she has probably only reached the monkey stage of evolution, delights in mischief, and is impatient of the restraints of civilised society. She is probably incurable now, at "over forty years" of age, but her record might have been very different had she in her early life been subjected to some reforming treatment other than the traditional "seven days ".
What ought to be done with criminals? In other words, what is the responsibility of Society to the criminal? When the first crime is committed, generally in youth, and the criminal comes into the hands of the law, the first duty to him is to educate him if he be ignorant—as most criminals are.[1] The next duty is to train him to earn an honest living by teaching him a trade, and before he is set free he should be compelled to earn by that trade the full amount which he has cost Society while in prison, and also enough to start him in his trade outside. The time necessary for this will accustom him to habits of steady industry, and in order that he may not be revolted by work, the hours of labor should not be overlong, and recreation and healthy amusement should be placed within his reach. The harshness and dulness of prison life now are certain in most cases to lead to the re-action of riot and debauchery when the prisoner is released. If the criminal had committed crime in consequence of a merely undeveloped brain, such training as that suggested would lift him out of the criminal class, and in a vast number of cases this would be found to be the fact. A habit of work and of rational enjoyment would have been acquired, and no relapse into crime would be probable.
If, however, such relapse took place, it would then be a question whether congenital cerebral deficiency was not at the root of the mischief, and whether the criminal was not, therefore, incurable. There would still remain the possibility that temporary brain-disease, some curable lesion, might be the cause of crime. In either case the sufferer should be remitted to confinement, and kept under restraint for a long term or, if necessary, for life. Just as the mental lunatic is placed in an asylum, so should be placed
- ↑ The City Press says that last year not fewer than 1,028 prisoners passed through the Clerkenwell Prison who could neither read nor write.
