_Austria-Hungary._--The law leaves children of less than ten years of
age to domestic discipline, as also children above that age if not
exactly criminal, although the latter may be sent to correctional
schools. There they are detained for varying periods, but never after
twenty years of age, and they may be sent out on licence to situations
or employment found for them. These schools also receive children
between ten and fourteen guilty of crimes which are, however, by law
deemed "contraventions" only; also the destitute between the same ages
and the incorrigible whose parents cannot manage them.
In Hungary the penal code prescribes that children of less than twelve
cannot be charged with offences; those between twelve and sixteen may be
deemed to have acted without discretion, and thus escape sentence, but
are sent to a correctional school where they may be detained till they
are twenty years of age. An excellent system prevails in Hungary by
which the supervision of those liberated is entrusted to a "protector,"
a philanthropic person in the district who visits and reports upon the
conduct of the boys, much like the "probation officer" in the United
States.
_Belgium._--The law of November 1891 places the whole mass of
juveniles--those who are likely to give trouble and those who have
already done so--at the disposal of the state. The system is very
elastic, realizing the infinite variety of childish natures. The purely
paternal regime would be wasted upon the really vicious; a severe
discipline would press too heavily on the well-disposed. Accordingly,
all juveniles, male and female, are divided into six principal classes
with a corresponding treatment, it being strictly ruled that there is no
intermingling of the classes; the very youngest, rescued early, are
never to be associated with the older, who may be already vicious and
degraded and who could not fail to exercise a pernicious influence. One
of the great merits of the Belgian system is that the regulations may be
relaxed, and children of whose amendment good hopes are entertained may
be released provisionally, either to the care of parents and guardians
or to employers, artisans or agriculturists who will teach them a trade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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