LE'T'TERS TO THE EDITOR.
[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read,and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.]
THE REPORT OF THE PRISON COMMISSIONERS.
[To THE EDITOR GP THE " SPECTVFOR."] SIR,—The Report of the Prison Commissioners should give much food for thought to all who administer justice, but it is doubtful whether 10 per cent. of our magistrates have ever seen the inside of one of these annual Reports. Beside being an annual register of crime and its punishment, the recent issue points to shortcomings which should be brought to the notice of every magistrate. The Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914, made the allowance of time to pay fines compulsory, pro- Aided the offender " has a fixed abode within the jurisdiction " of the Court, ,fie. In 1910 (before the public conscience had been aroused) 90,753 persons, no less than 50 per cent. of the total receptions into prison, were committed in default of paying a fine. In 1921 the figures have come down to 13,404, or 30 per cent. of the total receptions. This is a great advance, but n,239 of the above number had not been allowed time for payment, and no less than 5,038, or 38 per cent., paid their fine, wholly or in part, soon after reception into prison. Where offenders are at sach a disadvantage through the accident of living outside the jurisdiction justice cannot be called " fair and even." Some Benches take pains to ascertain whether a satisfactory account can be given of those who live elsewhere, and the police where possible get the information beforehand. This practice should be generally adopted. Another clause of the same Act gives power to put young offenders (16-21) under supervision until the fine has been paid. This power has not been sufficiently osed; 455 lads were put in prison without being allowed time for payment, of whom a considerable number paid after res.eption into prison.
It is startling to find that 10,300 persons were imprisoned on remand who were not sent to prison after production at the court. Statistics are given of one prison where 142 cases (46 of them under 21!) were received on remand; of these only 19 had previous convictions recorded. After production at the court si of them wero bound over, 34 discharged, 8 fined, and 7 sent to homes, &c. There is far too much imprisonment on remand going on; prisons should be reserved for those who are proved guilty except in cases where bail or a remand-home is considered unsuitable by the magistrate, but until remand-homes are established prisons must be used for remand cases—a torture to the innocent. The Report on Juvenile Delinquency, 1920 Stationery Office), gave an idea of the fatuous way
in which probation—which is so splendid a success in many places !—is administered even in some of our largest towns. The fact is that Government has never provided a link between the different bodies concerned in the treatment of offenders. Industrial schools and reformatories are not required to send reports upon their charges to the court which sentenced them; new methods that prove successful are not commended else- n here, except in these valuable reports as regards imprison- ment, of which at least the salient points should be brought to the notice of every magistrate. There is a great work for the Home Office—to employ the comparative method in the investigation of the work of the various courts, and to bring up the laggards to the standard of the more efficient. No doubt the Magistrates' Association, newly inaugurated by the Lord Chancellor, with Lord Haldane for its President, will do much towards getting defects of the law and its administration
Howard League for Penal Reform, Devonshire Chambers, Bishopsgate, B.C.
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