As a security against "blind-alley" employment, and its consequent dangers, a well-organized movement is now in progress throughout the country by the establishment of Juvenile Employment bureaux and Labour Exchanges, and by the setting-up of Advisory Committees in connection with Education Authorities to secure advice, and guidance, and control during the perilous age of adolescence. The Education Act, 1918, made provision for raising the compulsory age for 'full-time' attendance at a Public Elementary School from 12 to 14, and also for compulsory attendance at continuation schools between the ages of 14 and 18. The Act also contains drastic provisions restricting child labour during such hours as interfere with efficient instruction. The determination that the youth of this country should not only be saved from a criminal career, but should have opportunities, suited to the age, for the development of character, is found in the widely spread organizations of Boy Scouts, Boys' Brigades, and other kindred associations.
It is in this movement of voluntary personal service, on the part of the earnest men and women, engaged in all these works and acting in the highest sense of patriotism and public duty, that the hope of the solution of the criminal problem lies in the future; and it is for this reason that I have adverted shortly to a movement that is proceeding in this country at the present time for the better nurture and education, and control of all that enormous number of boys and girls who, though they must profit to a certain extent under a system of free compulsory education, will not be transformed by education alone into useful and honest citizenship. Side by side with the machinery of the public elementary school system, there must be agencies at work of which the high purpose is not only to secure that the defective child shall be treated in accordance with scientific method, and that the pauper child shall not have less favourable opportunity than his fellows, but that all classes of children after satisfying the standard of literacy ordained by the school authority, shall, during the period of adolescence, be subject to such influences as shall secure them, when they attain maturity, a fair chance in the competition of life. Therein lies the prophylactic of crime. No Prison Authority can be indifferent to the great social effort now being made, the effect of which is perhaps already visible in the diminishing number of young persons convicted of crime. In future years, it is hoped that it will not be a commonplace, as it is now, for many old offenders to attribute their downfall, and their persistence in a criminal career, to neglect during infancy and early youth, and to the absence of any controlling influence to save them during the initial years preceding maturity from acts of mischief, or of fraud, until Prison, as the automatic and unvarying penalty, destroyed in them the germs of hope and confidence, and self-respect, without which a foothold in honest life could with difficulty be regained.
(2) THE PROBATION ACT, 1907:—
Former International Prison Congresses pronounced in favour of the provisional sentence ("sentence provisoire"). By this is meant in foreign codes what is generally known as a "conditional conviction," i.e., a conviction takes place, but is not carried into effect, conditionally on the good conduct of the offender during a term of years (generally five) prescribed by the law. This respite is known technically as "sursis à l'exécution de la peine." The principle of conditional conviction is common to most penal codes, but operates in different ways, e.g., it may take the form simply of judicial reprimand, or of being bound over to be of good behaviour, or of probation, as in England and America, or of respite in the execution of the sentence, as in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The Continental law of "sursis" or "respite" differs from the English law of Probation in that in the former case there is always a conviction. In England, except in serious cases tried on indictment, there is no conviction. The English law gives power if the court, "having regard to the character, antecedents, age, health, or mental condition of the person charged, or to the trivial nature of the offence, or to the extenuating circumstances under which the offence was committed, thinks fit so to act, to discharge the offender conditionally on his entering into a recognisance, with or without sureties, to be of good behaviour and to appear for conviction" (if before a court of summary jurisdiction) "and sentence when called on at any time during such period, not exceeding three years, as may be specified in the order." Such a recognisance may contain the condition that the offender shall be under the supervision of a probation officer. The court may add further conditions with respect to residence, abstention from intoxicating liquor, and any other matter which, having regard to the particular circumstances of the case, it may consider necessary for the prevention of the same offence, or the commission of other offences.
It is the duty of the probation officer, subject to the directions of the court—
"(a) to visit or receive reports from the person under supervision at such reasonable intervals as may be specified in the probation order, or subject thereto as the probation officer may think fit;
"(b) to see that he observes the conditions of his recognisance;
"(c) to report to the court as to his behaviour;
"(d) to advise, assist, and befriend him, and, when necessary, to endeavour to find him suitable employment."
Should the probationer commit fresh offences, or evade the supervision of the probation officer, or otherwise break any of the conditions of his recognisance, he is to be brought again before the court and sentenced for his original offence.
The Probation Act, therefore, provides a method by which a person who has offended against the law, instead of being punished by imprisonment or fine, or, in the case of a child, being sent for a prolonged period to a reformatory or an industrial school, may be brought under the direct personal influence of a man or woman chosen for excellence of character and for strength of personal influence; and, lending authority to that supervision, and securing that it shall not be treated as a thing of little account, the Act keeps suspended over the offender the penalties of the law, to be inflicted or to be withdrawn according as his conduct during the specified period is bad or good.
The new procedure, under the Act of 1907, marks a great advance. The formality of the Probation Order, regular visits and reports, and the knowledge that the supervision is that of a duly appointed officer of the Court,—all these things combine to secure a much stronger hold over the offender than the simple recognizance, which was previously the rule. Again, the Act provides for the appointment of officers at a number of Courts which had not previously been provided with the means of securing supervision in cases where the Courts desired not to resort to the penalty of imprisonment. The appointment of at least one paid Probation Officer at every Court may now be regarded as indispensable for the proper administration of justice. Their appointment, however, is not compulsory, and it is only in the Metropolis that they are appointed by the Secretary of State. It is within the discretion of other Courts whether or not they shall avail themselves of the services of a Probation Officer. In fact, many Courts of Summary Jurisdiction throughout the Country are still unprovided for.
The extent to which Probation Orders are applied varies to a great extent in different parts of the country. In the Metropolis, not more than one in seventy-eight out of the total number of persons proceeded against summarily was so dealt with in 1913. At Liverpool and Manchester, it is less than this, while in Hull and Birmingham, it is greater. Though many years have elapsed since the passing of the Act, there is still a comparative inactivity on the part of many of the Courts to give effect to its provisions, and many do not yet appear to have fully realized that the Act may be applied to all classes of offenders, and not only to first offenders, as was formerly the case. Moreover, the fact that the Probation System has been actively advocated by those specially interested in the treatment of Juvenile Offenders has led to a general opinion that the measure is to be used only in the case of the young. But in fact there are a great number of cases in which the offender is neither a first offender nor a child, but in which a Probation Order could very properly be made. Time will, no doubt, remove this misunderstanding, and when the Courts realize what assistance can be rendered to the administration of justice by judicious use of the Probation System, it is nearly certain that Probation Officers—male and female—for the younger as for the older prisoners, will become an established part of the machinery of every Court. The Probation Act, 1907, repealed Section 16 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, and the Probation of First Offenders Act, 1887. The Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, provided by Sec. 16 (1) that where the charge, though proved, was of a trifling nature, the Court, without proceeding to conviction, might dismiss it, and might order the defendant to pay damage not exceeding 40/- and costs; by Sec. 16 (2) that on conviction the Court might order the defendant to give security with or without sureties, and with or without payment of damage or costs.