The best policy of criminal reform is the social policy which will provide a sufficiency of the necessaries of life for every one willing to work for them, and which will put an end to the flagrant class contrasts of our time. Such a policy would involve the destruction of capitalism. I repeat that this does not involve any changes in our policy of child-protection in the narrower sense, but simply indicates the general lines on which alone advance can be obtained. The best means for the prevention of crime is not punishment, but removal of the causes of crime. Juvenile criminality will not completely disappear until its causes have been completely removed--that is to say, it will not disappear until capitalism no longer exists, and until there is no longer a proletariat. CHAPTER II PENAL METHODS _Conditions of To-day._--In all departments of modern legal systems the principle gains general acceptance that persons under age require to be treated differently from adults. The actual legal regulations respecting young people are different from those which apply to adults. In civil law, the minor cannot appear independently either as plaintiff or as defendant. But criminal law, on the other hand, notwithstanding the fact that it is far more complex than civil law, and notwithstanding the fact that the interests of minors affected by criminal law are far more important than those affected by civil law, places minors on the same footing, or on a similar footing, with adults. This is extremely disadvantageous to those under age.