A Plea for the Criminal: Being a reply to Dr. Chapple's work: 'The Fertility of the Unfit', and an Attempt to explain the leading principles of Criminological and Reformatory ScienceKayll, James Leslie Allan
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A Plea for the Criminal: Being a reply to Dr. Chapple's work: 'The Fertility of the Unfit', and an Attempt to explain the leading principles of Criminological and Reformatory Science
Kayll, James Leslie Allan
Chapple, William Allan, 1864-1936. The fertility of the unfit; Crime; Criminals; Reformatories
The school is divided into three sections--The Primary, the Intermediate
and the Academic or Lecture division. Each section is subdivided into
classes and each class again subdivided into groups. The usual method of
making the lower classes large and the upper classes small is exactly
reversed at the Reformatory. There may be as few as twenty pupils in the
lower classes and as many as two hundred in the upper ones. The school
is under the management of a director who is assisted by a competent
staff of civilian teachers, as well as by a number of the inmates
themselves. Some of the prisoners, being illiterate, have to commence
their education at the very bottom of the ladder. Others, according to
the education they have received, enter the course at higher points. In
the case of foreigners much of their education consists in teaching them
the English language and instructing them in American customs and
manners. The training is of immense advantage to them.
The classes are held in the evening and the routine of the Reformatory
is so arranged that throughout the whole of the prisoner's waking time
he is kept employed.
From the elementary instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic,
given to illiterates, the course progresses so as to include History,
Civics, Political Economy, Ethics, Nature study and Literature. Attached
to the school there is a well stocked library from which books are
issued under regulations relative to good conduct and progress made.
There is also a weekly paper issued within the institution called "The
Summary," to which the prisoners may contribute articles. Attendance at
the school is in all cases compulsory. The inmate has no option
whatever. He is not consulted as to what course of study he would like
to pursue but this is chosen for him and he is set to it. In selecting
his course, every attention is paid to the man's abilities, tastes and
attainments. No useless studies are undertaken. Every study must be of
value from a reformative point of view and also from an educational one.
That is, it must serve to correct bad and wandering habits of thinking
and to cultivate good and consecutive habits. It must assist to broaden
the outlook of life and to bring the individuals into living touch with
the life and traditions of the country to which he belongs. It must
serve to inspire hope, confidence and zeal. It must cultivate a taste
for the beautiful, a love for the natural, and an adoration for the
Divine. When released, the student must find himself equipped with such
a knowledge as will enable him to steadily advance in his station of
life. And yet there is on an average, only two years in which to impart
such an instruction. How is it done? Firstly, nothing useless is taught,
the object primarily aimed at being the formation of character.
Attendance is therefore compulsory, and attention and application are
necessary in order to obtain a parole. Monthly examinations are held and
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