6o 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" Charity, or rather foresight, must assume new forms, leave the 

 ways of alms and the violence of prisons, and substitute spontane- 

 ous asylums and industrial schools." 



Lombroso explains in detail what admirable work the New 

 York " Society for the Reform of Youth " has done since 1853, by 

 founding industrial schools and lodging houses ; implanting the 

 love for work in bad boys, giving them the knowledge of personal 

 liberty, and the healthy desire to better their state by employing 

 them in factories and workshops. He holds that Italy might 

 advantageously copy and imitate such a reform, particularly in 

 Piedmont, Sardinia, and the Valtellina, where sheep-tending util- 

 izes the children. 



When offenses in youths pass a certain limit so as to require 

 heavier punishments, Lombroso contends that above all things 

 the so frequent method of often-repeated and short-term imprison- 

 ments should be avoided with the greatest care. Instead, a grad- 

 uated punishment should be substituted, like fasting, douches, 

 forced labor, and isolation in their domicile ; or, if it is preferred, 

 fines might be imposed, thereby lightening the cost of mainte- 

 nance. A money fine has also the great advantage of touching 

 the modern culprit in his most vulnerable point. 



If the crime be serious, then, according to Lombroso, prison 

 cells are necessary in order to isolate the culprit from his compan- 

 ions. But our chief and primal aim should ever be education. 

 We should strive to inoculate the delinquent with more than mere 

 alphabetical instruction, we should teach him the practical knowl- 

 edge of useful trades, and instead of futile preaching and moral 

 teaching we should give him good or bad marks ; passing him 

 into privileged categories where he would have the right, for 

 example, to wear a beard, receive visits, work for his own bene- 

 fit, and so on. Thus, through those very passions which left 

 alone would lead him on to greater wickedness, we must seek 

 to inspire him with the need of honesty. Ferri tells of a thief 

 who became an honest man when the Sister of Charity, with 

 that very end in view, intrusted him with the care of the prison 

 wardrobe. 



Overstrictness is always harmful. It is far better to tickle 

 the vanity of the prisoners — a feature highly pronounced in the 

 criminal type — by permitting them to elect among themselves 

 wardens and teachers, as well as arbitrators who shall decide con- 

 cerning the misdeeds of their companions. This would help to 

 awaken a spirit of comradeship, which is always beneficial. Lom- 

 broso inclines somewhat to Despine's method of not inflicting 

 punishment until a little time has elapsed after the committal of 

 the offense, to allow passion to cool down, if the offense be due to 

 this cause. 



