MASSACHUSETTS. 



which states that, within four months, more 

 than 1,600 persons were re-committed there, 

 of whom hundreds had been sent there twice 

 or three times before, scores a do/.en times or 

 more, anil three of them seventy times and over. 

 During 1881 there were twenty-four crimiiKils 

 sentenced to tin- M.-ite Prison who had served 

 a previous UTIII there, and some of them three 

 or four terms. The Prison Commissioners have 

 made the recommendation that the system of 

 police supervision which is practiced in Euro- 

 pean countries be introduced, and professional 

 criminals kept under constant restrictions and 

 surveillance after they have been discharged 

 from prison. The reformatory prison for wom- 

 en at Sherborn is reported as being very sat- 

 isfactory in its workings. Of the 519 women 

 committed in 1880, of whom four fifths were 

 sentenced for vices of various kinds, only a 

 small proportion were illiterate; 349 were mar- 

 ried women ; 90 were twenty-one years of age or 

 under, and 294 not above thirty. Of the 456 

 intemperate women received, only 59 were of 

 American birth. In relation to the project under 

 consideration in the Legislature of establishing 

 a reformatory house of confinement for younger 

 male prisoners, the Commissioners of Prisons 

 stated that, of the 561 prisoners committed to 

 the houses of correction, with sentences of one 

 year or more, 449 were not over thirty years of 

 age, and 129 not over twenty, some of them be- 

 ing as young as fourteen. Under the laws of the 

 State, youthful offenders, when under seventeen 

 years of age, can be sent to the Reform School at 

 Westborough, or to a county prison, except for 

 serious crimes, for which they can be committed 

 to State Prison ; if above seventeen years of age, 

 they can only be committed to a county prison or 

 to the State Prison. The courts have been accus- 

 tomed to send the most promising juvenile of- 

 fenders, under seventeen, to the Reform School, 

 and the rest to the county prisons. Many young 

 men older than seventeen are sent to the county 

 prisons for from one to three years, and even 

 for terms exceeding three years, the judges be- 

 ing unwilling to degrade them by a felon's sen- 

 tence. Tho evil effects of the county prisons 

 or houses of correction, in which the most 

 hardened and vicious criminals are confined, 

 on youths whose characters are not formed, 

 are so striking, and the benefits derived from 

 the enforced discipline and industry so slight, 

 without the influences of education, encourage- 

 ment, and hope, that a reformatory would be 

 likely to rescue and redeem many of this class 

 from degradation and criminal courses. An- 

 other class for which such an institution is 

 considered necessary is that of the younger 

 habitual drunkards, who must be placed under 

 restraint before their habit can be broken, and 

 for whom the houses of correction are inappro- 

 priate and harmful in their effects. The re- 

 formatory would be still more useful in reliev- 

 ing the Reform School at Westborough of the 

 more incorrigible and vicious boys. For the 

 want of a more suitable place "for youthful 



offenders, this establishment has been diverted 

 from its original purpose, and turned into a 

 sort of house of correction instead of a school. 

 The failure of the school is patent. Boys are 

 often kept there for six, or eight, or even 

 twelve years, till nearly or quite of legal age, 

 because they are too bad to be discharged or 

 bound out to service. They are not benefited 

 themselves, and they exert a most mischievous 

 influence on their younger companions. The 

 Governor urges a complete change in the sys- 

 tem. He proposes that no boy over fourteen 

 be received, and that none be kept there for 

 longer than three or four years. He would give 

 it entirely the character of a school, abolish the 

 prison bars and cells, and have the features of 

 a home ; if, after three or four years, a boy 

 proves to be incorrigible, let there be an alter- 

 native sentence, with power on the part ofthe 

 trustees to transfer him to the House of Correc- 

 tion for the remainder of his term ; and if he 

 improves during his stay, and a chance is found 

 to place him at useful labor, let him have the 

 opportunity. The number of inmates in the 

 Reform School at the end of the year was 

 only 117. 



The insane are increasing rapidly it is esti- 

 mated at the rate of 200 a year ; and soon the 

 present accommodations will be insufficient. 

 The need of a separate place for the criminal 

 insane, which is strongly urged by those con- 

 versant with the subject everywhere, is spoken 

 of by Governor Long, in his annual message, 

 which also recommends a separate asylum for 

 curable cases. 



The Statistical Bureau Las collated the re- 

 ports of criminal trials, with the object of de- 

 termining the proportion of crimes which is 

 attributable to the abuse of liquor. Of the 

 total number of sentences passed by the courts 

 in twenty years, 60 per cent were for offenses 

 directly connected with drinking that is, for 

 drunkenness, liquor-selling without licenses, 

 etc. The object of the inquiry was to ascer- 

 tain the proportion of the other offenses trace- 

 able to intemperance. In the courts of Suffolk 

 County, during the year ending September 30, 

 1880, 16,897 persons were sentenced. Of these 

 sentences 12,289 were for offenses directly con- 

 nected with liquor, 12,221 being for drunken- 

 ness, and 68 for breaches of the license laws. 

 The remaining offenses constituted 27 per cent 

 of the total number. The tests for their con- 

 nection with the use of liquor were (1) whether 

 the criminal was under the influence of liquor 

 at the time of the commission of the crime, or 



(2) at the time when he formed the intent; 



(3) whether his drinking-habits or (4) the drink- 

 ing-habits of others were such as to bring him 

 to a condition which induced the crime ; and 

 (5) whether he was an habitual, excessive, or 

 moderate drinker. It appears that 2,097, or 45 

 per cent, ofthe 4,608 criminals were in liquor 

 when the various offenses were committed; 

 1,918 were in liquor when the criminal intent 

 was conceived ; the intemperate habits of 1,804 



