Jan. 28.
We have already commented briefly on the Aumual Report (1922-1923) of the Commissionexs of Prisons in England but as the subject of penology is, or should be, of deep and enduring interest, it is worth while to consider the report again. On the whole it is most encouraging. Serious crime does not appear be increasing. Tt is admitted that the laxity of conduct which had its origin in war conditions atill gives me to a substantial number of commitments, but in common with the great majority of commitments they are for offences directly or indirectly traceable to money difficulties, caused by luced incomes, the high cost of living, loss of entployment, and so forth, difficulties Which we can sympathetically understand. Tt is gratifying to know that the treatment of the convicted is nm me and reform ative. Tu most English prisons there are now educational classes, lectures, concerts, debates and eereational clubs, not with the particular object of. making prison: life-pleasant, but to. give othe prisoners " training that will fit them to re-enter the World as respectable citizens.
It is interesting to consider the Progress of prison reform. the middle of the last century the movement, which had been gaining in strength, was power fully reinforced and placed on a broader philanthropic basis by! the discovery, from a new point of view, that in their essential nature men differ but little from each other; that all are of very lowly origin and possess a complex, obscure inheritance from the remote past. There are no horn criminals, as there are no} born saints. Tt is true that the mentally defective are more easily led into crime, but there are no persons born, as it were, with a genius for crime.
"The ordinary inmates of our prions have been shown to be only' in a very slight degree below the average in mental and physical' fitness of the normal man, & differ-explained" by the ment and condition the ordinary eri psychological inheritance! being what it is, there is in all a wild strain, which may be euphemistically termed the love of adventure. Whether the adventures shall be meritorious or perverse, leading to heroism or to crime, is uncertain and Tt is thig wayward inheritance jot humanity which leads us to take a fearsome pleasure in discussing or' reading about the lives of notorious criminals. On one occasion, 'Tennyson, the poet, and Jowett, the Oxford philosopher, sat' up until the small hours of the morning dis cussing murders. The fascio: tion of the subject inay be felt at a very early age. When the youngest son of a recent Archbishop of Canterbury was between five and six years of age, venerable clergyman pressel ed him with a large Bible. With the innate courtesy of.the family the boy thanked his generous friend very prettily for the gift and even went so for as to ask him to read some of it to him. "What shall Tread. dear child?" suid the delighted clergy: "Everything about the Devil was the unexpected and somewhat disconcerting answer. Most healthy boys pass through 2 period when a piratical career has great attraction. We say this admiration of piracy is due to original sin, or is the outcropping of tendencies which at ote time made the possession of some of the qualities of a pirate considerable social value, At any rate, no hard and fast distinction can be made between the saint and the sinner, The: saint, if he is humble, knows: that if it were not for a power beyond himself he might be a criminal; the sinner, as we know, has within hit infinite possibilities of goodness. Hence! the greater sympathy now shown to prisoners and. the ical kindness which works for their reformation. However, lest our} sympathies should rum away; with us, it is well to remember that the' powerful herd instinct. also a part of our psychological inheritance, impels men to show: little merey to those who gravely imperil the s order.
Brief reference only can be made to another phase of the subject. Tf there is little moral difference between individuals, there is still less between nations. Tt may be said that for ways that are dark and for tricks that are vain one par-alar nation may be peculiar. But the people of that nation may think the ways of some other nations are even darker. In this direction much progress has still to be made. The same moral code that governs the relations—between individuals should also govern the relations between nations. Judged' by this code many famous kings and statesmen were criminals. "If," said Frederick the Great to his minister, Radziwill, "there is anything to be gained by it, we will be honest; if deception is necessary, let us be cheats." Perhaps the League of Nations will accomplish a reform in this respect. seems to be often determined by eireumstanees beyond our control. For instance, in his Book of Remarkable—Criminals,"" Irving observes that the foremost English criminal of the: nineteenth century, Charles] Peace, had many admirable! qualities. He was a born fighter, absolutely fearless, with, determination. Had he flourishility, resontee, cunning, and
ed in 1914 instead of 1874, and entered the army, be would pro-
Tus Imperial clemency on the occasion of the Imperial wedding has been exercised only in the ences Of prisoners whose sentences have been finally pronounced, says the "Japan Chronicte." There is, in consequence, a largo} number of withdrawals of appeals gainst sentences, the appellants ws that clemency is better than ancther trial. The aah? thinks such acts "are nefarious. But why should not a prisoner gain all the benefit he can by the Imperial clemency
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.