JUVENILE CRIME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5655, 28 August 1896, Page 6 (Supplement)

JUVENILE CRIME.

(Wellington Post,)

Mr Collins made a very able speech on the motion for the adjournment of the House yesterday afternoon. He referred to a statement in the Prisons Eeport of Colonel Hume, in which attention was called to the fact that nine children under ten years of age had been confined in the prisons of the colony, as against six in the previous year. People reading that statement might assiune that our youngsters were growing up criminals. When the figures were examined Mr Collins ably and clearly showed that there had been no increase of crime. Eight of these young prisoners were in gaol for minor offences. The fact is, that if youths are committed to Burnham and no steamer is ready to take them there, they are kept in gaol and entered as prisoners. But Mr Collins was not content with pointing out the explanation of the nine 1895 youthful prisoners. He showed that, going back for sixteen years, though our population had increased, our criminals had decreased. We quote one of his sentences, dealing with youths under 10 years of age : — " If they divided the period from 1880 to 1895 into two portions of eight years each, the first division gave an average of 31 committals per year, the succeeding eight years gave an average per year of only 12." Nothing inqre conclusive could be quoted to show the beneficial effects of our national education system. The favourable returns for the ages under 10 can be paralleled with those between 10 and 15 years of age. During the first eight years of the period the committals were 97 on an average, during the last eight years only 61, and the decrease during the latter period was both noticeable and gratifying. Thus, in 1888 the number was 87 ; in 1889, 61 ; in 1890, 54; in 1891, 57; in 1892, 52; in 1893, 49 ; in 1894, 47; and in 1895, 53. When it is remembered that the increase of the population between these ages was considerable, it will be seen that relatively to the numbers between these ages in the colony the decrease was larger than even these figures show the absolute decrease to be. Between 15 and 20 the average, considering the increase in numbers between these ages, was equally satisfactory. For the first eight years the average was 274, and for the latter eight years 278. We think the defenders of our national education system are under a debt of gratitude to Mr Collins for his able and lucid speech. Education, though it does not get rid of crime, lessens it. And our. secular system compares favourably with other systems that are denominational. If Mr Collins had given the religion of the parents of the children who are confined in our industrial schools, it would probably have been apparent that they are members of churches, and of churches, too, which pride themselves upon the religious tuition they give to members of their flocks. Our education system may not be perfect, but it is not responsible for the misdeeds that our colonists, young or old, may commit. If our youths would only carry out in their lives the ethical teaching given in our schools, they would be good citizens. Our system and our youths have found a good defender in Mr Collins, and we commend to our readers the perusal in Hansard of his remarks.