CRIME AND CLASSIFICATION [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Mr.
James Curtis calls attention to the danger of corrupt- ing innocent men by mixing them with the guilty on remand in custody. How much greater is the danger with children ? A boy aged 12 of my acquaintance, in June, 1935, was charged with breaking and entering " : actually he had stood by while a relation broke and entered ; five days after his arrest, during which time one would think sufficient enquiries could have been made (bail was granted), he stood his trial with the others involved. He was sent to a Remand Home for a week. As far as I could judge from two visits his home was a perfectly normal and respectable working class home : yet the Remand Home was used as " a place of safety." At the end of that time he was dismissed under the Probation of Offenders Act : the Magistrate asked the boy how he liked the Home, was told " Not much," and replied : " That's been enough punishment ! " I took from the boy in the presence of his father a statement which they both signed about the conditions of life in the Home ; one thing was certain, the boy came out with his mind saturated with crime, and with the interesting knowledge (which he kindly passed on to me) of how to break a padlock with a file, among other bits of information. Whether the boy was guilty or innocent, could anything be less likely to do him any good ? Either a Remand Hothe is a place of safety, or a place of punishment—but surely not both ?
I sent an account of this affair to the Chairman of the L.C.C. Education Committee, who admitted that the Council was " only too well aware of the deficiencies of the remand home." They hoped to remedy this by the building of another Home, which should have been ready by September, 1935. It would be interesting to hear from the Chairman what methods are used to classify the children on remand, and whether any lesson might be learned from this for adults.— Yours, Ac., P. M. GEDGE. 40 Tabard Street, S.E. 1.
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