TO PREVENT CRIME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 211, 30 May 1908, Page 6

TO PREVENT CRIME.

AN EXTENSION OF THE, BORSTAL ' " PRINCIPLE.. BT lELEaiIAPn —PRESS ASSOCIATION —COrTJIIGHX , May 28. In the House of Commons, a Prevention of Crime Bill, introduced. by tho Right Hon. .H." Gladstone, Homo Secretary,' was road a first time. It proposos the permanent establishment of Borstal institutions to reform young offenders; also the preventive detention'of habitual criminals., . V JUVE Ni L E-A DU LT : REFOR MAT 0 RIES The reformatory at Borstal, near Rochester, in Kent, was established with' tho object of being a "juvenile-adult reformatory," to deal with criminals; from 16 to .21 years of age. It has beon Ashown by undoubted , figures that there-is a ''criminal age"," a ,period ranging between 16 and 30, when more '.than 50 per cont. of the total indictable; offences are committed; and it is held by expert authority that much ; might bo done, in this-: way to prevent lapses into crime at, tho 'most susj ceptiblo period.i - , The principle .has found,,.practical illustration in the United States,; where the reformatory system," as; applied to. adults and to fullgrown mon. (not children and juveniles), has / reached ;aii ! - extraordinary development. Elmira, in the-State ;of ,Now. Yors, ;and Concord, in Massachusetts, are typical establishments. , ' Their principal aim v is to substitute complete moral, regeneration for punishment. There is "supposed I to be nothing vindictive in , the - treatment.They,-,are,,;prisons in reality, but not in naine/and those committed to them , are called inmates, not,prisoners. Tho offender is to be pitied, not punished, and it is hold ; to be the • duty 1 of the public as well as its i best safeguard to make another man of him. . With this object in view„,fce is handed over to be dealt Vith under an elaborate system 1 of physical,, intellectual, and' industrial traini( ing, with no specific sentence, but for such period, - with certain limits,; as may be found , necessary by.'tlie agent who is to carry out . the desired . These processes depend > upon gymnastic and -military exercises, upon a ,wide curriculum of. instruction, and-upon . apprenticeship in' some handicraft or technical trade. Much importance is attached to physical'agencies.; The., Turkish bath, is. in constant use, and the-frame is strengthened and its , normal healthful" functions highly developed. ' . . Borstal,, it .would, seem, is less elaborate thar tho American systems. . Reliance is .mostlj 3 placed upon a street discipline and'useful in ? struetion in wage-earning trades.