CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE IN RELATION TO MENTAL ORGANIZATION AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Parum est improbos coercerc p ena. nisi probos Tidos disciplina.

LETTER III.

TO TRE EDITOR Or TIIE SPECTATOR.

In my last letter it was my object to illustrate the vague manner in which the question of Social Responsibility has usually been considered ; and to show tbat it has been the custom to regard it in too limited a sense—all persons being alike responsible, according to the degree of their departure from a perfect state, to undergo the treatment necessary for their cure.

He who neglects the laws of health by exposing himself, say to a sudden and violent change of atmosphere, and has there-by produced a pulmonary affection, has to submit to the restraint of confinement at home, or to a temporary exile

in a warmer climate, to remedy the evil effects of his disobedience; or if by in- cautiously venturing into an impure air, he has contracted an infectious fever, and he should, nevertheless, refuse to take measures for his recovery, it would be the duty of society, both to themselves and to him, forcibly to remove him to a better atmosphere, to keep him secluded from all to whom there might be danger of his communicating the disease, and to enforce the administration of proper remedies. In like manner, if he offends against the moral laws from hereditary disposition and the contagion of bad example, or from any other cause, it becomes the duty of society to remove him from the source of conta- gion, and from the means of transferring it to others; to repress the unhealthy 'tendency of the mind, and to stimulate its deficient organs. But although religion, justice, and benevolence, point to this as the chief, nay, the only duty Ithich should be regarded by society in the treatment of offenders, it is one which, in the blind and popular eagerness for the infliction of "punishment," is almost invariably lost sight of; and as a natural arid in- evitable consequence of this neglect, details of the most disastrous kind arc day by day forced upon our attention.

The following appeared in a recent number of the Times. " Suicide.—Thomas Pepper, fourteen years of age, potboy, a clever lad, but of sullen and morose disposition, committed suicide, by banging himself in an arbour in his master's bowling-green, where he was not discovered fur two or three days. It appeared from the landlord's evidence, that be considered the mind of the deceased to be peculiarly formed; his conduct frequently evincing a predisposition to cruelty. Frequently he would hang up minor animals,such as mice, &c., for the purpose of enjoying their throes in death; and often he would call in hoys like himself, saying, " Here's a lark ; he's just having his last kick." He had often been known to catch flies and throw them into the fire, that he might observe them while burning. He had also been observed, while passing along the streets, to pull the ears of the children, lifting them off the ground. by their ears, and when t ey cried at his unfeeliug conduct, he Nvould laugh with a kind of fiendish delight at their sufferings.'"

Other witnesses deposed, that about four years since, (when he was ten years ofage,) he attempted to strangle himself on an occasion of his mother chastis- ing him for some offence, and locking him up in a room by himself; and when discovered, life was nearly extinct.*

The above account forms a forcible illustration of the necessity of early measures of prevention and cure; and the duty which exists on the part of society to see them enforced. The conduct of this boy, even up to the time of his death, and in its mode of execution, continued to keep in accordance with his previous powers and habits. His chief delight appears to have been in acts of destruction ; and as from habit tiles' increased in degree, they at length terminated in suicide. Hail not this been the case, it is probable that he would Lave gone on until be had destroyed some fellow-creature ; when it would have been the province of the law as it at present stands to terminate his life—an act which he himself had contemplated with pleasure. It would he a vain em- ployment to endeavour to fix a point at which insanity comtnenced in this boy. Is it not evident that he possessed from the first a badly-constituted mind; that be was impelled by an irresistible desire ; and that the act of suicide was merely a result of an increase of that tendency which induced Lim to watch with pleasure the death-struggles of his tortured victims? It was the duty of society to remove him from the means of gratifying the desire, and of doing injury to himself' or others. By this course his lib: might have been saved, Ills disposition ameliorated, and the list of suicides, which by its amount forms a national disgrace, might have been lessened. It is well, how- ever, that his career dill not terminate more fatally. Ile gave, by his cooduct for many years, a warning to those around him, which they were too ignorant to construe rightly ; and if he had terminated his career by a snore fearful tragedy, how much of responsibility would have Uteri upon them ? But although when these tendencies lead to their mest fearful and natural result, society is prepared and eager to inflict the severest punishments, it never seems to be conscious a it, OW/1 neglect in not acting upon previous minor indications, whielt should have called forth a preventive care. The London papers of the 26th June lS-lo copied the following from the Greenock Ad- vertiser— " A man mimed 'Miller, a barber at the Brootnielaw, was arraigned before Bailie Small, 03 the charge of fearfully maltreating his wife. The evidence which was adduced brought out a case of extreme barbarity. It appeared that- time man had thrown her down stairs, kicked her, dashed her into the tire, and inflicted many other cruel injuries. The man bad a curious method of refine- ment with his cruelty ; fbr it was brought out that be was used to place a razor and huge ham-knife under his wife's pillow, upon which he forced her to lie down, bin ti ne. at the Mille time, that he would operate upon her with them as soon as he found. it convenient. Baillie Small sentenced him to confinement in Bridewell for sixty days, and almost regretted that the case had not been taken before a higher tribunal, as this was not by any means the first instance of his crat Ity." This man has given a warning- to society ; and the only advantage that is taken of it, is to inflict sixty days' imprisonment, without noshes' (Sr moral treatment of any kind ; at the end of whirl, time, whether improved or other- wise, he is again to be turned loose upon his fellows. If his conduct should go on to its most probable conclusion, society will doubtless, (when it is too late to prevent a fatal conse(luence,) inflict revenge by its insist energetic means. Maher curious instance of the indifference of the public to its own duties of prevention, may be mentioned in the filet that the identiral London daily Mew which meleavoured to excite the indignation of the public, by character- izing the insane conduit of OxeonD as "III atrocious,- "ahominable," teen- !enable and diabolical " at contained on the very same page the follow- ing paragraph. " Another mad visit cc to the queen.—On Thursday after- noon, n man very genteelly dressed went to llueldngliam Palace, and demanded to see the Queen. If teas Si NM seen front his demeanour and incoherent lan- guage that be was insane, arid he was persuaded to accompany an officer to the Pulice-station in Scotland Yard. When asked the nature of his business, he said he wanted to see the Queen, to tell her in person that he was not a leader • !Iii ibis, as in most cast,: of snicido. the .Itir■ round ;11,1,liet or 111S:11111y: 11Vea,ISC Ii I, .1 volt:Mon opininn, (11111 a %my jast.one,) nmt any ror•oh Ii. IS Si, 11011,10111 lii the 1111,:ll 101•1111g el Mee ie• bei to destroy tweeds 'must twee,: oily he rvg ■Tded as PUSSe,,111:4 nil 111111er111e1 11111111. 11 S11011111 116.0 he 1,111■•1111:crell. 011 benoolencv iv;( Whg mat Ii, mound to Mali, :11111 11111C11 lif'ti,'i hi iegree love or 111V; 1111:1 that any liii Ui 11110s0 Willa i his su';muilum,iil is sO &Relent as to admit of his cumulating ho- micide, should iu like manter be reoulett as

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of the Chartists, as some of the country papers bad represented. The no- fortunate lunatic further said, that if the Queen should change her religion from Protestantism to Catholicism' as he had understood she would do, he would offer violence to her and think it no aim It was elicited from him that he had coin° from a town near Scarborough, in Yorkshire ; that Inc was in in- dependent circumstances, anil was at present staying at an hotel in the neigh- bourhood of the office. Ile was then allowed to depart, being coneidered to be labouring under a momentary delusion."

Here we see that the premonitory symptoms of dangerous mania are allowed to pass without the slightest advantage being taken of them. When a fellow- creature is in this state, it is " soon seen ' that be is insane or that he is labouring under a "momentary delusion." Should his insanity, the usual course of neglected disorders,) increase in violence aml ultimately lead to some fatal outrage by which the life of the offender would be brought within the power of the law, it is probable that we should then read of the " atrocious" or "diabolical" nature of the attempt ; and so far from its being " soon seen" that he was in a state of' insanity, a hundred witnesses in his favour would not be able to couvince the counsel for the prosecution that there was the slightest ground for finding a verdict to that effect.

The necessity for the tuloption of curative means in the cases of moral offenders, and the injustice of inflicting punishment where this course has been neglected, was admirably enforced some few years back, in a work called Old Bailey Experience, by an imaginary letter from a had convicted of picking pockets who was on the point of leaving England for Botany Bay. It ran as follows, and the truthful satire which it conveys is worth a hundred essays- " I was born in llyot Street. I never remember my mother; but my father's companions sometimes spoke of her as one who had been transported for passing bail money : my father used to look gloomy and sorrowful when she was mentioned, and never recovered without a glass of liquor : some people said she died broken-hearted in gaol ; but I never heard the truth of it. In our street, lie who thieved most cleverly was the niost admired, and the only disgrace that could be incurred was the shame of detection. I sometimes, at the end of it, saw people ride past in tine coaches, and these, I supposed, had robbed still more successfully. I knew nothing, and was taught nothing but to steal ; and I practised my art with an industry which I thought most laud- able. I have heard of God, and Hell, and the fievil: and they once told me, when the bell tolled at St. Giles's, that people went there to pray that they might go to heaven; but I saw nobody who scented to believe ibis, and I thought these words, like 'natty others, were 014 useful to swear by. The only thing 1 es:as taught to fear was a thief-catcher; and though I eluded his vigilance Ter some time, lie caught use at last. In prison the parson told me how I ought to have been brought up. Ile found that I had never been idle, that I had laboured in my calling; that I hail never robbed my father, or cheated my landlady, and that to the 'nest of may power I had done what I was told to do; and yet I was put into gaol, and if I bad not been a very little boy, the parson said I should have been hanged. " There are some hundred boys in London who are all living as I lived ; and when I was tried, a gentleman in a great wig. talked very kindly to me, and if I knew what his name was I would send this letter to him : he said he would have a school in llyot Street, where boys might be told what was right ; and

• I think, Sir, before they are caught tind hanged, it would just be honest to

• tell them that they are in danger of it, and to tell them what is law and what is society, and nor to let them hear of it for the first time when they are trio? " I am going, they say, among savages, and I never elesire to come bar the savages would have taken care of my education, have taught me to 1 • shoot, and fish, and would have told mellow to be a great and good nit. - the Christian have not done FO ; ant if it was not that I am sorry for ins companions that are left behind, and hope the gentleman in the large wig may see this letter, I would not give myself the trouble of asking my fellow prisoner to write i". " JACK WILLS." - I will now proceed to the second objection, wide!' I have supposed as likely . to be raised, viz. that the doctrine which I have advanced would leave ail men to follow their own inclinations with impunity.

, I have just stated, that I consider all men to lie alike responsible, and that , this responsibility involves solnnission to the tee:anima necessary for the cure of their disorders. In cases—such as those of %vital, the law now takes cogni-

!cane. it t'l' iiitV of ourcietv to see this treatment enf orced, but in slight matters it might be left as it now is in medical cases, to the option of the pa- I tient : trusting to the effect which public :minium the natural sensations

comfort call:eel by thin disorder, aunt the spread of knowledge regarding the ad-

• vantages of obedience to the pliyaical and moral laws would naturally briu.g about. In dangerous cases, where it mitigation cannot be effected to tlw requi-

site extent, so long, indeed, as there exists cause for apprehension of bad re-

, salts iron the msordered person tiolding communication with others—it must aleays be necessary to keep him ii inns. seise of seclusion apart from temptation. This eviil eliviete the objection that my views would leave all men to follow their inelitiations. Piteisliment 'ram man is not necessary ; when a patient is suffering from fever, we do not attempt to " punish him, but we. keep him in . seclusion from all but his medical attendants, (who run little risk of infection,) and we oppose his irrational desires, control his actions, and, if necessary, per-

form painful operations. I shall now consider the third point of objection to which I have alluded. viz. that my doetrine would not enforce any punishineut on offenders that should deter others from billowing their example.

In the l'a■C Of all ordinary physical maladies, we see the pain which is in- flicted rip iithe, patient, and to which lie is oblig,e1 to submit, couples' with sur- gical °pastime:, tedious confinement, or nauseous and restricted diet. Aud this pain, which is the price at el hich he purchases his cure. and thereby avoids inore serious pain 0 hiell otherwise aN%ait, bin:, loving in accordance with the intent hum of our Creator. is, I should presume, as likely to be effective as sny punishment could tiossibly lie. in detonate,. the patient himself and tin' friends

. .

who witnessed it. trom running any risk tor the future ot contracting a simi- lar disorder. It will be observed. too, that the system to which the patient has to subliiif, is precisely that which. under Lis individual eircumstatuss, must be the insist painful to bini. For ittmattue. if a man of sanguine t, 1111(1 merit, to whom exercise is one of the chief delights cut lite. indulges the tendeney Illyond its legitimate bounds, and by smile violent action ruptures an Olgan to: !nation or respiration, lie lets, in order to his cure, to submit to a long period ;if total restraint from exercise of any ku ml, '11111111 tim 111:11 W011111 1:0 the wont 1.lWtiti in- fliction he vould possibly nielerse. It another impairs his digestive posers by over-indulgence in Cliii and •••• int:dating final. he has to submit to the bitter re- straint of the most simple eli,•t. The some holds good in all cases . and in like manner it may lie affirmed. that in all ca-es of ilawal delitiqueoes. pain mould be more severely administered to the patient by the adoption of those measures 111:jeli 11o11■1 at the. same time effect ti etre or at least insure 3 mitigation of his infirmity, than by any other method. 1 his, however, would be a work of benyyolenee instead of rtwen;'e : for altlenigh all his desires flow in the direction of his offending propensities, in the gratilleation of which lie hiss foond hie only source of pleasure. and in the suppression of these faculties. ther, fir, the greatest amount of pain is incurred. yet as the work of suppression goes on and other 1211.'111(4'S IIrl. e:111011 111t4/ Illay. 111.'W and higher Sources of pleasure are awakened, and less pain h. felt from the 11(mi:ratification of the erring desire; while, at the sante time. 11,, is saved from the inevitable ;ma :wewmaating con- sequences which would otherwise hrree arisen from fresh infringements of the Divine laws. It leads, therefore, to good alone, good to society with good to the sufferer ; and the real good of both must always go baud in hand, since " True seltslove andsocial are the same."

As a curious illustration of the fact, that the most severe pain which can be borne by an offender, is that which is inflicted by benevolence in the first efforts to cure, I may cite the remark recently made at the Lambeth Street Police- office, by Mr. WALLACE, one of the Guardians of the Poor of the White- chapel Union ; who stated, in answer to some complaints on the part of apauper respecting the Workhouse discipline, that "the greatest possible punishment that could be inflicted upon those persons who were in the habit of living in filth and rags, was to take them into the workhouse, and compel them to clean themselves and to keep themselves so."

Again, let us take the case of drunkenness. Would the severest advocate teethe punishment of his fellow-creatures wish to inflict upon a drunkard any more terrible pain than that which is involved in the first step towards cure. The hand that in kindness, and with no desire to punish, withdraws the bottle from the infatuated drunkard, inflicts upon him the most excruciating sufferings.

In MACSISH'S Anatomy of Drunkenness, the following characteristic anec- dote is related. A gentleman of very amiable disposition and justly popular, contracted habits of Intemperance: his friends argued, implored, remonstrated : at last be put an end to all importunity in this manner. To a friend who was addressing him in the following strain, "Dear Sir George, your family are in the utmost distress on account of this unfortunate habit ; they perceive that

business is ne i

glected, your moral influence is gone, your health s ruined; and depend upon it, the coats of your stomach will soon give way, and then a change will come too late." The poor victim, deeply convinced of the hope- lessness of' his case, replied thus: " My good friend, your remarks are just ; they are indeed too true; but I can no longer resist the temptation. If a bottle of brandy stood at one hand, and the .pit of Hell yawned at the other, and if I were convinced I would be pushed in as sure I took one glass, I could not re- frain: you are very kind, I ought to be grateful for so many kind good friends, but you may spare yourselves the trouble of trying to reform me : the thing is Impossible."

To this man, who confessed that even the certainty of eternal torture would have no effect in deterring him from the gratification of his propensity, what terror would have been imparted by any human punishment ? The dread of the punishment of death, which was inflicted by the Athenians for this crime, would in his case have been without avail. It is evident that the only course which could operate with success in a case of this sort, is the forcibly withhold- ing the means of gratification and exercise to the morbid propensity.

Is there any greater pain to one who has long indulged in the gratifica- tion of lust, than that which is administered in his case, also by the first step towards cure, viz. a separation from all intercourse with tile objects of his desire? Would a miser feel any thing so keenly as the being deprived of the power of accumulation, nod compelled to distribute his riches to the needy ? • ,ot the same rule bold good with regard to all the faculties of the .e only way in which the nwst severe pain is inflicted, is by prevent- lulgenee of the easilphesetting sin, and forcing into activity the hitherto neglected faculties. That this is widely different from the tern of criminal treatment, we are too well aware ; for although , little good is effected by the infliction of fines and the endurance of itraint, these methods occasionally tending to bring other faculties, ion and the love of property into antagonizing action to the offending vet no attempt is ever made to repress that propensity by any direct as absolutely preventing its exercise, and at the SMIle time pro- ictivity of the moral feelings. In fact, from the promiscuous as- be found in our demoralizing prisons, an effect the very reverse of ly obtained. ian contemplate for a moment the possibility of his being. placed III a situation where all the long-cherished and strongest tendencies of has mind are opposed, and where the only feelings that he is permitted to gratify, are those the exercise of which have up to the present moment been most dis- tasteful to him. He may then form some idea of the painful nature of those moral remedies which have cure, and, cure only, for their object. Let the re- ligious man contemplate what his sensations would be were he forcibly held in a situation where only the grossest impiety and blasphemy were breathed around him, and amid which he should be compelled to exist without the power of expostulation or resistance. Let the benevolent man imagine himself com- pelled to watch day by day in some inquisitorial cell the infliction of torture upon helpless and unotrending fellow beings. Let the mother who has found all her delight in the presence of her children, contemplate what her feelings would he it they were withdrawn for ever from her sight and knowledge. The pain which would be felt in these instances would, nevertheless, not exceed that which must be felt by those who are suddenly forced to abandon the gratification of long-loved vices, which arose from the predominance of the lower feelings, and to submit to a discipline, of which cleanliness, industry, justice, subordination, and a consideration for the feelings of others, are the prominent features. Yet in the latter case the pain inflicted would only be subservient to kindness—it would be that which had been decreed by Heaven, and not revengefully administered by man. Between man and man, however different their relative situations may be, nothing but love should ever subsist, lie who lives in the practice of religion and virtue should not look even upon one who is staggering in the wild intoxication of Willie ii ith any other feelings than the love and pity which the sad fate of iftrother should awaken—love for him as a fellow man possessing the same capabilities of an eternal destiny, liable to the same sufferings, and sharing all misused, neglected, conflicting though they be, the same inherent feelings. If we could cure the evil dis- positions of men without the infliction of any pain whatever, it would be our duty to hail the opportunity of doing so, instead of looking out eagerly, as we now do, for the means of inflicting punishment long before we have satisfied ourselves that the punishment will produce improvement. As the Creator has established a system whereby pain DIDS1 Sufkred as the consequence of disobedience of his laws, Ile has not lift this penalty to be inflicted by the ignorant hand of man, but has provided that in the natural order of things it shall inevitably follow, and in fact arise out of the offence itself'. Man, there- fore, has nothing to do with punishment—this has been provided fin' by his Creator ; hut although it cannot be averted after an net of disobedience, we may lessen the future weight of human misery by arresting the offender in his wrongful career, and preventing him from adding, by the commission of new offences, to the amount of pain which he is already destined to mature. To diffuse, then, by general instruction und example, it knowledge of the Divine laws, the relation subsisting between the constitution of man and his Maker, and the inevitable consequences of disobedience, is our first great duty. The next is, to remove from temptation all those who are SO Constituted as to hue peculiarly liable to its effects, to prohibit the use of the bicultles which they may base abused, and to fiirce into activity those from the non-exercise of which they have fallen into crime.

M

In my next letter, I shall be able in some degree to show, by the results of long experience, that the Views which I have thus endeavoured to enforce ere correctly founded, and that they present little difficulty in their practical adaptation.