PRISONERS AND CRIME.

Evening Star, Issue 22144, 26 September 1935, Page 10

PRISONERS AND CRIME.

It is pleasing to note from the annual report of the Prisons Department, which was presented in the House of Representatives yesterday, that during the year there has been a marked decrease in the number of persons sent to gaol. The ratio of offenders to 10,000 of population was 15.33, compared with 17.75 in 1933 and 22.93 in 1.932. These figures are really striking when it is remembered that New Zealand has been passing through a time, unexampled in "its history, of unemployment and consequent poverty, when the temptation to certain forms of law-breaking was accentuated by the stress of living conditions. There has been an enormous change in the methods of dealing with offenders against the law. The harsh and crude methods of punishment of the past have given way to enlightened ideas in which reform is the leading principle. An impetuous . youth may do something quite foreign to his nature of which he is heartily ashamed in after days. To apply the bland of criminal in such circumstances may be disastrous to the individual’s future, and is certainly foolish from the point of view of the State. This argument is supported in the report by its reference to the working of the Borstal system. The figures, indeed, are quite illuminating. It is stated that since these institutions were established 4,55.5 young- men have passed through them, and of that number only 15 per cent, have again been convicted. In the case of girls it is even better, for 11 per cent, have reappeared in the courts. One point that has been frequently made is that New Zealand has a prison population three or four times greater than that of England. This is an exaggerated .idea. The English ratio is given as 12.1 to It),000 against the Dominion’s 15.33. A writer in the ‘ Economist ’ considers that the ideal prison system would bo to send a man to a place unpleasant enough to make his stay in it a rough memory that he would not wish to repeat, friendly enough to keep his huriian contacts unspoilt, bracing enough to raise his self-respect, and stimulating enough to renew his courage. And at the end of it, when his offence was purged, there should be an open door back to a decent life and the chance of making good. This is the counsel of perfection, but it should bo followed in every practical way. Many a man who began with some slight slip has been turned into a hardened criminal by the associations of gaol. It is noted in England that there has been a considerable increase of juvenile offences in the last five or six years. Much the commonest offence is thieving —often petty thieving—and the Homo Office .is taking steps to enlarge the scope of the juvenile courts, and make them in practice the first line of defence’ against crime. It is realised that if successful results can be gained in this way they will have an immense effect on the whole criminal problem of the future. The prison system in New Zealand is elastic enough to give the Supreme Court judges ample opportunities for dealing with prisoners in a way that will combine protection of society with opportunities of reform by the individual. The categories include Borstal detention,' reformative detention, hard labour, and probation. How much attention is given to the last-mentioned method may be judged from the fact that in 1933 the number admitted to probation was 620. There is in addition the Prisons Board, whose duty it is to make inquiry from time to time whether individuals who have been convicted. may be released from prison or in other circumstances have conditions imposed on them relaxed. Generally speaking, our prison laws are efficiently administered and are in keeping with modern ideas on the subject of criminal reform.