CRIME AND CRIMINALS.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 218, 15 September 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

CRIME AND CRIMINALS.

A New York Polios Judge's Experiences.

Fbom my experience as;a judge in police courts, I should say that laziness is the chief cause of crime. The young man who j8 inherently lazy will steal rather than work. According to the Scriptures, a man should earn his Thread by the sweat of bis brow, but in our large cities there are thousands 6f men who will do neither mental nor manual work, and who prefer to get their living by preying upon the community in some form or other.

Young criminals are born bad. You cannot expect that the sons or daughters of a thief or burglar will be naturally good. Their whole surroundings are, bad, nearly every influence that is exerted upon them from childhood up tends to make them as bad as their progenitors. Even girls and boys inclined to be good may, by contagion, become bad. We have many institutions of criminals of both sexes, but I think that very few of the vioious are re-, formed in such places. My experience wijih law-breakers justifies the $ru.tii of,the saying, 'Once a thief, always a thief.' Once let a boy get contaminated with the poison of crime, and he will live and die an cwjilaw of society, In the court-room I can tell at a glance children that have been brought up in reformatories-—their manlier is deceitful and thoy have a hangdog, crouching expression of countenance. In my official career I have met a grsat many criminals, and I must confess that among them I have never known of a gepuine case of reform.' Quite a long time may sometimes eI&PSQ between their terms in the penitentiary or State prison; but they are sure to return for some pewoffpijce sooner or later, more hardened than ever,.^.» . : -.-,,. ',■ ~v .-.. ,■»■■;■ ■ .■-•■-<: ■~,

Once in a great while, a man who W gone wrong will attempt to reform, and his efforts ought to meet with encouragement. I will relate a case in point: Oue day, while sitting in the Tombs, an officer brought before me a man who wore a blouse and had an adze in his hand.' I said to the officer: • What charge do you make against this man?', The officer replied: 'Hejean escaped convict from the Penitentiary : he got a three-years sehtence, served two,and owes another year to the State.' I asked the officer where he found hinj. He said he found him in a cooperage. ' What was he doing?I*1 '* 'He was making barrels.' 'Was he dressed as hejsnow?' 'Yes.' 1 Well,' I said, 'if he escaped from prison it was the fault of the State officials. He served two years for his offence., When you arrested, him he was hot in tho act of committing any-crime; he was trying to earn an hope'st living in his trade and pc a better man. It may be technically wrong forme to discharge him, but I think the public willßustain me whejj I say, 'You are discharged ;"gd back to your snop and work at your trade, and do not break the ■laws again.' ■■'•.■' - - [:■■'•"'; "■ :■ :■■ ■' But that is an exceptional case. Burglars will die burglars; pickpockets cannot be, reformed, and confidence men would rather get half a' dollar by practising their beguiling methods than earn §5 honestly in tho same length of time. It is indeed true that to them Btolen fruit is the sweetest. -.-• , ' ;

Crime, however, is no more prevalent in New York Mjan it is i«i any country village in proportion to I the population. I have visited every large city in the United States and most of thelargo cities, of JJurppe. I have made inquiries in regard to crime and I have come to the conclusion that New York, notwithstanding that it is a rendezvous for criminals from all parts of the world, 18 comparatively as free from crime is any city in the universe, Free reading-rooms*, lectures, etc., diminish, prim§tea'certain,extent, but the ten-cent lodging-houses more than cpunterbalance thegood done by all the former. Such lodging-houses have caused more destitution, mpre' beggary'arid crime than any othpr,agency I know v of; /Mechanics and labourers were better off years tago when [they had to pay from $2.60 to $5 a week for-their board in regular boardinghouses. ' In those days, men; worked? And liked to work. Nowadays, many a mechanic and labouring man, lam sorry to say, with his stomach full of beer or whisky, will be satisfied if by doing sojne chpre, of by! beggirigy he can get ten cents for a Sight's lodging. When I was a_ young man mechanics and labourers received less wages than they do now, but they .lived better at}d dressed better than they do toirday, You might then meet on Fifth Avenue a mechanic and the owner of a mansion, and it would be hard to distinguish one from the other. Mechanics nowadays sta to have got ini<o Bohemian habits; they are like gypsies, they are shiftless and-love t6 wander from place to place, content if they can supply the absolute needs of the fussing moment. I think that the cheap odging-bouaes ought to be abolished by the Board of Health. I Would like to see' more public parks than there' are, but, strange to say,, the poor who dwell nearest to the parks seldom resort to them. Residents -of Yprkville and Harlom will visit the Battery, while people who <3we)l within a stone's throw of it do not see it once a year. Tenement dwellers Jiving near. Central; Park seldom walk in that jnfenifjijent breathina: place 'On week days (t is patronisecl by strangfers; on Sundays, to their credit be it said, by Oermafts aiid their familiep. It is the same with the libraries;., they, are not patronised by the poor wbo would -receive the mofjt bene% from, them.. , • What laVe thei. causes; of intemperancer? Sometimes a man's -success will lead him td drink, and drinking will lead him to poverty. Then, again, if a man gets very, ppor he will tafy to drown Jiia sortow iq drink; h$ waflts to become oblivious to his surroundings. But we must remember chat in this country there is no occasion for poverty, because theVe la really work enough for all. The aged and decrepit iiriust, of course,I be taken care of by'the public. '' ;:'■'; ■ I believe, however, that promiscuous ajms-giving is wrong. ,The public would be showing more charity and humanity;by giving nothing to street beggars, because if a tramp can make a dollar or two a day by begging he will not work. , ~ ;