The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, MAY 4, 1914. HABITUAL CRIMINALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11, 4 May 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, MAY 4, 1914. HABITUAL CRIMINALS.

Sir Robert Stout, dealing with the : question of the habitual criminal, a few days ago, remarked that the more fact that a man is declared a ! habitual criminal does not mean that in the opinion of the Prisons Board he ought to do kept in gaol for the rest of his life. The idea behind the system is that it is wiser to give even the habitual criminal a chance of reform than to seclude him in pri--1 son,-where the conditions of life are rather depressing than stimulating and inspiring, and where the hope of bettering his condition and rising to a higher lever of personal conduct and Social life is largely denied him. The Auckland Star in expressing agreement with His Honor’s views and the belief, that the cummin sense of ' the country is in support of them in this matter, goes on to say: It our prisons could possibly be turned into j ideal reformatories, it might bo de'sirahle to keep habitual criminals I subjected to their influence continuously mid for long periods of time, j But in the existing prison system the j penal element is stronger than the ! reformative element; and in the case [of men and women who, without being dangerous members of society, jhave contracted the habit of crime, it seems the wiser course to give them a certain amount of conditional freedom and leave them the hope of regaining their own solfrespcct and the [confidence of their fellow-citizens. But j such a ehcngw in character and habits ' of life can certainly not bo accom- j plished easily or quickly. As Sir | Robert Stout has said, there will bo j lapses, and it is surely wiser in such leases to adopt a tolerant and sympathetic attitude, than to plunge the oxi pickpocket or tha ox-forger into gaol j again at om*» hecau*© he cannot por- | form th* stupendous feat of convert-

ing himself into au estimable member if society so rapidly as we might desire. We do not advocate any undue leniency toward the professed criminal who deliberately makes war upon society; but we agree .entirely with Sir .Robert Stout that the tx periment we are making in the "ay of reforming criminals instead of merely punishing them well deserves a prolonged trial, and that we should not allow the natural and inevitable lapses of the “habitual criminal” mt* his old paths to deter us from persevering with our task on rational and judicious lines.