The Radical Solution of the Problem.—We cannot protest with too much energy against the idea that we can deal effectively with juvenile criminality by means of a few new paragraphs in our criminal codes, and of a few new societies with patronage to distribute. We must not regard neglected childhood and juvenile criminality as isolated phenomena, but must consider them in association with the economic, moral, and intellectual neglect of the proletariat, from which juvenile criminality springs. These proletarian conditions form the starting-point for our knowledge of neglect in childhood and of juvenile crime, and hence for our knowledge of the means we should adopt in dealing with these. The evils have to be averted, not from youth only, but also from the proletariat. Political care, which is directed towards the saving, in the narrower sense, of neglected and criminal youth, is inadequate; what is required is a general scheme of social and political reconstruction whereby the true sources of juvenile criminality will be dried up.
The best policy of criminal reform is the social policy which will provide a sufficiency of the necessaries of life for every one willing to work for them, and which will put an end to the flagrant class contrasts of our time. Such a policy would involve the destruction of capitalism. I repeat that this does not involve any changes in our policy of child-protection in the narrower sense, but simply indicates the general lines on which alone advance can be obtained. The best means for the prevention of crime is not punishment, but removal of the causes of crime. Juvenile criminality will not completely disappear until its causes have been completely removed—that is to say, it will not disappear until capitalism no longer exists, and until there is no longer a proletariat.
[CHAPTER II]
PENAL METHODS
Conditions of To-day.—In all departments of modern legal systems the principle gains general acceptance that persons under age require to be treated differently from adults. The actual legal regulations respecting young people are different from those which apply to adults. In civil law, the minor cannot appear independently either as plaintiff or as defendant. But criminal law, on the other hand, notwithstanding the fact that it is far more complex than civil law, and notwithstanding the fact that the interests of minors affected by criminal law are far more important than those affected by civil law, places minors on the same footing, or on a similar footing, with adults. This is extremely disadvantageous to those under age.
In the case of juvenile offenders, imprisonment while awaiting trial involves the greatest dangers, for its effects may be as disastrous as those of imprisonment after sentence. The trial also involves very serious dangers. In the corridors and waiting-rooms of the law-court, the juvenile offender is kept awaiting the hearing of his case. He sees there many things new to him. He hears the conversation of the witnesses and of the other accused. He receives advice as to his bearing in the dock. A public trial is not in the least adapted to induce in the juvenile offender a sense of shame, or to awaken in him the consciousness that he has taken a wrong path. As far as he understands the matter, an imposing apparatus is at work in a fine big room; the officials of the court do their work in a cool and businesslike manner, and with an air of importance. In the court there are a number of persons drawn to the place by curiosity simply, and among these are the old associates of the accused, who watch his behaviour with an eager interest, and regard his youthful misdemeanours with indifference, or even with admiration. He feels himself to be the hero and the central figure of a drama, and this makes it even more impossible for him to follow the legal proceedings attentively, and to defend himself in a proper manner. When the trial is over, the newspapers are full of his case. If he is set at liberty he immediately becomes the centre of an admiring circle of his former associates, who listen to his words with eager attention, and encourage him to relate again and again, and with many exaggerations, the incidents of his case.
Proposed Reforms.—Gradually the idea gains ground that in the case of juvenile offenders the procedure should be totally different from what it is in the case of adults. The principal reforms that are proposed are the following.
(a) In the case of juvenile criminals it is indispensable to do away with personal freedom. The leading principle of our penal procedure, namely, to safeguard individual liberty, is out of place in the case of juvenile offenders.
(b) To-day, owing to defective understanding of the psychology of children, the authorities regard juvenile offences as extremely serious. It is held that every child that is brought before the courts is of necessity corrupt. But it is not by any rigid legal code, but rather by the principles of expediency, that we should be guided in the case of juvenile offenders; that is to say, in the case of petty offences, committed by young persons, the latter should never be brought before the law courts at all. The objection that on general legal principles an even-handed justice is absolutely essential, is so far sound, that there is undoubtedly a danger lest the authorities should refrain from initiating proceedings against the children of persons of influence, whilst letting the law take its course when the offenders’ parents are people of no importance. But this objection can also be overcome. The principle of expediency can, in addition, be applied in the following manner: the prosecuting authority allows a period of probation to elapse before proceedings are initiated, and if the youthful offender continues to behave well, the prosecution is altogether dropped. In the case of juvenile offenders, legal prosecution is not of much importance. The judge or magistrate would need the powers and capabilities of an inquisitor, for if he is to decide rightly, he must be acquainted with every detail regarding the life and the environment of the juvenile offender.