Chapter X Conclusion
The reader will have formed his own conclusion. He may conclude that the author has a sentimental affection for the criminal and would have all disturbers of the public peace treated with more compassion than the hard-working and honest labourer. But that reader will have jumped to his conclusion from his preconceived prejudices. The reformation of the criminal is no chimera, it has been undertaken for thirty years and every year has seen better results. The results for 1903 (86 per cent. of reforms) ought to convince the most sceptic that the reformation of the criminal is the true aim for society to pursue.
Another reader may ask why, if all these results are so good, does not the Government adopt some such system as the Elmira one instead of continuing the present obsolete penal system. The New York State Government experiences a difficulty in finding, for their reformatory staff, men who will undertake their work with a real sense of mission.
Nor is this the only difficulty. If New Zealand is going to undertake the reformation of its criminals and to restore them to society as honest and industrious persons, society itself must be prepared to drop its prejudices and suspicions and receive the men at their present worth, and not forever stamp them as outcasts. Nothing less, then, is required than an earnest desire among all classes to recover those among men who have fallen into villainy and vice and to receive back among their ranks all those who, having responded to the efforts made on their behalf, can make a claim upon the confidence and good-will of society.
But the reformation of the criminal is not the only obligation laid upon society, there is also the education of the child. It is frequently being stated that criminals are on the increase; it has been shown that this increase is not a national one, it must be then that for some reason the practice of virtue is becoming more and more difficult, whereas that of vice is becoming increasingly easier. Recruits are steadily joining the ranks of crime, and when one sees that, as a result of their home and school training, the rising generation is developing all the characteristics of the criminal, a somewhat alarming conclusion very strongly suggests itself. Society has the criminals that it deserves. It may fail to recover those who have entered upon a criminal career, or it may be actually guilty of manufacturing criminals. What are we doing? New Zealand has this hope, that its traditions do not fetter it, and its institutions are young and plastic.
The End