"Go ahead, Your Grace. If I can't answer 'em, I'll say so."
"Thanks. First off, I'll tell you what I do know—get my own knowledge of the background straight, so to speak. Now, as I understand it, the courts have agreed—temporarily, at least—that any person convicted of certain types of crimes must undergo a psychiatric examination before sentencing. Right?"
"That's right."
"Then, depending on the result of that examination, the magistrate of the court may sentence the offender to undertake psychiatric therapy instead of sending him to a penal institution, such time in therapy not to exceed the maximum time of imprisonment originally provided for the offense under the law.
"His sentence is suspended, in other words, if he will agree to the therapy. If, after he is released by the psychiatrists, he behaves himself, he is not imprisoned. If he misbehaves, he must serve out the original sentence, plus any new sentence that may be imposed. Have I got it straight so far?"
"Perfectly."
"As I understand it, you've had astounding success." He looked, in spite of what he had said about skepticism, as though he thought the reports he'd heard were exaggerated.
"So far," I said evenly, "not a single one of our 'patients' has failed us."
He looked amazed, but he didn't doubt me. "And you've been in operation for how long?"
"A little over a year since the first case. But I think the record will stand the same way five, ten, fifty years from now.