Suggestions for the Prevention of Juvenile Depravity
9781465671622
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
For the prevention of Juvenile Depravity, and the consequent diminution of the heavy Burthens cast, first, upon private Individuals by numerous petty Thefts, and lastly, upon the County by the oft repeated Arrests, Examinations, Committals, Prosecutions, and Imprisonments of Juvenile Offenders. For many years the public mind has been trained to believe that an improved Prison Discipline was the Panacea for the prevention of crime, and it is only necessary to point to that valuable and most excellent Institution at Parkhurst to shew how earnestly (so far as regards Juvenile Delinquency) men of the first Station and the first Talent of the day, seconded by the powerful aid of the Legislature have devoted themselves to the subject, for it is impossible for an enlightened statesman to view the deeply-dyed depravity which exists among the Children of the lower orders, and not feel that no Government deserves the proud title of a Paternal Government that can allow such a state of things to continue, if any remedy can be suggested. The opinions which I have ever held on this subject have remained unaltered amidst all the various changes that have taken place in the Public mind, on the subject of Prison Discipline, the degrading home Slavery of the Hulks, and the awful severance of all natural ties by transportation to distant climes. I have ever held all these to be ineffectual for the purpose of raising the moral standard of a great Nation, and still more ineffectual in promoting that social and domestic happiness which ought to be the bond of Union of an enlightened and Christian People. Nevertheless, I have not hesitated to put my shoulder to the wheel, and have laboured hard to improve our system of Prison Discipline, believing that we shall always have criminals to deal with, but deeply impressed also with the conviction that it is more consistent with the views of Christianity and common sense, that our exertions should be directed to the prevention of crime, especially among the young, than to the correction of criminals, who have been allowed by our present system to become enured to the commission of it. A most interesting investigation which I have been lately carrying on as a Visiting Justice of the House of Correction at Cold Bath Fields, justifies me in predicting that when more is done to prevent crime than to punish it, our labours to diminish the burthens on the county purse will be crowned with far happier results than any we can now present to public view for the purpose of obtaining public support. From the Investigation before alluded to, it is evident that the want of proper parental care and the absence of domestic comforts are the two by far most fruitful and most manifest springs from which flows one vast tide of Juvenile Depravity and Crime, though let it not be supposed for a moment that these two springs cannot still further be traced to one deep seated source which might with God’s assistance be speedily dried up; but the public mind is not yet prepared for this discovery, and we must be content to deal with the two main springs of crime to which I have alluded, until the public mind is more enlightened on the subject.
