THE ROD AS A REFORMATIVE AGENT IN THE EDUCATION OF YOUTHFUL LAW BREAKERS
A recent ruling of one of our city judges, after reprimanding two lads
brought before him for a trivial offence, decided that they should be
birched in “the good old way” prescribed by King Solomon, and he further
declared that children brought before him in future may be punished by
public school teachers just the same as they would be by their own
parents, and he bases his ruling on Section 713 of the Penal Code, which
reads as follows:
“When a person under the age of sixteen years is convicted of a
crime, he may, in the discretion of the court, instead of being
sentenced to a fine or imprisonment, be placed in charge of any
suitable person or institution willing to receive him, and may
be kept there until reaching his majority, or for a shorter
term, subjected to such discipline and control of the person or
institution receiving him as a parent or guardian may lawfully
exercise over a minor.”
For several years some of our best American prison reformers have been
in favor of the restoration of a mild infliction of corporal punishment
in reformatories and other institutions where juvenile delinquents are
kept. Indeed, after ten years of experience as Chaplain, I am satisfied
that a sound birching would be a godsend to many a New York boy in the
early stages of crime, and in a large number of cases might possibly
cure him of his foolish delusions.
As many persons consider the phrase “corporal punishment” offensive, I
am willing to accept ex-Superintendent Brockway’s suggestion, and call
it “corporal treatment.” And I am inclined to believe that the word
“treatment” would not militate against it as much as “punishment.”
“The object of punishment,” says Horace Mann, “is the prevention of
evil.” If corporal punishment does not inspire our youth to do good
works, it certainly in many cases deters them from doing evil ones.
It is interesting to know that four-fifths of all the school teachers
and principals of Greater New York are in favor of the revival of
corporal punishment for bad boys and have petitioned the Board of
Education for its restoration. When this matter came before the Board a
few months ago it was lost by only three votes, but it will come up
again—and may possibly become a law next time.
A large number of our school principals and teachers of wide experience
believe that something ought to be done to the boy who calls a teacher a
vile name and wilfully despises his superiors, besides turning him out
of school as an incorrigible. By that one act the Principal who is
unable to punish him for his bad conduct simply puts him on the street
to begin a criminal life. The only thing a bad boy fears is a spanking.
And as there is no discipline in thousands of homes, the Principals of
our City Schools in their appeal for the restoration of the rod, affirm
that used under certain restrictions it would save yearly a very large
number of our youths from moral shipwreck.
Z. R. Brockway while Superintendent of Elmira Reformatory frequently
spanked unruly young men, but then only as a last resort. Personally I
am opposed to the use of the lash in State prisons as entirely
antiquated and out of place where the appeal should be to reason and the
higher nature of man. But in dealing with malicious, disobedient and
incorrigible boys it is different. They will not listen to reason and
perhaps pay no attention to your warnings and will rush into crime like
a horse to battle unless they fear the rod. I believe when a boy under
sixteen years of age commits a crime, if he were taken aside and given a
sound birching, as is the custom in many English and German towns, it
would be vastly more beneficial and would make a deeper impression on
him than sending him to prison to be the associate of thieves and
pickpockets.
An English town clerk in a borough of 12,000 people writes, “It has been
our rule for more than forty years, not to permit a boy or girl to go
from our town hall to prison. The substitute, at least for boys, is a
birching. In case of repetition of the offence another birching is
given, and in one instance three whippings were given within a few days.
The result is we have not a juvenile thief in town. Thieving is
unpopular with boys who do not wish to be birched. But were it not for
the birching which is very painful, many of them would not mind to be
heroes in a prison or reformatory.”
In considering the right of parents to inflict corporal punishment on
their children, the common law as interpreted by the best jurists
sanctions it. There is no revenge whatever in the act—it is entirely
eliminated. In a large number of cases it is a matter of absolute
necessity. Although parental government preceded civil government, it is
no less coercive and often force must be used in the home to carry out
the will of the parents. Again, the parent is recognized as the natural
custodian of the child and is accountable to God and society for his
upbringing. Nor should we overlook the importance of inflicting corporal
punishment on youthful wrongdoers as a deterrent to commit other
offences. Punishment in itself is of divine origin and its application
has become well nigh universal and is likely to be continued in the
family till the end of time, and is also supported by Holy Writ. “He
that spareth the rod,” says Solomon, “hateth his son.” “Chasten thy son
while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” “The
rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his
mother to shame.”
During the past decade crime has increased among the youth of the
city—at least fifty per cent.
The cause of all this is found in the criminal and lawless homes and the
foolish prejudice that is abroad against the corporal punishment of
minors. Every year hundreds of boys from sixteen to twenty years old are
locked up in the Tombs for several weeks and afterwards sent to the
House of Refuge and Elmira Reformatory where they can be detained all
the way from one to twenty years, but they care not for such detention.
In fact, when you speak to them of prison life they wear a bravado that
is astonishing. But the moment you birch them for their wilful and
disobedient conduct these young men quail and promise to do better.
There is so much foolish and unreasonable leniency exercised by
magistrates and judges when small boys are before them, that many people
begin to feel that parole without some kind of corporal punishment is a
mockery and a farce. Only recently a city paper took a Special Session
Judge to task for paroling some malicious boys who had committed
vandalism in Central Park. There was no punishment in the sentence.
Nothing to impress them with the majesty of the law. If these boys had
been well spanked till they promised never to do the like again, the
paroling would be all right, but not otherwise.
If it is degrading to punish boys for wrong doing, then the best men now
living were punished in their youth. And many of the men now believe
that it saved them from criminal lives. Foolish sentimentalists tell us
that it is degrading to spank or birch a boy, but what is more degrading
and damning than crime?
A well known Probation Officer of large experience in the city of
Brooklyn, gave me to understand that if he had his way he would erect in
every Police Station a whipping post where he would treat to a sound
birching, _a la Solomon_, all the young hoodlums, thieves and law
breakers that come before the courts. Most of these young men come from
bad homes where they had no training whatever, and where their
weak-minded or indulgent parents permitted them to violate the laws of
God and men daily. If these young ruffians refuse to keep out of crime
or be at home at night by 9:30 o’clock, let them have another dose of
the strap, says this Probation Officer and keep it up till they come to
their senses!
As soon as they promised faithfully “Never to do it again” I would give
them a chance. A good spanking is far better for an unruly boy that
breaks the law than sending him to a prison.
If young children are taken from homes and placed in reformative
institutions, why should corporal punishment cease when it is vastly
more humane than cellular confinement, deprivation of food or what is
commonly called “cuffing,” which simply means to be hung up by the
wrists to a cell door sometimes for twelve hours at a time. All of which
I characterize as extremely brutal. And this is done in many of our
reformatories.
At the annual meeting of the National Prison Association in Hartford,
Conn., a few years ago the question of corporal punishment in our
prisons was thoroughly discussed. Clarence B. Hoyt, Warden of the
Colorado State Penitentiary, said that the feeling against corporal
punishment was one of mere sentimentality, and advocated the use of
paddles for spanking unruly prisoners and also the employment of an
electric paddle to secure impartiality and prevent either partial
indulgence or prejudiced severity. The warden produced a new version of
an old proverb, “Spare the paddle and spoil the con.”
It is worthy of note that the whipping post in Delaware has had an
astonishing influence over human brutes in that commonwealth and as an
expeller of criminals from the State, surpasses any form of punishment
known. All classes, with only few exceptions, are in favor of its
maintenance; and even Chief Justice Lore, naturally of a sympathetic
temperament, has been so convinced of its value as to commend it
heartily and favor its retention.
Henry M. Boise, prison reformer and author, says: “There are found in
reformatories, as well as in all other prisons, those who are so
entirely devoid of mental and moral sensibility when committed, as to be
beyond the reach of any incentive or punishment except physical pain.
Their nature is but little above the animal. For such persons, the
general experience of wardens of prisons, after trial of bread and water
in dungeons, deprivation of all privileges, showers of water, tying up
in a standing position, and other ingenious methods of inflicting pain
and discomfort humanely, has been found a spanking with a piece of sole
leather, softened by soaking in water, the most effective, immediate,
certain and humane punishment.”
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