Programming Skills for Data Science 1st Edition

Michael Freeman download

https://textbookfull.com/product/programming-skills-for-data-
science-1st-edition-michael-freeman/

Download more ebook from https://textbookfull.com

We believe these products will be a great fit for you. Click
the link to download now, or visit textbookfull.com
to discover even more!

R Programming for Data Science 1st Edition Roger Peng

https://textbookfull.com/product/r-programming-for-data-
science-1st-edition-roger-peng/

Analytical Skills for AI and Data Science 1st Edition

Daniel Vaughan

https://textbookfull.com/product/analytical-skills-for-ai-and-
data-science-1st-edition-daniel-vaughan/

Good Habits for Great Coding: Improving Programming

Skills with Examples in Python 1st Edition Michael
Stueben

https://textbookfull.com/product/good-habits-for-great-coding-
improving-programming-skills-with-examples-in-python-1st-edition-
michael-stueben/

Michael Freeman s Photo School Fundamentals Exposure

Light Lighting Composition Digital Editing 1st Edition
Michael Freeman

https://textbookfull.com/product/michael-freeman-s-photo-school-
fundamentals-exposure-light-lighting-composition-digital-
editing-1st-edition-michael-freeman/
Good Habits for Great Coding: Improving Programming
Skills with Examples in Python Michael Stueben

https://textbookfull.com/product/good-habits-for-great-coding-
improving-programming-skills-with-examples-in-python-michael-
stueben/

Functional Programming in R: Advanced Statistical

Programming for Data Science, Analysis and Finance 1st
Edition Thomas Mailund

https://textbookfull.com/product/functional-programming-in-r-
advanced-statistical-programming-for-data-science-analysis-and-
finance-1st-edition-thomas-mailund/

Advanced Object-Oriented Programming in R: Statistical

Programming for Data Science, Analysis and Finance 1st
Edition Thomas Mailund

https://textbookfull.com/product/advanced-object-oriented-
programming-in-r-statistical-programming-for-data-science-
analysis-and-finance-1st-edition-thomas-mailund/

Julia Quick Syntax Reference: A Pocket Guide for Data

Science Programming 1st Edition Antonello Lobianco

https://textbookfull.com/product/julia-quick-syntax-reference-a-
pocket-guide-for-data-science-programming-1st-edition-antonello-
lobianco/

Julia Quick Syntax Reference: A Pocket Guide for Data

Science Programming 1st Edition Antonello Lobianco

https://textbookfull.com/product/julia-quick-syntax-reference-a-
pocket-guide-for-data-science-programming-1st-edition-antonello-
lobianco-2/
Contents
1. Cover Page
2. About This E-Book
3. Title Page
4. Copyright Page
5. Dedication Page
6. Contents
7. Foreword
8. Preface

1. Focus of the Book

2. Who Should Read This Book
3. Book Structure
4. Book Conventions
5. How to Read This Book
6. Accompanying Code

9. Acknowledgments
10. About the Authors
11. I Getting Started

1. 1 Setting Up Your Computer

1. 1.1 Setting up Command Line Tools

2. 1.2 Installing git
3. 1.3 Creating a GitHub Account
4. 1.4 Selecting a Text Editor
5. 1.5 Downloading the R Language
6. 1.6 Downloading RStudio

2. 2 Using the Command Line

 1. 2.1 Accessing the Command Line
2. 2.2 Navigating the File System
3. 2.3 Managing Files
4. 2.4 Dealing with Errors
5. 2.5 Directing Output
6. 2.6 Networking Commands
12. II Managing Projects

1. 3 Version Control with git and GitHub

1. 3.1 What Is git?

2. 3.2 Configuration and Project Setup
3. 3.3 Tracking Project Changes
4. 3.4 Storing Projects on GitHub
5. 3.5 Accessing Project History
6. 3.6 Ignoring Files from a Project

2. 4 Using Markdown for Documentation

1. 4.1 Writing Markdown

2. 4.2 Rendering Markdown

13. III Foundational R Skills

1. 5 Introduction to R

1. 5.1 Programming with R

2. 5.2 Running R Code
3. 5.3 Including Comments
4. 5.4 Defining Variables
5. 5.5 Getting Help

2. 6 Functions

1. 6.1 What Is a Function?

2. 6.2 Built-in R Functions
3. 6.3 Loading Functions
4. 6.4 Writing Functions
 5. 6.5 Using Conditional Statements
3. 7 Vectors

1. 7.1 What Is a Vector?

2. 7.2 Vectorized Operations
3. 7.3 Vector Indices
4. 7.4 Vector Filtering
5. 7.5 Modifying Vectors

4. 8 Lists

1. 8.1 What Is a List?

2. 8.2 Creating Lists
3. 8.3 Accessing List Elements
4. 8.4 Modifying Lists
5. 8.5 Applying Functions to Lists with lapply()
14. IV Data Wrangling

1. 9 Understanding Data

1. 9.1 The Data Generation Process

2. 9.2 Finding Data
3. 9.3 Types of Data
4. 9.4 Interpreting Data
5. 9.5 Using Data to Answer Questions

2. 10 Data Frames

1. 10.1 What Is a Data Frame?

2. 10.2 Working with Data Frames
3. 10.3 Working with CSV Data

3. 11 Manipulating Data with dplyr

1. 11.1 A Grammar of Data Manipulation

2. 11.2 Core dplyr Functions
3. 11.3 Performing Sequential Operations
4. 11.4 Analyzing Data Frames by Group
 5. 11.5 Joining Data Frames Together
6. 11.6 dplyr in Action: Analyzing Flight Data
4. 12 Reshaping Data with tidyr

1. 12.1 What Is “Tidy” Data?

2. 12.2 From Columns to Rows: gather()
3. 12.3 From Rows to Columns: spread()
4. 12.4 tidyr in Action: Exploring Educational Statistics

5. 13 Accessing Databases

1. 13.1 An Overview of Relational Databases

2. 13.2 A Taste of SQL
3. 13.3 Accessing a Database from R

6. 14 Accessing Web APIs

1. 14.1 What Is a Web API?

2. 14.2 RESTful Requests
3. 14.3 Accessing Web APIs from R
4. 14.4 Processing JSON Data
5. 14.5 APIs in Action: Finding Cuban Food in Seattle
15. V Data Visualization

1. 15 Designing Data Visualizations

1. 15.1 The Purpose of Visualization

2. 15.2 Selecting Visual Layouts
3. 15.3 Choosing Effective Graphical Encodings
4. 15.4 Expressive Data Displays
5. 15.5 Enhancing Aesthetics

2. 16 Creating Visualizations with ggplot2

1. 16.1 A Grammar of Graphics

2. 16.2 Basic Plotting with ggplot2
3. 16.3 Complex Layouts and Customization
4. 16.4 Building Maps
 5. 16.5 ggplot2 in Action: Mapping Evictions in San Francisco
3. 17 Interactive Visualization in R

1. 17.1 The plotly Package

2. 17.2 The rbokeh Package
3. 17.3 The leaflet Package
4. 17.4 Interactive Visualization in Action: Exploring Changes
to the City of Seattle
16. VI Building and Sharing Applications

1. 18 Dynamic Reports with R Markdown

1. 18.1 Setting Up a Report

2. 18.2 Integrating Markdown and R Code
3. 18.3 Rendering Data and Visualizations in Reports
4. 18.4 Sharing Reports as Websites
5. 18.5 R Markdown in Action: Reporting on Life Expectancy

2. 19 Building Interactive Web Applications with Shiny

1. 19.1 The Shiny Framework

2. 19.2 Designing User Interfaces
3. 19.3 Developing Application Servers
4. 19.4 Publishing Shiny Apps
5. 19.5 Shiny in Action: Visualizing Fatal Police Shootings

3. 20 Working Collaboratively

1. 20.1 Tracking Different Versions of Code with Branches

2. 20.2 Developing Projects Using Feature Branches
3. 20.3 Collaboration Using the Centralized Workflow
4. 20.4 Collaboration Using the Forking Workflow

4. 21 Moving Forward

1. 21.1 Statistical Learning

2. 21.2 Other Programming Languages
3. 21.3 Ethical Responsibilities
17. Index
18. Credits
19. Code Snippets

1. i
2. ii
3. iii
4. iv
5. v
6. vi
7. vii
8. viii
9. ix
10. x
11. xi
12. xii
13. xiii
14. xiv
15. xv
16. xvi
17. xvii
18. xviii
19. xix
20. xx
21. 1
22. 2
23. 3
24. 4
25. 5
26. 6
27. 7
28. 8
29. 9
30. 10
31. 11
32. 12
33. 13
34. 14
35. 15
36. 16
37. 17
38. 18
39. 19
40. 20
41. 21
42. 22
43. 23
44. 24
45. 25
46. 26
47. 27
48. 28
49. 29
50. 30
51. 31
52. 32
53. 33
54. 34
55. 35
56. 36
57. 37
58. 38
59. 39
60. 40
61. 41
62. 42
63. 43
64. 44
65. 45
66. 46
67. 47
68. 48
69. 49
70. 50
71. 51
72. 52
73. 53
74. 54
75. 55
76. 56
77. 57
78. 58
79. 59
80. 60
81. 61
82. 62
83. 63
84. 64
85. 65
86. 66
87. 67
88. 68
89. 69
90. 70
91. 71
92. 72
93. 73
94. 74
95. 75
96. 76
97. 77
98. 78
 99. 79
100. 80
101. 81
102. 82
103. 83
104. 84
105. 85
106. 86
107. 87
108. 88
109. 89
110. 90
111. 91
112. 92
113. 93
114. 94
115. 95
116. 96
117. 97
118. 98
119. 99
120. 100
121. 101
122. 102
123. 103
124. 104
125. 105
126. 106
127. 107
128. 108
129. 109
130. 110
131. 111
132. 112
133. 113
134. 114
135. 115
136. 116
137. 117
138. 118
139. 119
140. 120
141. 121
142. 122
143. 123
144. 124
145. 125
146. 126
147. 127
148. 128
149. 129
150. 130
151. 131
152. 132
153. 133
154. 134
155. 135
156. 136
157. 137
158. 138
159. 139
160. 140
161. 141
162. 142
163. 143
164. 144
165. 145
166. 146
167. 147
168. 148
169. 149
170. 150
171. 151
172. 152
173. 153
174. 154
175. 155
176. 156
177. 157
178. 158
179. 159
180. 160
181. 161
182. 162
183. 163
184. 164
185. 165
186. 166
187. 167
188. 168
189. 169
190. 170
191. 171
192. 172
193. 173
194. 174
195. 175
196. 176
197. 177
198. 178
199. 179
200. 180
201. 181
202. 182
203. 183
204. 184
205. 185
206. 186
207. 187
208. 188
209. 189
210. 190
211. 191
212. 192
213. 193
214. 194
215. 195
216. 196
217. 197
218. 198
219. 199
220. 200
221. 201
222. 202
223. 203
224. 204
225. 205
226. 206
227. 207
228. 208
229. 209
230. 210
231. 211
232. 212
233. 213
234. 214
235. 215
236. 216
237. 217
238. 218
239. 219
240. 220
241. 221
242. 222
243. 223
244. 224
245. 225
246. 226
247. 227
248. 228
249. 229
250. 230
251. 231
252. 232
253. 233
254. 234
255. 235
256. 236
257. 237
258. 238
259. 239
260. 240
261. 241
262. 242
263. 243
264. 244
265. 245
266. 246
267. 247
268. 248
269. 249
270. 250
271. 251
272. 252
273. 253
274. 254
275. 255
276. 256
277. 257
278. 258
279. 259
280. 260
281. 261
282. 262
283. 263
284. 264
285. 265
286. 266
287. 267
288. 268
289. 269
290. 270
291. 271
292. 272
293. 273
294. 274
295. 275
296. 276
297. 277
298. 278
299. 279
300. 280
301. 281
302. 282
303. 283
304. 284
305. 285
306. 286
307. 287
308. 288
309. 289
310. 290
311. 291
312. 292
313. 293
314. 294
315. 295
316. 296
317. 297
318. 298
319. 299
320. 300
321. 301
322. 302
323. 303
324. 304
325. 305
326. 306
327. 307
328. 308
329. 309
330. 310
331. 311
332. 312
333. 313
334. 314
335. 315
336. 316
337. 317
338. 318
339. 319
340. 320
341. 321
342. 322
343. 323
344. 324
345. 325
346. 326
347. 327
348. 328
349. 329
350. 330
351. 331
352. 332
353. 333
354. 334
355. 335
356. 336
357. 337
358. 338
359. 339
360. 340
361. 341
362. 342
363. 343
364. 344
365. 345
366. 346
367. 347
368. 348
369. 349
370. 350
371. 351
372. 352
373. 353
374. 354
375. 355
376. 356
377. 357
378. 358
379. 359
380. 360
381. 361
382. 362
383. 363
384. 364
About This E-Book

EPUB is an open, industry-standard format for e-books.

However, support for EPUB and its many features varies across
reading devices and applications. Use your device or app
settings to customize the presentation to your liking. Settings
that you can customize often include font, font size, single or
double column, landscape or portrait mode, and figures that
you can click or tap to enlarge. For additional information
about the settings and features on your reading device or app,
visit the device manufacturer’s Web site.
Many titles include programming code or configuration
examples. To optimize the presentation of these elements, view
the e-book in single-column, landscape mode and adjust the
font size to the smallest setting. In addition to presenting code
and configurations in the reflowable text format, we have
included images of the code that mimic the presentation found
in the print book; therefore, where the reflowable format may
compromise the presentation of the code listing, you will see a
“Click here to view code image” link. Click the link to view the
print-fidelity code image. To return to the previous page
viewed, click the Back button on your device or app.
 Programming Skills for
Data Science
Start Writing Code to Wrangle, Analyze,
and Visualize Data with R

Michael Freeman
Joel Ross

Boston • Columbus • New York • San Francisco • Amsterdam •

Cape Town
Dubai • London • Madrid • Milan • Munich • Paris • Montreal •
Toronto • Delhi • Mexico City
São Paulo • Sydney • Hong Kong • Seoul • Singapore • Taipei •
Tokyo
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers
to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks.
Where those designations appear in this book, and the
publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations
have been printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals.

The authors and publisher have taken care in the preparation

of this book, but make no expressed or implied warranty of
any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or
omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or
consequential damages in connection with or arising out of
the use of the information or programs contained herein.

For information about buying this title in bulk quantities, or

for special sales opportunities (which may include electronic
versions; custom cover designs; and content particular to
your business, training goals, marketing focus, or branding
interests), please contact our corporate sales department at
[email protected] or (800) 382-3419.

For government sales inquiries, please contact

[email protected].

For questions about sales outside the U.S., please contact

[email protected].

Visit us on the Web: informit.com/aw

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018953978

Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved. This publication is protected by copyright,

and permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to
any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or
transmission in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For
information regarding permissions, request forms and the
appropriate contacts within the Pearson Education Global
Rights & Permissions Department, please visit
www.pearsoned.com/permissions/.

ISBN-13: 978-0-13-513310-1
ISBN-10: 0-13-513310-6

1 18
To our students who challenged us to develop better
resources, and our families who supported us in the
process.
Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors

I: Getting Started

1 Setting Up Your Computer

1.1 Setting up Command Line Tools

1.2 Installing git
1.3 Creating a GitHub Account
1.4 Selecting a Text Editor
1.5 Downloading the R Language
1.6 Downloading RStudio

2 Using the Command Line

2.1 Accessing the Command Line

2.2 Navigating the File System
2.3 Managing Files
2.4 Dealing with Errors
2.5 Directing Output
2.6 Networking Commands
II: Managing Projects

3 Version Control with git and GitHub

3.1 What Is git?

3.2 Configuration and Project Setup
3.3 Tracking Project Changes
3.4 Storing Projects on GitHub
3.5 Accessing Project History
3.6 Ignoring Files from a Project

4 Using Markdown for Documentation

4.1 Writing Markdown

4.2 Rendering Markdown

III: Foundational R Skills

5 Introduction to R

5.1 Programming with R

5.2 Running R Code
5.3 Including Comments
5.4 Defining Variables
5.5 Getting Help

6 Functions

6.1 What Is a Function?

6.2 Built-in R Functions
6.3 Loading Functions
 6.4 Writing Functions
6.5 Using Conditional Statements

7 Vectors

7.1 What Is a Vector?

7.2 Vectorized Operations
7.3 Vector Indices
7.4 Vector Filtering
7.5 Modifying Vectors

8 Lists

8.1 What Is a List?

8.2 Creating Lists
8.3 Accessing List Elements
8.4 Modifying Lists
8.5 Applying Functions to Lists with lapply()

IV: Data Wrangling

9 Understanding Data

9.1 The Data Generation Process

9.2 Finding Data
9.3 Types of Data
9.4 Interpreting Data
9.5 Using Data to Answer Questions

10 Data Frames
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
men who were submitted to it abstain from drinking on their release.
The objectionable habit can only be cured through being replaced by
something which is of equal interest, has greater power, and enables
the man to live his life without being a nuisance to his neighbours.
When men or women are placed in association with one another,
they have to find some common bond of interest. In every voluntary
association this is recognised. Religion causes some to cut
themselves off from the world and to devote their lives to its pursuit.
Men differing in social positions, in age, in experience, in character,
in temperament, join together to form a community. The one thing
they have in common is their form of belief. They may differ as
widely as possible in their views on other subjects, but these
differences are not the thing that holds them together. They would
rather tend of themselves to break up the association, since
disagreement drives people apart. The differences are only tolerable
because of the bond of agreement which is strong enough to
compensate them. On this subject and around it they may talk. The
experience of each will interest the other, will enlighten him, will at
any rate be considered by him. The same is true of political
associations. Differences there are amongst the members, but these
differences cannot go beyond the point at which some common
agreement balances them, without breaking up the association.
Inebriate Homes and other reformatory institutions are not voluntary
associations, but there can be no intercourse amongst their inmates
that is not based on some experience common to them all. In the
Inebriate Homes the common factor is inebriety. However much the
inmates may differ in other respects, in this they are all alike: that
they have indulged in drink to such an extent that the law has
interfered to deal with them, and so the question that every
newcomer has to face is, “Why are you here?” They are compelled
to associate with one another, and they will get on the better
together for each knowing something of the others’ story. Scenes
are recalled that had better be forgotten. Time spent in regretting
the past while detailing its incident may result, and often does, in a
repetition of the evils which are deplored.
Better that the mind should dwell on something else than on the
errors of time past. It is a common thing to see a man begin to tell a
wild episode or experience of his earlier years, and to observe that
beneath his expressions of criticism and regret there is a certain
tone of satisfaction that he has been through it, and a lingering
reminiscence of the enjoyment he has had in it. He condemns the
folly, admits it was a mistake, and shows quite clearly that it was
quite a pleasure at the time. Talking over the past brings it back and
keeps the memory of it alive, and persistence in this course may
cause that which has been regarded with disgust to become a thing
that is desired, even a thing that is longed for. I remember a
conversation with an inmate on the occasion of a visit I made to an
Inebriate Home. I had known her as a habitual offender for years
before her reformation was undertaken, and at this time she had
been in the institution for more than a year. I congratulated her on
the improvement in her appearance, and at the end of our talk she
said, “It’s a’ quite true, I am better housed than I ever was. Ma meat
is a’ that a body could want, and I get it mair easily than I did
ootside. The work’s no o’er-hard, and the officials are kind. There
are bits o’ rows, of course, noo and then; whaur there are so many
weemen you couldna expect onything else; but there’s naething to
complain of. The country’s real bonny in the summer, but I get tired
of the country. I am a toon bird like yoursel’, doctor, and I weary for
the streets.” I suggested to her that since she was so well off and
could be suited on the expiry of her term with a place where she
would not have the same inducements to drink as she had had, she
should make up her mind to keep away from the town; but she
answered, “No; it’s a’ very nice and comfortable, but I wouldna gie a
walk doon the Candleriggs for the haill o’ it.” Of course she
ultimately had a walk down the Candleriggs, followed by a drive to
prison; but it was quite apparent that this longing for her old haunts
was the result of her failure to be impressed by interests that were
equally absorbing, and that would become more powerful. Had such
an interest developed in her, the Candleriggs would have been
merely an empty sentiment. It would have occupied the position that
“Bonnie Scotland” has in the minds of so many of the Scots who,
having taken up their residence abroad, and having become
absorbed in their affairs, stay there—afraid to return lest they lose
even the sentiment. Just as in the religious community the members
are stimulated to welldoing, in the reformatory the association of
people whose common bond is their offence stimulates them to
wrongdoing, or at least tends to hinder them from breaking off their
old interests.
Institutional life has points of difference from life outside, which
cause the formation of habits that are detrimental to the inmates
when they return to the community. They are lodged usually on the
model of the barracks; though this does not apply to the lodging of
prisoners in prison, as they have separate rooms. Outside an
institution most people do not sleep in dormitories or live in common
rooms. They may live and sleep in the same room, but the only
lodging outside which is on the same model as the dormitory is the
common lodging-house, and that is the last place to which anyone
would desire that a reformed offender should go.
In an institution division of labour is carried out for reasons of
economy. The superintendent directs that different sets of people
should perform different duties. Even if all the persons are changed
at intervals from one set of duties to another, with a view to each
inmate learning to do all parts of the work which is necessary in
order that the place may be kept in proper condition, the habit
formed is different from that of the housewife outside, who daily has
to go over the whole round of her work. She is not responsible for
doing a part, knowing that some other is responsible for some other
part. Not only each part of the work engages her attention in its
turn, but she is accountable for the whole; whether she does it well
or ill is beside the point, which is, that there is nobody to rule her
and no one whom she can hold accountable for her neglect. The
habits of housekeeping acquired by the inmates of a home may tend
to make them good servants, but they are certainly not the kind
likely to make them more fit than they were to undertake the
management of a house of their own; for they do not manage, they
are managed.

CHAPTER VII

THE PREVENTION OF CRIMES ACT (1908)

The Borstal experiment—Provisions for the
“reformation of young offenders”—Is any
diminution in the numbers of police expected?—
Preventive detention—The implied confession that
penal servitude does not reform, and the
insistence on it as a preliminary to reform—The
prisoner detained at the discretion of the prison
officials—The powers of the Secretary of State—
The change under the statute—The necessary
ignorance of the Secretary of State by reason of
his other duties—The “committees”—The habits to
be taught—The teaching of trades—The ignorance
of trades on the part of those who design to teach
them—The difficulty of teaching professions in
institutions less than that of teaching trades—The
vice of obedience taught—Intelligent co-operation
and senseless subordination—The military man in
the industrial community.
S OME few years ago the English Prison Commissioners began a
modified system of treating certain offenders. Borstal Prison was
set apart for the purpose, a staff was specially chosen, and young
offenders were selected for experiment. It was a notable departure,
and the authorities seem to have been satisfied with the results.
Either they had power to undertake the experiment or they had not.
In the former case there was no need for an Act of Parliament to
give authority; in the latter case they must have been breaking the
law. If they were within their powers there was nothing to hinder
them from extending their beneficent work. That work would
necessarily depend for its success on the experience and special
ability of those who performed it. If the men in office in other
prisons do not possess similar qualifications for the work no statute
will confer them; but it may cause them to have duties placed upon
them which they are not fitted to discharge. So long as the
treatment had to be justified by its results, it would be fairly safe to
assume that only those who could prove their fitness would direct it;
now it needs as little of such justification for its continuance as do
the Inebriate Homes.
The Prevention of Crimes Act (1908) deals with the “Reformation of
Young Offenders,” and the “Detention of Habitual Criminals.” The
young offenders must be not less than sixteen and not more than
twenty-one years of age; but the Secretary of State with the
concurrence of Parliament may make an order including persons
apparently under twenty-one, if they are not really over twenty-three
years of age. The young offender must be convicted on indictment
of an offence for which he is liable to penal servitude or
imprisonment; and it must be apparent to the Court that he is of
criminal habits or tendencies, or an associate of bad characters. The
Court must consider any report by the Prison Commissioners as to
the suitability of the offender for treatment in a Borstal Institution;
and may send him there for not less than one and not more than
three years. In Scotland the Secretary of State may apply the Act by
Order, and may call the institution by any name he chooses.
If a boy in a reformatory commit an offence for which a Court might
send him to prison, he may instead be sent to a Borstal Institution,
his sentence then superseding that in the reformatory school.
The Secretary of State may transfer persons within the age limit
from penal servitude to a Borstal Institution.
The Secretary of State may establish Borstal Institutions, and may
authorise the Prison Commissioners to acquire land, with the
consent of the Treasury, and to erect or convert buildings for the
purpose, the expense to be borne by the Exchequer. He may make
regulations for the management of the institution, its visitation, the
control of persons sent to it, and for their temporary detention
before their removal to it.
Subject to the regulations, the Prison Commissioners, if satisfied that
the offender is reformed, may liberate him on licence at any time
after he has served six months—in the case of a woman, after three
months; and the licence will remain in force till the expiry of the
sentence, unless it is revoked or forfeited earlier, in which case the
offender may be arrested without warrant and taken back to the
institution. Subject to regulations, the Prison Commissioners may
revoke the licence at any time. If a licensed person escapes from
supervision, or commits any breach of the conditions laid down in
the licence, he thereby forfeits it; and the time between his
forfeiture and failure to return is not computed in reckoning the time
of his detention. The time during which he is on licence, and
conforming to the conditions therein, counts as time served in the
institution.
Every person sentenced to detention in a Borstal Institution remains
under the supervision of the Prison Commissioners for six months
after his sentence has expired; but the Secretary of State may
cancel this provision where he sees fit. The Prison Commissioners
may grant a licence to any person under their supervision, and may
recall it and place him in the institution if they think this necessary
for his protection; but they may not detain him for more than three
months, and they cannot detain him at all when six months have
passed since his sentence expired.
Young offenders detained in Borstal Institutions, if reported as
incorrigible or as exercising a bad influence on the other inmates,
may be removed to a prison to serve the remainder of their term,
with or without hard labour, as the Secretary of State may decide.
The person under licence must be placed under the supervision of
some person or society willing to take charge of him, and named in
the licence. Where a society has undertaken the assistance or
supervision of persons discharged from the institution, the expenses
incurred may be paid from public funds; but, curiously enough, the
statute makes no reference to payment of persons willing to act as
guardians.
A person may be moved from one Borstal Institution to another, and
from one part of the United Kingdom to another. He is to be “under
such instruction and discipline as appears most conducive to his
reformation and the repression of crime”—which is sufficiently
vague. The only thing of any importance in this part of the Act is the
provision for letting the offender out on licence. If it is used to board
him out, some progress may be made; but if it is merely used to
provide funds for some society of philanthropists to play with, there
is little ground for the hope that it will do much for the offender.
The second part of the Act is more peculiar than the first. It is
designed to deal with the case of the habitual offender, and as
originally drafted it provided for retaining him in custody, if the
officials thought proper, for the rest of his life. This would have been
nearly as certain a preventive as hanging him, and would have been
much more costly.
A consequence that might be expected to spring from the prevention
of crime would be a diminution in the numbers of the police. It is
their duty to arrest criminals, and if the criminals are shut up their
occupation is gone. It is a striking fact that during all the discussions
which took place on the measure, nobody suggested that as a result
of its operation there would be any smaller number of policemen
required. There was no likelihood of it; for crime will not be
prevented to any great extent by the institution of “reformatories”—
experience has shown that very clearly—but it will be diminished to
some extent while the professionals are incarcerated. This has been
tried and found insufficient and unsatisfactory. The new Act makes
provision for the care of people who have been liberated from
Borstal Institutions, and for the reformatory treatment of those who
have become habituals after graduation in crime and in prison
experience—neither of which qualifications makes it easier to deal
with them.
The “habitual criminal” of the statute is one who, between his
attaining the age of sixteen years and his conviction of the crime
charged against him, has had three previous convictions and is
leading persistently a dishonest or criminal life. Such a person, after
being sentenced to penal servitude, may be ordered to be detained
on the expiration of that sentence for a period of not less than five
and not more than ten years, at the discretion of the Court. The
charge of being a habitual offender can only be tried after he pleads
or has been found guilty of the crime for which he has been
indicted, and seven days’ notice must be given the offender of the
intention to make such a charge. The Court has a right to admit
evidence of character and repute on the question as to whether the
accused is or is not leading persistently a dishonest or criminal life.
The person sentenced to preventive detention may appeal against
the sentence to a Court consisting of not less than three Judges of
the High Court of Justiciary, in Scotland. The Secretary of State may,
in the case of persons appearing to be habitual criminals and
undergoing sentence of five years’ penal servitude or upwards,
transfer them, after three years of the term of penal servitude have
expired, to preventive detention for the remainder of their sentence.
Prisoners undergoing preventive detention shall be confined in any
prison which the Secretary of State may set apart for the purpose,
and shall be subject to the law in force with respect to penal
servitude; provided that the rules applicable to convicts shall apply
to them, subject to such modifications in the direction of a less
rigorous treatment as the Secretary of State may prescribe. This
means that the person convicted has to be dealt with by the same
officers who have been dealing with him when he was called a
convict prisoner. There is no reason to assume that their ability to
make him better than he was will be increased because an Act of
Parliament has been passed. A change of labels, however dexterous,
does not alter the character nor will it change the atmosphere of the
prison.
“Prisoners undergoing preventive detention shall be subjected to
such disciplinary and reformative influences, and shall be employed
on such work as may be best fit to make them able and willing to
earn an honest livelihood on discharge.”
This subsection is wide enough to include all reform. It implies that
prisoners are not subjected to such disciplinary and reformative
influence, and are not employed on such work as may be best fitted
to make them able and willing to make an honest livelihood on
discharge; but if this implication is justified, why should they not be
placed under helpful conditions from the first day of their
imprisonment? To one who is not a legislator it appears foolish to
insist that offenders should be placed under conditions which do not
fit them to live honestly outside prison, and that this process should
be repeated until they have become habitual criminals, before it is
ordered that steps shall be taken for their reform. What are the
influences ordered by Parliament, and what is the work they have to
be taught which will make them able and willing to earn an honest
livelihood? Surely no Member of Parliament is credulous enough to
believe that the influences and the work that will tend to make one
man better will be suitable to all men. Even Members of Parliament
do not all conform to the same rules, and there are as many
differences among criminals as among legislators.
“The Secretary of State shall appoint for every such prison or part of
a prison so set apart a board of visitors, of whom not less than two
shall be justices of the peace, with such powers and duties as he
may prescribe by such prison rules as aforesaid.”
“The Secretary of State shall, once at least in every three years
during which a person is detained in custody under a sentence of
preventive detention, take into consideration the condition, history,
and circumstances of that person, with a view to determining
whether he should be placed out on licence, and if so on what
conditions.”
“The Secretary of State may at any time discharge on licence a
person undergoing preventive detention if satisfied that there is a
reasonable probability that he will abstain from crime and lead a
useful and industrious life, or that he is no longer capable of
engaging in crime, or that for any other reason it is desirable to
release him from confinement in prison.
A person so discharged on licence may be discharged on probation,
and on condition that he be placed under the supervision or
authority of any society or person named in the licence who may be
willing to take charge of the case, or of such other conditions as may
be specified in the licence.
The Directors of Convict Prisons shall report periodically to the
Secretary of State on the conduct and industry of persons
undergoing preventive detention, and their prospects and probable
behaviour on release, and for this purpose shall be assisted by a
committee at each prison in which such persons are detained,
consisting of such members of the board of visitors and such other
persons of either sex as the Secretary of State may from time to
time appoint.
Every such committee shall hold meetings at such intervals of not
more than six months as may be prescribed, for the purpose of
personally interviewing persons undergoing preventive detention in
the prison, and preparing reports embodying such information
respecting them as may be necessary for the assistance of the
Directors, and may at any other time hold such other meetings and
make such special reports respecting particular cases, as they may
think necessary.”
A licence may be in such form, and may contain such conditions as
may be prescribed by the Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State is the figure who has all power over the
person sentenced to preventive detention; but the Act does not give
him any power that he did not before possess. The Secretary of
State has always held and used a dispensing power regarding the
sentences passed on prisoners. He has not only remitted sentences,
but he has imposed conditions while granting a remission. The Act
does not even limit his power, for as the representative of the King
he may liberate anybody if he sees fit. What the Act does is to set
up machinery whereby the Secretary of State may be moved.
Hitherto some personal interest must have been taken by him in a
case before the exercise of the Royal prerogative would be
recommended by him, for he would require to be prepared to justify
his action if questioned in Parliament. The Act alters all that in so far
as it applies and makes matter of routine what was exceptional.
The Secretary for Scotland is the head of all the departments of
administration, and being the head of all, is not likely to know,
intimately, much about any of them. He has his parliamentary duties
to attend to, and the more they press on him the more
administrative work must he leave to the permanent heads of the
departments. One Secretary of State may obtain, and may deserve,
a better reputation for administrative capacity than another; but it is
absolutely impossible to expect any one man to know intimately the
details of the work of all the departments. He is responsible for
education, for instance, but what can he know personally of the
educational needs of a boy in the east end of Glasgow? Yet he
prescribes for the education of all boys, as though it were easier to
know about thousands than about one. As head of the Local
Government Board, he has to state what amount of relief should be
given to poor people in different parts of Scotland, what amount in
grant should be given to distress committees, and what kind of work
the unemployed should do. He never is a man who has had any
experimental acquaintance with poverty, or who knows by
experience what distress is entailed in a working-class family by dull
trade; and manual labour has not been his occupation. Yet it is not
the representatives of these people who instruct him. It is the Board
of which he is the head, and whose members, however able they
may be, are less in contact with those for whom they prescribe than
he is. He is head of the prisons department, and he may now and
then visit a prison; but even a Secretary of State, one might go
further and say, especially a Secretary of State, cannot gain much
intimate knowledge of prisons and prisoners from a casual visit. He
has too many things to do, and the man who has too many things to
do seldom does anything. He leaves that to his assistants. If
Solomon undertook and tried to do as many things as a Secretary of
State is supposed to do, he would lose his reputation for wisdom in a
week; but he wouldn’t be Solomon if he tried; and so the Secretary
of State, on the advice he receives, has to determine the fate of the
prisoner who is under sentence of preventive detention. Once in
three years every such person has to come under his notice. This
can only be done through reports.
These reports have to be made by the committee set up under the
Act, which committee is appointed by the Secretary for Scotland. It
would be too much to expect that he should know the local
circumstances in every case, and the men appointed may only be
those recommended to him by his officials. That these will be men of
good repute there need be no doubt, but there is no reason to
suppose that they will be the men best fitted to represent the public,
or most likely to have an intimate acquaintance with the conditions
under which the prisoners have lived. If the officials had themselves
shown any aptitude for dealing with prisoners in a reformatory way,
there might be some reason for assuming that their nominees would
be persons whose experience of life and the character of whose
abilities would be of such a nature as to fit them for the work they
are supposed to undertake. Men of ideas, especially if the ideas are
not officially approved, are not at all likely to find themselves
nominated for such work. They would cause trouble, and it is better
that things should not be done than that Israel should be disturbed.
The committee have to meet at intervals for the purpose of
personally interviewing those who are under their care; and the
value of their reports will depend on the intimacy of the knowledge
they gain regarding the persons interviewed and on its accuracy.
Apparently they need not meet more frequently than once in six
months. Such a provision is too nakedly absurd to deserve
discussion. Apparently they have to report to the Prison
Commissioners, who report to the Secretary of State. The position is
therefore something like this—that prisoners after they have served
prolonged periods in prison may be transferred to another part of
the establishment in order to be reformed. In their new quarters the
treatment they receive is to be less rigorous than it has been. The
influences under which they have to be brought are described but
not defined. The officers may be the same as those who were called
warders in the other part of the prison, but they may have a new
name—perhaps a new uniform. If the person satisfies the Secretary
of State, whom he will never see and who knows nothing about him
personally, that he is a reformed character, he may be liberated on
licence; and he may seek election to the ranks of the licensed once
in three years. His conduct and record will then be considered. What
will determine the character of the record obviously is the impression
he makes on those who come into contact with him. That is to say,
he will mainly depend on the report of the warder, for after all, does
he not know most about the man? He certainly sees more of him
than does any other body. A form will be devised which he will
regularly fill in. Government institutions are notable for forms. It will
provide for a record of the prisoner’s conduct, behaviour,
intelligence, and all sorts of things, and will no doubt be as
ingenious a production as any of the numerous specimens which
result from our practice of government by clerk. The warder will
report to the head warder, who will report to the Governor. The
Medical Officer will report as to the health of the person, and all the
reports will go on to the Prison Commissioners, and from them to
some clerk in the Scottish Office, who has satisfactorily passed a
Civil Service examination on the Boundaries of the Russian Empire,
the death of Rizzio, or some such important educational subject, and
who has never had any opportunity to know anything about
prisoners save what can be learned from books, reports, and an
occasional visit to prison. The reports will be carefully checked,
weighed, and summarised, and the Secretary of State will sign the
order made for him.
It is perfectly obvious that the higher up in the official scale one
goes, the less intimate knowledge of the lives of prisoners, of the
social conditions under which they lived outside, and of their needs,
can you reasonably expect to find as things are at present arranged.
The man who has the best chance to get a licence under the Act is
the man who can dodge best. All our experience points to the fact;
and it is not uncommon for the most objectionable character, by
subservience and sycophancy, to impress favourably those who have
the dispensing of privileges, and this is not confined to prisons or
prisoners.
When a prisoner is liberated on licence from a place of preventive
detention and placed under the supervision or authority of a society
or person, the society or person has to report in accordance with
regulations to be made to the Secretary of State, on the conduct and
circumstances of the licensee. The licence may be revoked at any
time by the Secretary of State, when the person licensed must
return to prison. If the person under licence escapes from the
supervision of those under whom he has been placed, or if he
breaks any conditions of the licence, he forfeits it altogether, and
may be brought before a court of summary jurisdiction and charged
with breach of licence, and on proof be sent back to the place of
preventive detention. The time during which a person is out on
licence is treated as a part of the term of detention to which he has
been sentenced; unless he has failed to return after his licence has
been revoked, in which case the time during which he may have
been said to have escaped does not count as reducing the term of
his sentence. The conditions of licence may be withdrawn at any
time by the Secretary of State, and the person licensed be set
absolutely free; but in any case, after he has been out on licence for
five years the power to detain him lapses, provided he has observed
the conditions of his licence during that time.
In both the Borstal and the Preventive Detention Institution it is
intended to teach the inmates habits and pursuits that will be useful
to them in the world outside. What these are will altogether depend
on what is to happen to them on liberation. No institution has yet
been devised that even remotely resembles anything like the life that
its inmates have to anticipate.
A great deal has been written about the advisability of teaching
trades to persons in institutions, but the writers are never
themselves artisans, and if they had any practical knowledge of the
subject they would not write; there would be nothing to write about.
More goes to the learning of a trade than the handling of the tools.
Men have not merely to learn how to do a thing, but how to do it in
association with other workers. They learn the trade not from the
lectures of a teacher or the instructions of a foreman, but from
watching the work of others, and imitating or avoiding their
methods, as seems most suitable. Take the two best tradesmen in
almost any workshop, and you will find that they set about their
work each in a different way—each in the way he has found best
suited to himself. The apprentices learn from them; and the lad or
man who wants to learn a trade, is ill-advised indeed if he goes to a
workshop where there are as many apprentices as journeymen.
It used to be said that the first year of a joiner’s apprenticeship was
served in sweeping the shavings and in boiling men’s “cans”; and
there was a good deal of truth in the statement. The best tradesmen
I have known spent the first part of their apprenticeship knocking
about the workshop, fetching and carrying for others, and
unconsciously receiving impressions and gaining knowledge. The
worst I have ever known were one or two whom the foreman
thought, when they entered on their apprenticeship, to be too old
for him to put to such work, and who were chained to the bench
right away.
In an institution where it is undertaken to teach lads or men trades,
not only are the conditions less favourable than those outside, but
they are actually opposed to them. In fact, you have a company
composed almost entirely of apprentices. There are no journeymen.
There is only a foreman in the shape of the instructor; and as the
longer he is there the more out of touch he is with the changes in
method that have taken place amongst his fellow-tradesmen outside,
he is only capable of telling his apprentices how he would do the
thing, which in a workshop they might do better by following a plan
more suitable to them. If he has to overlook their work they cannot
be overlooking his; and while he is criticising their efforts and
keeping them in order he cannot be showing them an example.
Every tradesman and every employer knows that it is an important
question, not only whether a man has served his apprenticeship, but
where he has served it. Of course, under the most favourable
conditions some men do not become good tradesmen; they may
have gone to the wrong occupation for them; but there are
conditions that are generally more favourable than others for the
production of capable workmen, and these conditions cannot
possibly exist in an institution. Exceptions trained there may turn out
passable workmen and may find work outside, but the result of
trying to teach trades in an institution will be that at considerable
expense you will increase the number of bad tradesmen; and there
are plenty.
I do not say that nothing can be taught in an institution. Many
things are learned there. The whole point is that they are not the
things that make for efficiency outside.
It is easily seen how a man who has not himself been trained in a
handicraft may believe that it can be taught as well in one place as
another, although if you consider his own occupation and suggest
that his profession too might be taught anywhere, he will readily see
objections. The people who are notably interested in prison reform
are largely drawn from the professional classes and from the well-to-
do. It may be quite possible to teach a prisoner or the inmate of a
reformatory to acquire the habits and the manners of an
independent gentleman. Of the feasibility of the proposal, were it
ever made, I am not qualified to speak; but, as an observer, one
cannot help seeing that many of them have already acquired the
habit of doing as little useful work for themselves as possible, and of
expending a good deal of energy in directions that are not socially
productive. The clergyman would reject as impracticable any
proposal to train the reformed in an institution for entry into his
profession; and yet abundance of quiet and of time for study could
be obtained there, and there does not seem to be anything to hinder
the teaching of theology, of literature, or of philosophy, from taking
place within its walls.
There is, of course, the question of brains. It is a great mistake to
assume that brains are the monopoly of any class, or that they play
a more prominent part in the work of professional men than in that
of others. So far as the training is concerned, there is no ground for
assuming that selected inmates of reformatory institutions could not
be had who are as well qualified by natural endowments to receive
instruction of an academic character, in as large numbers, as others
who would be fitted to receive instruction in the working of wood or
of metal. Of course there are other reasons why ministers should not
be trained in prison. There is the question of moral character; and
though reformed desperadoes have become noble beings before
now, I do not think that even the most enthusiastic evangelist would
consider it safe to assume that a man who has failed to conform to
the laws of the community is a safe person to train for the ministry.
This question of character would not be so generally admitted
against any proposal to train the inmates of a reformatory institution
as lawyers; but although a man might acquire all the useful
information and general knowledge that are required for examination
as a preliminary to admit him to the study of the laws of his country;
although he might master the text-books and become learned in the
records of legal decisions quite as well in a prison as in a lodging
outside; no lawyer would admit that thereby he could qualify to
practise his profession. He would insist that there is something more
required in his experience than the mere knowledge of the laws and
of case-books. Being a lawyer, he could set out at length what that
something is.
So there is something that marks off the man who has been trained
under the artificial conditions which exist in an institution from the
man who has been trained outside. I knew of a blacksmith who was
a very useful tradesman while he remained in the institution where
he had learned that trade. He obtained work outside on several
occasions, but he lost it always, not through any misconduct on his
part, but through sheer inefficiency. Some things he could do, but
most things he could not do; and his employers found him an
unprofitable servant, partly because of his limitations and partly
because his methods impaired the efficiency of those with whom he
worked. In my day I have served an apprenticeship both to a
handicraft and to medicine, and I have no doubt whatever that it
would have been as easy for me to train for my medical qualification
in prison as to have qualified myself as an artisan in an institution.
It is assumed that what the offender needs is above all to be trained
in habits of obedience, as though that were not what he has always
been taught when in any prison; and much good our training has
done him.
I know as little about military affairs as the military men who are
appointed to manage prisons and prisoners know about the duties
they undertake when they are appointed, but I do know something
about the worship of discipline. Discipline means not knowing more
than the man above you, no matter how difficult it may be to know
less. There must always be twice as much wisdom and truth in
anything the superior officer does or says as there is in the actions
or words of his inferiors; and it is insubordination to behave in
ignorance or in contempt of this great principle.
At school we were taught a story about a man named William Tell,
regarding which the later critics dispute the accuracy. It seems that
a high military personage called Gessler set his cap upon the top of
a pole in the market-place and commanded the people to bow down
to it. Tell refused to do so, and was seized and compelled to enter
on a test of his skill in archery; and so on. Whether the story about
Tell is true or not, there can be no doubt about the cap; in one form
or other it is still a symbol of authority, to be saluted with respect by
the common people. In Scotland we had a song about Rab Roryson’s
Bonnet, but “It wasna the bonnet, but the heid that was in it,” that
was the real subject of the ditty. Discipline pays no regard to the
head that is in the cap. The cap is the thing, though it may be
placed on a pole.
Everybody knows that the old cap of knowledge in fairy tales has no
longer an existence, and that absence of what is called brains will
not be compensated for by any covering of the skull, whatever
pretence may be made to the contrary.
Of the virtue of obedience we hear a good deal, and if we look
around us we will see evidences that it may be no virtue at all, but a
vice. In one of the best known of his poems Tennyson describes the
soldiers: “Theirs not to reason why: Theirs not to make reply”; and
there are many who think it a noble thing to teach a man not to use
the brains he has, and to die rather than show disrespect to his
superior by questioning his competence. This may be a military
virtue, but it is a civil vice. If it did not work outside so badly in
practice, it might be allowed to pass unquestioned; but one has only
to look around to see the result of its application. The men who
come under its operation are not rendered more efficient citizens
thereby, but are hindered by the training they have undergone from
obtaining employment in industrial life.
Subordination there must be before there can be combined action on
the part of men for any purposes, but there need not be senseless
subordination. In any iron-work, for instance, where men work
together, they each take their own and other men’s lives in their
hands daily. When they are acting in concert a false step, a careless
act, on the part of anyone, may bring injury or death on himself and
others; and they know this and behave accordingly, or no work
would be possible. For the inefficient person there is no room, and
when serious work has to be done Gessler’s cap has no place; there
is only room for William Tell.
Men discharged from the army find difficulty in obtaining
employment. It is not that they are worse men than their
neighbours. It is because they have received the wrong kind of
training. Employers do not prefer others to them from any absence
of patriotism, but from a desire for efficiency. They cannot afford in
industrial occupations to have people about them who have learned
that it is “theirs not to reason why.” They prefer those who have
been taught to use all the sense they have in dealing with their
work. In short, the person who during the most formative years of
his life has been employed industrially, makes a better workman
than the man who during these years has been taught to wait for
the word of command before he does anything. Yet we have people
going all over the country trying to convince their fellow-citizens that
there is no salvation for us unless all young men are subjected to a
period of military training, apparently in ignorance of the fact that
those who have had that training have difficulty in competing
industrially with those who have none. It may be true for other
reasons, for purposes of defence, that we ought to learn to shoot,
though for my part I believe that most men are more likely to be
sick sometime in their lives than to be engaged in fighting with
people of whom they know nothing. That would seem to be an
argument for their being taught how to preserve and care for their
own rather than how to destroy somebody else’s health; but
Gessler’s cap is still in the market-place, and it is rude to say
anything about it. Yet it is not the bonnet, but the head that is in it,
that matters in the long run.

CHAPTER VIII

THE FAMILY AS MODEL

The basis of the family not necessarily a blood tie—
Adoption—The head and the centre of the family—
The feeling of joint responsibility—The black sheep
—Companionship and sympathy necessities in life
—Reform only possible when these are found
—“Conversion” only temporary in default of force
of new interests—The one way in which reform is
made permanent.

O NE great mistake made by those who consider social problems is

that they either regard man apart from his surroundings or as
one of a mass, instead of as a member of a family or group. Family
life is the common form of social life, and whatever its defects, it is
the form that is likely to persist without very great modification. The
family is based on marriage, and the parties married are not one in
blood, though the children of the marriage are. The family tie,
therefore, is not solely a blood tie. The members are brought up in a
sense of mutual obligation and in the knowledge of their
interdependence.
Occasionally adoption is a means of entering a family. When a
person is adopted early in life, it is difficult to perceive any difference
in the tie that binds him and the other members of the family. There
is another and a temporary adoption which is much more frequent
than is generally imagined, and the existence of which prevents a
great many lads and more girls from becoming destitute and from
drifting into evil courses. In Glasgow there are many young persons
who, having no relatives of their own with whom they can live, or
the relatives being unwilling to take them in, obtain lodgings and
help from others. In the case of the girls, they pay a portion of their
earnings to the common treasury and give their services in aid of the
work of the household, being treated in all essential respects as
members of the family. Many of them are not earning a wage
sufficient to enable them to pay for lodgings at the ordinary rate;
and it is this arrangement that explains why so many who are in
receipt of small wages are able to live respectably, and do so.
Attempts have been made to provide hostels for such wage-earners,
on this very ground that their income is insufficient to enable them
to hire a room with attendance; and the hostels are frankly admitted
to require charitable aid for their upkeep, though they are in their
management institutional; that is to say, they aim at economy by the
subdivision of labour. It never seems to have occurred to those who
appeal for funds to establish such places that the girls in the
majority of cases have solved the problem for themselves, by what I
have called, and what practically is, a kind of adoption; and that
their solution is the correct one—that the minority who have failed to
obtain adoption can be better helped by securing it for them, if
necessary by subsidy, than by bringing them together in an
institution.
A good many jokes have been made as to who is the head of a
household—the man or the wife; and the question is occasionally a
subject of dispute; but in the family authority tends to adjust itself.
It can only exist when there is mutual toleration and respect. Each
member may be acutely conscious of the shortcomings of the other
and may discuss them freely, but they all tend to unite against
outside criticism, and if they are aware of each other’s demerits,
they are equally sharp to recognise qualities which help to their
advancement. So that while one member may be the head of the
family, another may be the centre of the family. It is not always
either the father or the mother that exercises most influence in the
family council. These matters are determined by circumstances, and
when there is discord and disunion it is almost invariably due to a
disregard of natural aptitudes and tendencies in the children, and to
an insistence on parental rights in the narrow sense.
The enforcement of mutual responsibility implies the recognition of
mutual power. The community in which we live is mainly made up of
families. Yet men are considered as individuals, legislated for, and
supervised as though this were not the case; and the authorities,
instead of working through the family on the individual, contrive to
raise the family feeling against them. The State is not an
aggregation of men, but an aggregation of families; and when men
are considered in the mass they are considered without relation to
their usual surroundings. It has been pointed out that the crowd
takes on characters different from the individuals composing it, but it
is quite wrong to imagine that men have ordinarily to be regarded as
units in a crowd. Attempts are made to supervise men in masses;
that is what takes place in institutions. Individuals are supervised in
certain circumstances outside, but they are best supervised in
conjunction and in co-operation with the members of the family of
which for a time they form a part.
If every family has not its black sheep, in most cases it has some
one of its members whose capacity is not equal to that of the others.
In some of the cases the direction in which the weakness is shown is
one that leads to breaches of the law. There are many children in
every city who are a great trial to their parents, and there are
parents who sorely try the patience and resources of their children.
There are families who spend care and effort to prevent one of their
members from becoming worse than he is and in endeavouring to
lead him into better courses; but the community does nothing to
help them in their efforts until they drop their burden or are
compelled to relinquish it, when the authorities promptly proceed to
apply official methods of treatment. We have reached the point
where it actually pays the family financially to disclaim responsibility,
for the State will do all (even though it does it badly) or will do
nothing. It would be cheaper in every sense to help those who are
trying to bear their responsibility—who are willing, though their
circumstances make them unable—than to do as we have done; and
acting on the ignorant assumption of our own knowledge, wait until
evil has developed so far as to be unbearable and then put the evil-
doer through our machinery.
Unless the offender is brought into sympathetic contact with
someone in the community, who will enable him to resist temptation
and encourage him in welldoing, he never does reform. There are
people who attribute the change in their conduct to a conversion,
sudden or otherwise, towards religion. The more sudden the change
in their mental outlook the greater danger they are in; for the
severing of an evil connection, though a necessary step, is not all
that is required. In a community such as ours a man cannot stand
alone. He cannot forsake his company and his accustomed pursuits
and become a hermit, living the life of an early Christian sent into
the wilderness. He has to remain in the world and live out his life
there. He must not only be converted from his former courses, but
turned to better courses. He cannot get on without company. He
cannot even earn his living alone; and the great advantage the
convert has in our place and time is the assurance that he will be
supported by others of like mind with him. They will find work for
him and fellowship, and they fill his time very full; but only in so far
as good comradeship is established between him and others is he
likely to remain steadfast. Comradeship deeper than the sharing of a
common theological dogma and a common emotionalism is the only
security for his reformation.
To the man whose life has been passed in sordid surroundings,
whose work has been monotonous and laborious, and whose
pleasures have been gross, the more emotional the form in which
the religious appeal is presented the greater its chance of success.
He becomes filled with the spirit—a different kind of spirit from that
which has hitherto influenced his actions—but the result is an
excitement and an exaltation as pronounced as any he felt in the
days of his iniquity. No one can listen to the convert at the street
corner without being struck by the fact that while he is detailing and
perhaps magnifying the nuisance he was before his regeneration, he
is as much excited and makes as much noise as he did in those
days. In some cases his public behaviour makes little difference to
his neighbours, for he is no quieter than he was; though, instead of
sending them to hell as he did in his wrath, he now tells them that
they are going there. Of course there is a world of difference both to
them and to him as a result of the change in his outlook. His
conduct is improved, if his manner is not; but every period of
exaltation is liable to be followed by one of depression, and this is
the danger to which his emotionalism exposes him.
The best way to prevent a man from falling back into his old habits
is to keep him too busy in the formation of new ones to have any
time to turn his attention to the past. We hear it commonly said that
the way to hell is paved with good intentions, but just as truly the
way to heaven may be paved with bad. If men are distracted from
doing the good they intend by something less worthy, they are as
often prevented from doing the evil they had concerted through
something interposing and claiming their interest. Religion, then,
may be a very potent influence in starting a man on a new course of
conduct, and its spirit may inspire him to continue in the way of
welldoing; but his perseverance will depend far more than he thinks
on his adaptation to the company of the religious, and his interest in
their work and their lives. Almost as little will the love of good keep
him from the world, the flesh, and the devil, as the love of evil will
make him a criminal.
For the most part men are not wicked because they prefer evil to
good, but because they have come under the influence of evil
associations which appeal to something in them. The man at the
street corner who speaks about serving God is, at any rate, logical
when he talks about having served the devil; but in those old bad
days he did not consider the devil at all. He did what pleased him
best, quite apart from any desire to have the approval of the Prince
of Darkness. It is only after his conversion that he discovers that all
his life he had been serving Satan without recognising him, and it is
equally possible, surely, for men to serve God without recognising
the fact. It is just as possible for a man to do good and to live well,
without thinking of anything beyond his pleasure in doing so, as to
live wickedly from the same reason. In both cases the fellowship of
others has a great deal to do with the matter.
There is only one method by which a prisoner is reformed, and that
is through the sympathetic guidance and assistance of some person
or persons between whom and him there is a common interest. An
employer engages an ex-prisoner and shows that he really desires
him to do well. He must not patronise him, but he has to impress in
some way the person he would help with the idea that he believes in
him. He has to revive in him a feeling of self-respect. How is this
done? There is no convenient formula. The man whose manner
attracts one may repel others. Religion, which most powerfully
influences some, shows no power to attract many; and the man who
will be deaf to one form of appeal may respond to another. It is
simply foolish to assume that because our attempts to correct a man
have failed he is incorrigible. All we can say is that we have failed
because we have not been dealing with him in a way suited to him.
Sometimes it is an old acquaintance or a fellow-workman that
impresses him and leads him to a new interest in life. Whoever
moves him, and however it may be done, it is only a new interest
that will expel the old. It never is what a man is taught, but what he
learns, that moves him.
 CHAPTER IX

ALTERNATIVES TO IMPRISONMENT
What is required—The case of the minor offenders—
The incidence of fines—The prevention of
drunkenness—Clubs—Probation of offenders—Its
partial application—Defects in its administration—
The false position of the probation officer—
Guardians required—Case of young girl—The plea
of want of power—Old and destitute offenders—
Prison and poorhouse.

I F the present methods of treatment mainly result in the liberation

of men and women from prison in a condition that makes it
difficult for them to do well—sometimes more difficult than it was
before they were sent there—it follows (1) that no one should be
sent to prison if there is any other means to protect the public from
him; and further (2) that no one should be liberated from prison
unless the community has some guarantee that it will not suffer
from him. In short, what happens to the prisoner in prison is of
secondary importance to the public. Of primary importance is, what
is likely to happen to them when he comes out. The first
consideration should be: How can you deal with people who have
offended so as to avoid making them worse and to ensure that they
will behave better? Unfortunately, one main concern of many is how
they can make the culprit suffer. One of the effects of retributive
punishment is to make those who undergo it less fit, physically or
mentally, than they were before its infliction. We must make up our
minds whether we really desire to correct the offender or not, and if
we seek his correction we must be prepared to throw overboard
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

textbookfull.com