Juvenile Crime & Punishment in Industrial Britain

        Such investigations into the motives behind crime caused the judicial system to be almost completely rethought for minors.  The group of 'underage criminals' was further subdivided; in the first division are those young enough that they do not understand the implications of their crime.  For example, one Mr. Hoare bore testimony that a seven year old girl was sufficiently incapable of comprehending the ramifications of her crime that her sentence should be light.  He gives no opinion of the case directly, but from his lack of protest to an easier sentence, it is apparent that he supports dealing out punishment in proportion to the indented malice in the crime.  

        The rest of juvenile delinquents, those supposedly old enough to have an understanding of their crime, were given somewhat less preferential treatment.  However, a better understanding of criminal motivation helped their cause among the courts.  A young man with no education, no proper home, and no support from a parent has virtually nowhere to turn other than to crime.  Unlike older criminals, who have the opportunity of finding work, younger poor people have no options.  Thus, the Reformatory Schools were introduced, giving children a place to live, a source of food, and teaching them a marketable school or putting them to beneficial work.   According to the Youthful Offenders Act, any person under age 16 convicted of a crime could be given time at the Reformatory School in addition to his sentence.  These proved to be so effective in reducing crime, that some suggested they replace punishment altogether; Mary Carpenter, in "Our Convicts", advocates the creation of Industrial School, which were effectively the same as Reformatory Schools, except that they were not only for delinquents. Instead, they were poor-houses of sorts, a place where children in a situation that would incline them to turn to crime could go to be cared for and to be taught a skill.  Just thirty years after Carpenter's work, Gertrude Tuckwell published "The State and Its Children", explaining how the success of the schools has developed into a reward system, in which children can earn money by good behaviour, for when they are released.  She speaks disdainfully of the continued practise of whipping delinquents, but states that the effectiveness of the reform system is such that 'corporeal punishment' is almost obsolete.  

        Criminal justice in Britain took a turn for the better in the mid-19th century as a result of the distinction between adult and juvenile offenders.  Replacing the previous view that immorality and inclination to illegal action was a natural trait, was the idea that crime was a result of a child's situation, and that any person would do the same in that situation because it was necessary to survive.