Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7060, 21 August 1894, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

OIBBORNE, TUESDAY. AUGUST 21, 18M.

JUVENILE CRIMINALS.

The thirteenth annual report on the prisons of the colony, and the eighth on the working of the " First Offenders Pro. bation Act, 1886," by Colonel Home, is t? hand. From it we learn that at the commencement of last year 436 males and 42 females were undergoing imprisonment in the various gaols of the colony, while at its close there were 464 males and 48 females, giving an increase of 19 males and <» females. The total number of prisoners dealt with during the year— 3sl2 males and 724 females— shows an increase of 154 m compared with 1892, but it must not ba supposed that this indicates an increase in the criminal class. The daily average number of prisoners in the gaols of tho colony during last ye«r was 457 34 males and 64 72 females— a decrease of 942 as against the n*urwi lor 1892. This is a complete answer to the assertion often made, that criminals were bciug imported into tho colony, for if there were any truth in the statement, the daily average number of prisoners would be increasing. The net cost of each prisoner to the State whs £37 2s Bd— an increase of 18s 3d over the amount in the report. The receipts and credits for prison labour shew an increase of L 531 6« over 1892. Of the prisoners who passed through the gaels. 2656 males and 530 females were able to read and write, 92 males and 60 females could read only, and 329 males and 92 females could neither read nor write. The Inspector says:— "lt is somewhat encouraging to find that during the past year only six iufants under the age of ten years have been confined in the prisons of the colony, as against exactly double that number in the previous year ; but these ! are cix too many, and the mistaken practice of sending such children to prison should cease. It is clear that imprisonment can do no eood in reforming these infants ; it is admitted that compulsory detention and deprivation of liberty are, to a certain extent, punishments ; but the deterrent effect is entirely lost by the impossibility of being able to enforce the ordinary rigours of prison life in the case of children ; and no matter how much gaolers may strive, and they certainly do their best, to keep children while in their charge free from contact with the other and older prisoners, there cannot but be a certain amount of association with them, which does incalculable harm ; while in these infant minds the horrors of prison bars and bolts are blunted, and when released they have, during the rest of their career, the stigma of gaol birds attached to their names. As regards the question of juvenile offenders, there appoars now to be a veiy strong feelinur amongst practical authorities against every form of child imprisonment ; extendinc as far as even remanding children to prisons, on j the grounds, amongst others, that it destroys their self-respect, in itself an eril of the gravest kind, and, further, that it tends to ruin their chances in the labour market for life. In the majority of cases of crimes com rait ted by children, the parents and not the children are in reality the guilty parties, who should be punished for neglect in no» looking after their offspring. It is thought that, in the majority of these cases of youthful offenders, some w 1 ™** corporal punishment would be a good substitute for this objectionable imprisonment. Many persons are shocked at the idea of corporal punishment, because they associate it only with ' flogging ' ; but the severity of the lash is one thing, while the use of the birch as a substitute for RRO I i» quite another. This question deserves more consideration from many of the benevolent than it has yet received. It is felb that no unbiassed person will deny that oorporal punishment is a strong deterrent, or again, perhaps for »ouie of the minor offences, a heavy fine inflicted on the parents, where neglect of their children is shown, would also prove a deterrent. At any rate fiit is thought necessary to bring thi- matter again prominently forward, in order that, if

i snible, the pernicious and highly in-

I ioui hvbUtu of sending irifaut* to l> .nan may be discontinued." All thoughtful persons, after considering the ijUHHticri of how to deal with juvenile itluu.^.-t, will, wo think, concur with Colonel Uume *h to the andeairability of permitting child run to mix with older and inert hardened criminals. The object of 'itir «y stem of denims with law-breakers nhould be first, the protection of Society, md secondly, the reformation of the criminal. But the question of reform has not troubled the authorities so much *■ that of punishment. The beat mode of dealing with criminals so as to ensure their moral improvement haa been a secondary consideration to that of exacting retribution for their evil doings. Though Society has been protected by tho operation of the laws against offenders against the person and property, il can hardly be urged that oven rigorous sentences are as deterrent to the commission of crime as anticipated. There are so many circumstances which influence the amount of crime, that it is a most difficult matter to arrive at a conclusion as to the most efficient method of dealing with public offenders so as to justly punish them for their offences, while at the same tine making the sentences sufficiently severe to deter other* from committing bretchea of the laws. If hardened criminals who have been often incarcerated in the prisons vf the colony, cannot be reformed, it should be at least possible to effect a reformation in juvenile delinquents — but so long as the practice of sending them to gaol obtain*, and If they are permitted to herd together with criminals, who regard the precincts of a prison as their proper sphere of action, there is every probability of there being an augmentation of the criminal class, as it would be recruited from the ranks of suoh youthful lawbreakers. Effort* should be made to secure the complete isolation of juvenile offenders from confirmed and chronic gaolbirds, so as to save them as much as possible from the contamination which would otherwise be inevitable.