentiary sys- 

 tem for the juvenile offenders in 

 the metropolis. Your committee 

 refer generally to the minutes of 

 evidence that they have taken on 

 this subject, but more particularly 

 to that of Mr. Ciauford, the se- 

 cretary to the society, of which the 

 object is to enquire into the causes 

 of juvenile delinquency. It ap- 

 pears, t!ien, from the evidence of 

 that respectable and intelligent 

 person, that tVom a minute inves- 

 tigation of tlie subject, there are 

 several thousand boyo in the me- 

 tropolis who lire engaged in the 



commission of crime : that the 

 causes of this deplorable evil are 

 to be traced to the improper and 

 criminal conduct of parents, the 

 want of education, the deficiency 

 of eiuployment, the violation of 

 the Sabbath, the prevailing habit 

 of gambling in the public streets, 

 which, to the disgrace of our 

 police, is practised daily with im- 

 punity ; all these may be consi- 

 dered as the principal incitements 

 to crime impelled into extraordi- 

 dary action, during the last few 

 years, by an increased population, 

 and by the distress among the 

 lower orders, arising from the 

 want of employment. 'i"o these 

 causes may be added the existence 

 of flash houses and brothels, al- 

 most exclusively set apart for chil- 

 dren of both sexes ; and, lastly, 

 to the bad management of the 

 prisons, which, instead of correct- 

 ing the criminal delinquent by 

 discipline, are schools and acade- 

 mies of vice, which corru|)t and 

 vitiate their wretched inmates, and 

 throw them back upon society 

 confirmed in every bad habit. 



Your committee refer to the 

 evidence given by jNIr. Bennet (a 

 member) as to the present situa- 

 tion of the different ganls of thi^ 

 metropolis, as to that of Mr. 

 Crauford and Mr. Poynder ; and 

 they feel that they should be want- 

 ing in their duty if they did not 

 protest against the present sys- 

 tem ; and if they failed to state it 

 to be their opinion that the gaols 

 are a discredit to those who have 

 the direction of them, and who 

 are deeply amenable to the public 

 for the evils tliat arise from their 

 mismanagement. ]f these prisons 

 are too small for the number of 

 criminals who are confined therein, 



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