On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
opinion is based falls to the ground . Its invalidity is still more strikingly apparent when we come to consider the causes of crime , and perceive the slight relation , there is between them and the fear of punishment . Society , then , in dealing with the individual offender , has only to consider how it shall most effectually restrain him from future crime . Transportation apart , there are but three courses open : —putting him to death ; locking him i ^ p for life ; and thoroughly reforming him . Putting him to death is undeniably the most economical p lan , but , cases of murder excepted , it is now generally admitted to be unjustifiable . Perpetual imprisonment is an onerous expense , and is besides not practicable for a large proportion of culprits . Hence , every social interest demands that we should attempt to render prison discipline , in as high a degree as possible , reformatory .
How far and by what means the reformation of criminals is possible can only be ascertained by an inquiry into the causes of crime . In Mr . Combe ' s view , a defective or ill-balanced brain is the primary , and a defective or vicious training and instruction the . secondary , cause of crime . Here we are perfectly in accord with Mr . Combe . "We believe that until it shall be acknowledged that the inherited organisation , and the sum of the influences ¦ which act on that organisation from the period of birth , are the two factors which produce , character , we shall have no rational system of prison discipline . As long as it is held that there is an occult something , -whether free will the devil ' s agency , or divine grace , by which a man ' s character mar be modified in spite of his organism , the true means of reformation will be neglected , and there will be a waste of time and effort in arroliances which neglected , and there will be a waste of time and effort in appliances which
are either ineffective or pernicious . We can make a man really and permanently better only by calling his intellectual and moral faculties into healthy , pleasurable activity , and by forming this activity into a habit Every grain of unnecessary severity—severity not demanded for the maintenance of order—is therefore essentially opposed , to reformation ; for it inevitably ex&tes hatred and vindictiveness , and the desire to frustrate it by deception , thus strengthening precisely tho-se animal tendencies which require to be subjugated . There is need enough for insisting on this when Mr . Burt , the chaplain of a prison , writes : — "The moral effect upon a man rendered permanently honest by punishment * is not fully embodied in the resolution , ' Crime is what I will not do , ' bui ; the feeling , 'The punishment of crime is wTiat I cannot bear . ' "
Noone 'who has visited a prison can have failed to receive , at least temporarily , the impression that a considerable number of criminals have a proclivity to crime deeply stamped on their original constitution ; the specific characteristics of humanity are hardly recognisable in them ; they are wild beasts with the devices of human astuteness and impurity superadded . These are incorrigible , and must ever remain unfit for liberty ; they must be borne as ^ an unmitigable evil entailed by tine present imperfect and perverted condition of our race . But there is a large surplus of criminals who are in a greater or less degree susceptible of instruction and amelioration . The individuals of this hopeful class vary widely in their organisation , the
circumstances of their lives , and the nature of their offences . Yet in the present system of our prisons there is scarcely any discrimination in treatment—any adaptation of discipline to the peculiar character of different criminals , or even classes of criminals . A few imperfect attempts have been made in this direction , and in relation to juvenile delinquents there is now awakened a strong sense of the necessity for special treatment and precautions against their further contamination , but it is too notorious that , as a general rule , our prisons send out their inmates worse instead of better . Mr . Combe forcibly represents that an investigation of the constitution , character , and circumstances of each criminal , and a regulation of his
discirjline in accordance with these , is an indispensable condition to any beneficial result . For example , the Separate System , applied to one * individual , must be attended with entirely different effects from those it would produce in another of a different organisation and temperament , and the species of labour which would be a desirable outlet for the superabundant energies of one prisoner paralyses the faculties of another ; truths which seem obvious enough on the statement of them , but which , strange to say , are neglected in practice . The advantages of the Separate System—a most important instrument of discipline—have been made a matter of question solely beca . use it has not been applied with discrimination based on the physiological difference of prisoners . Again , a , serious bar to reformation is committal to prison for short periods . It can never be too often repeated that virtuous /^ character consists in habits . But what new habits can be formed in the
space of a fortnight , six weeks , or even three months ? As evidence on this point Mr . Combe quotes a table , founded on an average of ten years * experience , and drawn up by the late Mr . Brebner , the excellent Governor of Glasgow Bridewell , a prison where " strict discipline was maintained , " but where the " prisoners were trained to industry , and educated with something like a paternal regard to their welfare after liberation . " This table shows that the number of recommittals varies in inverse proportion to the length of confinement , the number recommitted of those sentenced for fourteen days being seventy-five per cent ., and the proportion regularly diminishing as the term , of confinement was increased . To those who urge the expense as an insurmountable obstacle to lengthened imprisonment and close superintendence by qualified officers ( another grand requisite ) , [ Mr . Combe replies thus : —
Another objection will probably bo founded on the expense which the conversion of prisons into reformatory schools would entail upon the nation . We hnvc seen statements made that such , establishments would prove positively cheaper 5 but , having no experience on this point , yo meet the objection thus . Given , a certain per-centage of individuals in society afllicted with natural proclivities , or placed in circumstances that tempt them to crime—in other words , to > injure their fellow-men in person or property—Queritur : Which method of averting tho evils they occasion will bo the least expensive—that which accomplishes the etui most effectually , or that which loaves it half attained , and the evils ever recurring ? ( Jur answer would be : That which in most effectual . If our method he . not tho most
eilectutxl , -wo do not wish it to bo adopted ; but if it be the most effectual , although still sliort ot perfection , it seema to fullow tin an inevitable conclusion , that , whatever be its coat , it will r « ally be cheaper than a inure imperfect system . An article deficient in quality , or in adaptut ion to tho purposes to whi « h wo design to apply it , may be low in price , but it is not cheap . <)» e double the price , tlint was efficient , would bo cheaper ; and so it will prove in the case of methods of prison discipline . '' J . he supremel y important point in tho treatment of criminals is the
furwishing them with employment which will call out intellectual and moral activity . The subject is very fully considered by Mr . Combe , and we will quote some of his remarks upon it : " Assuming that they ( the convicts ) have undergone the reformatory discipline of separate . connneinent until itihas ceased to be useful , what Bhould next be attempted ? Again the lws of the organism enable us to answer . The problem ia to render the ^ reak in mind andI body sufficiently strong and the naturally energetic , but viciously disposed , sufficientl y disposed , sufficiently qcuet , self-restraining , and intelligent , to be capableT » t thezr discharge from prison , of taking their places in society without relapsing into crime . To strengthen the functions , their organs must be exercised in conformity with the laws of their constitution , and those laws require that each function should be employed on its own objects . Thus , to give muscular strength , and habits of industrious application , to the criminal of weak organization , he must lie supplied with nutritive food in proper quantity , and be employed in a way that will exercise without painfully fatiguing his corporeal frame .
To deny him adequate food , or to exhaust his strength by fatigue , for the sake of punishing him , is to use direct means to unfit him for returning to society a reformed man . Again , to strengthen the moral and intellectual functions in the weak , and also in the viciously disposed , they must be employed on moral and intellectual objects j that is to say , the labour enjoined must be calculated to exercise the observing and reasoning ( fefiulties , and the social circumstances of the convict must be framed s » as lp caiy ^ to moral emotions into habitual action , and to avoid rousing his propensities . Let us inqmr » , then , to what extent these natural conditions of reformation are complied with ia oar existing systems of prison discipline . - ? *• The tread-mill and the crank-wheel are two forms of labour greatly in vogue with a large portion of the public On the former the convict is compelled continuaUyrto intrant the steps of an ever-sinking wheel , which , in many instances , drives no machinery and executes no work j it is simpl y a punishing apparatus * The latter is an instrument of a similar description . The convict , by sheer muscular effort / torus the wheel , the axle of
which is tightened by a screw , so as to render it difficult to move so many thdusand : times a-dsy . It also is applied to no useful purpose , and ginds only , the air . The conricts are sentenced to so many hoars mounting or turning per diem , without the least reference ; , to their muscular strength ; so that what is easy to one is torture to another . ; The oubr part of their frames exercised , are their bones and muscles , and these are desigiiedfy tasted fa such an extent as to yroAxxx painful fatigue , the path being regarded as the most valuable element in the treatment ; it is too pitnitive portion which is relied on as the means' of deterring persons outeide flie p rison , still innocent in the eye of the law , and with Whom the convict has no connexion , from committing crimes , and of forcing the criminal iiunself to exclaim , * I must not offend again , for this is what I cannot encttcre . ' - But what says Nature to this view ? She declares that this process converts labour into severe suffering , in some instances into torture , and that it diametrically contradicts « ur true' aim ^ which
should be to render labour 00 agreeable ( and under proper regulations this niay be ^ done ) , that the convict on his liberation snail from exneriehca : «** 6 ft 6 * tie ton nrafliirate icMknMtn . should be to render labour so agreeable ( and under proper regulations this niaybe ^ done ) , that the convict on his ; liberation shall from experience ^ prefer tie to profligate idleness . Again , Nature declares that labour shall be sweetened by the rewards which she attaches to it when intelligently applied and diligently prosecuted . -But here also ' thetread-aiill'and the crank-wh « el strenuously conflict vritn her authority : for they- impose labour * deliberately excluding intelligence in its execntion , and also every shadow of profitable result to sweeten it as reward . Are these the best modes which the science , religion , and morality of the nineteenth century can devise , to induce the convict ; when his' sentence is fulfilled , [ spontaneously to prefer industry to crime ? - : ' ;•»¦ ; . i 5 . " Further , exhaustion of the muscular system by hard labour uses up the whole nervous energy of the body ; and when the task is done , it is nearly in vain to introduce- the . schoolmaster and the chaplain to the prisoner : his brain'is too thoroughly exhausted to be capable ui to xi ine
unending lueip . prisoners are ipcraa up ra separate ceusaner sucn < asys . or exertion , sleep is their only consolation , and it is [ indispensablynecessary to enable ithdnv to answer the next day ' s call on then * strength . > If they , are allowed ) to associate , tth « y . meet when their whole frames , corporeal and mental , are imUted byt Bun % ing ^ wd , ^ one benefit achieved , ^ one idea gained , pr one inoral . impreBaion commniucat ^ i . . By alaW pOf nature , paiu inflicted without a beneficial object rouses all The in ^ rlpr ^ asili ^ i ' ^ h ^ a oar tormentors , rebel against their authority , thirst for revenge upon tnen > , ' ana consider H meritorious to deceive , thwart , and baffle them by every device which our ingenuity can invent . Need we feel surprise , therefore , when Mr . Bait informs us that in the second stage of discipline , after liberation from their separate cells , ' with the great bujk ; pf the prisoners the conversation is represented to be , what the conversation of such men ever has been—profane , licentious , and criminal . '—t > . 73 . The convicts confined in the hulks , are 1
employed in labour ashore during the day , bat congregate at night in their floatingprisons . There , says lie , ' it is notorious that every kind of villany is practised , and even unutterable abominations . It has recently been admitted in Parliament , upon the highest authority , that they are at bad as they can & « . ' —p . 74 . We again ask : Is this a rational preparation for . re-entering society when the sentences are expired ? " . . . - In support of his views Mr . Combe brings forward an . array of evidence from prison statistics ; from , tbe statements of persons experienced in the treatment of criminals , from the results of reformatory experiments abroad , and from the facts which have fallen under his own observation in the prisons of Europe and America . He considers the plans suggested by Mr . Edward Livingstone and by Captain Maconocbie , whose admirable efforts are far from having met with a fair appreciation . But we find that we have exhausted our space without having done justice to Mr . Combe ' s pamphlet , and we can only recommend the reader to consult it for himself , It will not only interest him by its ability , but refresh him by its high moral tone .
Untitled Article
RUSKIN' 8 LECTURES . Lectures on Architecture and Painting , delivered at Edinburgh , in Nov ., 1853 . By John Ruskin , Author of " Stones of Venice , " " Seven Lamps of Architecture , " " Modern Painters , " &c . Smith , Elder , and Oo . It is reserved for ¦ writers like Mr . Buskin to treat perpetually the same subjects , and to be ever new and ever interesting . And this is due partly to the intrinsic interest of these subjects , and perhaps mainly to a command of language and illustration , and a charm of style unsurpassed by any living writer , but in part also to his earnest belief in the doctrines vhe advocates , and genuine worship of truth wherever he recognises its existence . In this sense , at least , his bitterest opponents cannot deny that he has done g ^ ood service . He may be called the great Protestant of Modern Art ; he first exhorted us to think for ourselves , to examine the worth of the old
traditional opinions -whereby our minds were fettered , and to adopt no creed till we have submitted it to the test of private judgment . Further , he has preached unceasingly to us the great doctrine that no one has a right to be indifferent to these things , and that it is a duty we owe to ourselves no less than to one another , to cultivate that love and knowledge of Nature , ! and that appreciation of Art , which are so conducive to the perfecting of our higher attributes , to the refinement of our baser instincts , and to tne development of all gentle and holy sympathies between us . The lectures now printed were delivered at Edinburgh last winter . They are four . The two nrst are on the subject of improvement in our domestic
architecture , strongly insisting , as ever , on tho superiority of the Gothic to the Greek type . The third is dedicated to ainother cauae , for which Mr . ltuskin has often before laid lance in rest , —the supremacy of Turner as a
Untitled Article
June 10 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 545
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), June 10, 1854, page 545, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2042/page/17/
-