“As a consequence, some classes of offenders have already ceased to be sent to jail, and in the case of several other classes imprisonment is merely retained as a violent remedy to be tried only when milder and more appropriate methods have proved unsuccessful. The increasing use of the probation act and the establishment of Juvenile Courts under the children’s act may be specially instanced to illustrate this point; these changes in the law have operated powerfully to decrease the number of commitments to prison. And it may be presumed that if the provisions of the mental deficiency act are used as they ought to be in dealing with weak-minded delinquents and drunkards, there will be a further decrease in the population of our jails, in which these troublesome recidivists have hitherto bulked so largely. “In the main, then, we may take it that the diminution in the prison population, in so far as it is not accounted for by temporary variations in the economic factors of crime, is due to a changed public opinion which no longer regards the jail as a social panacea. Among the influences which have contributed to bring about this saner attitude, one of the most important has been the clearer perception of what should be the true function of imprisonment, a perception which necessarily leads to closer scrutiny of the conditions that determine the effective performance of that function; and on these points our knowledge has been considerably widened of recent years, thanks to the more scientific spirit which has been introduced into the penal administration of this country. “The record of Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise and his colleagues in this work of reform should therefore entitle them to speak authoritatively regarding the application of this method of treatment which they have done so much to render really corrective and reformatory. And they will certainly demand that the present abuse of imprisonment shall be amended, and that an end shall be made of the futile and pernicious system of repeated short sentences for petty offences. “How great is the extent of this evil may be gathered from the commissioners’ statement that of the prisoners received from the ordinary courts during last year no less than 121,126 or 80.6 per cent. of the total number committed were sentenced to terms of one month or under. These amazing figures are certainly sufficient proof that there is need of some statutory alteration of the existing laws to prevent the continuance of the useless and mischievous practice; and it is satisfactory to learn from the commissioners that there is a prospect of legislative action on the matter in the near future.” EVENTS IN BRIEF [Under this heading will appear each month numerous paragraphs of general interest, relating to the prison field and the treatment of the delinquent.]