I0 6 THE JUKES. 



convictions, and on the books of the prison is registered " second 

 offense." Another boy, schedule number 25, after he had answered 

 my questions, asked : " Please, sir, may I ask you a question ? ' 

 " Certainly." "Why do they send boys to the house of refuge? " 

 " I suppose it is to teach them to be better boys." " That's a great 

 mistake, for they get worse." " How should that be ? " "I 

 wouldn't be here, only I was sent to the refuge." " What did you 

 learn there that should have caused you to be sent here (Sing 

 Sing) ? " "I didn't know how to pick pockets before I went, and 

 I didn't know no fences ; that's where you sell what you steal, you 

 know." " Yes, I know. How many fences did you learn of ? " 

 "Three." " What else did you learn in the way of thieving? " "I 

 learned how to put up a job in burglary." During the cross- 

 examination, when he was asked if he had learned a trade, he 

 replied : " No, sir, only a branch of a trade." The answer was 

 quite uncommon, so I asked why it happened. " That was in the 

 refuge ; they never learn you a trade ; they learn you a branch of a 

 trade, and keep you at it while you stay there." These statements 

 may be exaggerations, but they certainly have great ground of prob- 

 ability. The fact is that the average refuge boy steals in the 

 direction in which he is trained, and picking pockets and locks are 

 the arts which can be taught in the reformatory with less chance of 

 detection by the officers, than any others. In the 53 cases present- 

 ed there is not one of forgery or false pretenses, for these require 

 educational advantages which they do not get. It would be useful 

 to know how much of the criminal recklessness which is found 

 among refuge boys is owing to the imprisonment to which they are 

 consigned at an early age becoming itself a training in cell life 

 which effaces the wholesome dread of prison which the reputable 

 youth universally entertain. 



In Table XII. it will be found that 45.28 per cent of their 

 number are orphans before their fifteenth year ; 88.67 P er cent are 

 neglected children ; 24.52 per cent are of criminal families ; 24.52 

 per cent of pauper stock ; 50.96 per cent of intemperate family, 

 and 50.96 per cent habitual drunkards. With respect to the per- 

 centage of neurotic heritage, it must be borne in mind that a large 



