of the Inspectors of Prisons for the Home District, 1840, and from the report for the same year of the Inspectors of Prisons in Scotland. From this table, it appears that during one year the number of Male Juvenile Prisoners committed to the Liverpool Borough Prison was, in proportion to the whole number of male prisoners, much greater than in any of the Gaols selected, and that the proportion of Juvenile re-committals was in Liverpool nearly double that of the average proportion of the Metropolitan Prisons, and more than double the average of the remaining five English Prisons,—whilst of the worst class of re-committals, (those who had been in Gaol four times or oftener,) the proportion in Liverpool was upwards of seven times the average proportion in the Metropolitan Gaols, and nine times more than in the five Provincial Gaols.

66

The proportion of Male Juveniles to the whole number of male prisoners committed to the Liverpool Borough Gaol was 4 per cent. more than the average proportion in the six Metropolitan Prisons, 8 per cent. more than the proportion in Salford New Bailey Prison, 10 more than Bristol, 10 more than Warwick, 124 more than Wakefield, 7 more than Hull, and 4 per cent. more than in Glasgow, or about 9 per cent. more than the average of six of the largest provincial prisons attached to the most populous manufacturing and commercial towns and cities in the Kingdom.

The character of the offences for which they were committed, will be evident from the fact, that of 709 Juvenile Prisoners committed during the year to the Liverpool Borough Prison, 316 were committed as known or reputed thieves, and 256 as vagrants.

"The proportion of the Male Juvenile re-committals to the whole number of Male Juveniles during the year was in Liverpool 66 per cent. Of these, 28 per cent. had been in prison four times or oftener so that 66 out of every 100 boys committed to this Gaol had been previously imprisoned, and more than 28 of each 66 who had been previously committed, had been in Gaol four times or oftener. In the Metropolitan Gaols, the proportion of re-committals to the number of juvenile prisoners, averaged 35 per cent., and in the other five Gaols in England 324. The number of re-committals to the Glasgow Bridewell does not appear in the returns.

'Compared with the proportion of re-committals in the Adult Class of Male Prisoners, the proportion in the Male Juveniles was much greater, generally; the average number per cent. having been in the Metropolitan Gaols 351⁄2, whilst of Adults it was 23; and in the other five Gaols, the average re-commitments of Juveniles was 324, and of Adults 18 per cent. In Liverpool, the proportions were, of Adults, 36, of Juveniles, 66 per cent.

The returns of the preceding year exhibit nearly similar results. Of the 2,740 Juvenile re-committals to 203 prisons, in England and Wales, 299, or about one-ninth of the whole, occurred in Liverpool; and of the 506 Juveniles who had been in Gaol four times or oftener, the number in Liverpool was 138, or upwards of one-fourth of the whole number of this class in 203 prisons, from which the returns were made.

cent. of Re-com- Proportion per cent. of Re-committals on the whole mittals on the Number of Prisoners committed.

Adults. Juveniles. Once. Twice. Thrice or Once. Twice. Thrice or

more.

more.

64 1 8224 74

"Assuming that this mode of ascertaining the comparative character and extent of Juvenile delinquency is a correct one, it follows that the amount of Juvenile Criminality in Liverpool is proportionally greater than in the Metropolis, or in any of the most populous manufacturing and commercial districts in Great Britain, and that judging from the description of the offences and the number and frequency of the re-committals in this class of prisoners, the character of Juvenile delinquents is generally, and in Liverpool in particular, more desperate than that of the Adult Class of Criminals."

We are aware, that numerous persons, some of whom hold influential situations, are opposed to any such plans as those which we advocate. It is contended, that we would offer a premium on crime, that our gaols and our penitentiaries would be sought as places of desirable residence by the poorer classes, that we should make the situation of the criminal more comfortable than that of the honest and industrious labourer, that the costs of the plans we advocate would involve a great and useless expenditure of the public money, and further that even if our plans were to succeed, we should not be able to find employment for our reformed offenders, inasmuch as those who are honest and have never been tainted with crime, find it difficult to procure employment. We fear that the class of persons who reason thus, are among the opponents of any change in our penal jurisprudence, that they see but a temptation to crime in the abolition of capital offences, and that they imagine that offenders would be reformed by the return to capital punishments and to the degrading use of the lash. However this may be, their arguments must be met, and we are ready to admit the force of one of them: we do not deny that difficulties do exist in attempting to place a reformed criminal in competition as a labourer, with a person whose moral character is not impeached. But these difficulties are not insurmountable, as we shall show in a subsequent part of this paper, from the results which have attended the, for the most part, imperfect attempts hitherto made to reform juvenile offenders. It must also be remembered, that to reform a juvenile offender we must, in the true sense of the word, educate him; we must, whilst we improve his physical condition, develope his moral and his intellectual powers, and such an one, with the sad experience of a vicious course, and the knowledge of the happiness and utility of a moral one, will doubtless soon find himself a place, even though surrounded by those who, more happy than he, have never forfeited the good opinion of society. Admitting then the difficulty, shall we therefore be deterred

from proceeding? We do not believe that any such difficulties can prevent a successful issue to the great experiment which we hope will be shortly tried. Another argument suggests itself in the discussion of this question, namely, that we are dealing in all such institutions as we advocate only with the effects, and that whilst the great causes of crime exist, we shall do no essential service by our plans: we do not propose to enter upon the wide discussion as to the causes of crime, whether they are to be found in the miseries and wants or the vices of individuals, or whether they are the results of bad legislation, and arise from causes deeply connected with the frame of society in these kingdoms. These points are doubtless of the highest importance, but it is not material to our purpose to inquire into the truth of them : we have to deal with results, and surely if we can lessen an evil, though we cannot remove its cause, we shall not labour entirely in vain. On the other and minor objections of our opponents, we have but little to say: we would however suggest to them that men are governed by higher influences than the fear of punishment or of death. In the midst of all the misery of our vast population, whether produced by bad legislation or by bad individual habits, there exists among the labouring classes, in a very exalted degree, all the virtues which adorn our nature; prejudiced they may be,-ignorant, it is shameful to acknowledge, they are, but vicious they are not; there is among them, beyond all others, great charity and tenderness for each other. These virtues render the tasks of administering humane and equal laws no very arduous business. The labour of governing men becomes difficult, just in the proportion that laws are oppressive and unequal. It is the business of Christian men to govern by Christian influences; they are stronger even with an ignorant people, than chains or armed forces, stronger than every thing save injustice and oppression. Notwithstanding the comfort of our Gaols, there is as yet no fear of the people breaking into them; there is yet among us a horror of prisons and workhouses, which springs out of a value for freedom and reputation, and a sense of independence, and we trust nothing will ever reduce the people of England to envy the inmates of these receptacles for the most miserable of our people. As to the question of the cost of reforming criminals, we have on principle but one answer, namely, that we have no right to object to the cost of reforming a human being: it ought to be done at any cost where it can be done, and it is the duty of society to make the attempt. If the cost of punishment were to be calculated, there can be no doubt that capital punishments are to be preferred to all

others; for if you extinguish life, the charge of execution and burial is the cost to the public. Fortunately, however, we shall have no occasion to fear the cost of reforming offenders when the plan shall be well carried out: we shall prove, that the present system of treating juvenile offenders, which produces little but misery and more confirmed crime, is more costly than any plan yet devised for their reformation. And let it at the same time be remembered, that the amount of costs, as far as establishments for the reform of juvenile offenders in this country are concerned, must be taken to be quite the maximum, inasmuch as many of these institutions have been conducted in places where proper arrangements could scarcely be made, and that in those places where due care has been taken, such as Glasgow, &c., it is reasonable to expect a diminution of the present charges rather than an increase of expenditure.

This terrible history of repeated juvenile crime is one of the results of the present system. No one, we presume, can for a moment question the duty of attempting a remedy. But this result is but a part of our case; it is, however, most distressing and lamentable; it shows that the present practice as to juvenile offenders, confirms and increases crime; and it also shows the fearful responsibility which those persons incur, who being charged with the repression of crime, and the punishment of the offender, permit the continuance of a system which produces results so direful and afflicting. We have before said, that we hoped to obtain some supporters, by showing the cost of the present plan, in contrast, as we shall show in a subsequent page, with the cost of various reformatories.

We have been at some pains to obtain accurate information, and we have obtained fourteen cases, taken out of a numerous class; they have been selected as cases presenting the average results of juvenile confinement in a Gaol, which we believe all persons who merely see it, call a clean, orderly and well-conducted Gaol. The Prison is certainly very clean, and considering all the disadvantages with which those who govern it have to contend, it is surprising orderly, but it cannot be in the true sense of the words well-conducted. Not only is the construction defective, but it is inadequate to the reception of any thing approaching to the numbers which it contains; hence classification is impossible. The crowd of prisoners renders the task of governing irksome, and attempts to reform all but hopeless. Not only are the day-rooms and workshops crowded during the hours of labour, but the dormitories are also distressingly filled; and it is here at night, the time for reflection,