Juvenile offenders : a report based on an inquiry instituted by the Committee of the Howard Association, 1898 / with contributions from the Right Hon. Lord Rookwood [and others].

Howard Association (London, England)

Date:: 1898

Credit: Juvenile offenders : a report based on an inquiry instituted by the Committee of the Howard Association, 1898 / with contributions from the Right Hon. Lord Rookwood [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$:}2 to be ineflicient. \Ve Imve obtaiued better results, for wayward boys, in the discipline of well-appointed Training Ships. Some of us believe Smai.l ‘ Homes,’ at a moderate distance from the bad associations of early life, and under judicious management, to be the best adapted to meet the difficulty. “ We could not well dispense with Whipping. Would it not be well to have the sentence carried out by some one approved of by the Bench, of the same sex as the offender (not necessarily of the Police Force) ? We think it would be wise, in the case of this penalty, that it should 7iot be registered against the culprit, as a con- viction, under the Law. “ The matter of Fines must be left to the discretion of the Courts. “ We have found the First Offenders Act eminently useful, and we frequently apply it. “ The right treatment of juvenile offences is a perplexing problem, and the solu- tion is in the hands of the best, high-minded Educator, and not in the Magistrate. “HENRY WILSON, J.P.” SIR JAMES RECKITT, BART. (YORKS). “Swanland Manor, Brough, East Yorks. “ Dear Mr. Tallack,—I am strongly of opinion that whipping is the beat, and indeed the only remedy for many, if not most, juvenile offenders. “ It is often found necessary to appear cruel, in order to be kind. “ I am, yours sincerely, “JAMES RECKITT.” SIR RICHARD TANGYE (CORNWALL AND WARWICKS). “Kingston Vale, Putney, S.W. “Dear Mr. Tallack,—Mainly for the reason given in paragraph 7 of your Circular, I am distinctly in favour of whipping for juvenile offenders, after their 6rst offence. “ If the parents are fined, they usually revenge themselves upon the children they have neglected, by inflicting brutal punishments, without any idea of doing the children any good, but purely to ‘ pay them out,’ thus breeding feelings of revenge on their part. These feelings are not brought out when the Law inflicts the punish- ment. “ I believe whipping to be the most merciful course, and also the most likely to deter for the future. “Yours very truly, “ RICHARD TANGYE ” ALFRED E. PEASE, Esq., M.P. “ St. Moritz, Engadine. “ Dear Sir,—In response to your invitation to express an opinion on the points raised in your circular with regard to juvenile offenders, I beg to say :— “ I am strongly opposed to the imprisonment of children. Except in very serious cases, a sharp reprimand and warning should sufiBce for a first offence, or a few strokes of the birch-rod. For a second offence, I am strongly in favour of a whipping, which punishment, in my opinion, is far more eflScacious and merciful than the infliction of the indelible stigma that attaches to imprisonment. “ I have not seen any evidence that parents are encouraged, by the commitments to Reformatories and Industrial Schools, to free themselves from their parental$