much energy against the idea that we can deal effectively with
juvenile criminality by means of a few new paragraphs in our criminal
codes, and of a few new societies with patronage to distribute. We
must not regard neglected childhood and juvenile criminality as
isolated phenomena, but must consider them in association with the
economic, moral, and intellectual neglect of the proletariat, from
which juvenile criminality springs. These proletarian conditions form
the starting-point for our knowledge of neglect in childhood and of
juvenile crime, and hence for our knowledge of the means we should
adopt in dealing with these. The evils have to be averted, not from
youth only, but also from the proletariat. Political care, which is
directed towards the saving, in the narrower sense, of neglected and
criminal youth, is inadequate; what is required is a general scheme
of social and political reconstruction whereby the true sources of
juvenile criminality will be dried up.
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.
In the case of juvenile offenders, imprisonment while awaiting trial
involves the greatest dangers, for its effects may be as disastrous
as those of imprisonment after sentence. The trial also involves
very serious dangers. In the corridors and waiting-rooms of the
law-court, the juvenile offender is kept awaiting the hearing of his
case. He sees there many things new to him. He hears the conversation
of the witnesses and of the other accused. He receives advice as
to his bearing in the dock. A public trial is not in the least
adapted to induce in the juvenile offender a sense of shame, or to
awaken in him the consciousness that he has taken a wrong path. As
far as he understands the matter, an imposing apparatus is at work
in a fine big room; the officials of the court do their work in a
cool and businesslike manner, and with an air of importance. In the
court there are a number of persons drawn to the place by curiosity
simply, and among these are the old associates of the accused, who
watch his behaviour with an eager interest, and regard his youthful
misdemeanours with indifference, or even with admiration. He feels
himself to be the hero and the central figure of a drama, and this
makes it even more impossible for him to follow the legal proceedings
attentively, and to defend himself in a proper manner. When the trial
is over, the newspapers are full of his case. If he is set at liberty
he immediately becomes the centre of an admiring circle of his
former associates, who listen to his words with eager attention, and
encourage him to relate again and again, and with many exaggerations,
the incidents of his case.
_Proposed Reforms._--Gradually the idea gains ground that in the case
of juvenile offenders the procedure should be totally different from
what it is in the case of adults. The principal reforms that are
proposed are the following.
(_a_) In the case of juvenile criminals it is indispensable to do
away with personal freedom. The leading principle of our penal
procedure, namely, to safeguard individual liberty, is out of place
in the case of juvenile offenders.
(_b_) To-day, owing to defective understanding of the psychology
of children, the authorities regard juvenile offences as extremely
serious. It is held that every child that is brought before the
courts is of necessity corrupt. But it is not by any rigid legal
code, but rather by the principles of expediency, that we should be
guided in the case of juvenile offenders; that is to say, in the case
of petty offences, committed by young persons, the latter should
never be brought before the law courts at all. The objection that
on general legal principles an even-handed justice is absolutely
essential, is so far sound, that there is undoubtedly a danger lest
the authorities should refrain from initiating proceedings against
the children of persons of influence, whilst letting the law take
its course when the offenders’ parents are people of no importance.
But this objection can also be overcome. The principle of expediency
can, in addition, be applied in the following manner: the prosecuting
authority allows a period of probation to elapse before proceedings
are initiated, and if the youthful offender continues to behave
well, the prosecution is altogether dropped. In the case of juvenile
offenders, legal prosecution is not of much importance. The judge or
magistrate would need the powers and capabilities of an inquisitor,
for if he is to decide rightly, he must be acquainted with every
detail regarding the life and the environment of the juvenile
offender.
(_c_) In the preliminary proceedings it is necessary to study very
thoroughly the family life and social conditions in which the child
has grown up. The most satisfactory way is to seek the necessary
information from the parents or other persons in authority, or from
other adult associates of the child, as from the guardian, the
teacher, the clergyman, or from servants.
(_d_) A child awaiting trial should on no account be sent to prison.
If safe custody of the person is essential, some grown person in whom
the court has confidence must be made responsible for the care of the
child.
(_e_) The prosecuting authority should have the right to make any
proposal which may further the child’s interests, including a
proposal to send the accused to a reformatory.
(_f_) The trial should on no account be a public one. (It is
essential, when criminal proceedings are taken against a minor, that
no other minors should be admitted to court as idle spectators.) We
are concerned, not with the punishment, but with the education of a
child, and the matter is not one suitable for the fullest publicity.
But for the protection of the child’s interests, it is, of course,
necessary that the legal representatives of the accused, and the
officials of organisations for child-protection, should attend the
proceedings.
(_g_) Juveniles should never be tried by a jury. This proceeding
is too solemn and too elaborate. Moreover, it is not within the
competence of a jury to determine whether the child possesses the
understanding so frequently mentioned as to the punishable character
of the offence. The only reason for which trial by jury might be
advantageous, is that a jury is more apt than a judge to take a mild
view.
(_h_) In the first instance, even in the case of graver offences, the
matter should come before an individual judge. Whenever possible, he
should be one experienced in matters of education and psychology,
and one whose specialty it is to deal with juvenile offenders. The
majority of criminal judges do not possess to-day the experience
and training requisite to the competent handling of juvenile
offenders, inasmuch as the majority of criminals brought before
them are adults. In every law court there should be one judge whose
specialty it is to deal with juvenile offenders; in countries in
which the law court is also the Board of Guardianship (see note on
p. 74), juvenile offenders should be brought before the Children’s
Judge (_Pupilarrichter_), who knows the children better than his
professional colleagues. Criminal proceedings against children
tend more and more to assume the form simply of the choice of the
necessary educational measures. Inasmuch as a coercive reformatory
education, when not the outcome of a criminal prosecution, has, in
most cases, been prescribed by the Board of Guardianship, it would
seem as well that the power to order a coercive reformatory education
in the case also of juvenile criminal offenders should be transferred
to the law court which works under the authority of the Board of
Guardianship.
(_i_) The prosecuting authority and the law court must keep in
close touch with all the associations devoted to the work of
child-protection, and with the institutions subserving this purpose,
and must avail themselves of the counsel and support of these
associations and institutions.
(_k_) In criminal proceedings against juvenile offenders, defence
plays a different part from that which it plays in the criminal
prosecution of adults. It should not be the principal aim of
the defending counsel to secure an acquittal or a diminution of
punishment, but rather to make sure that the juvenile offender shall
receive the treatment best adapted to effect his reform.
_Penal Methods in the United States of America._--It is in the
United States of America that penal methods applicable in the case
of juvenile offenders have obtained their highest development.
Children’s Courts now exist in about thirty of the States; the first
of these Courts came into existence in the year 1899. The Children’s
Court is either a special department of an ordinary law court, or
else a Children’s Court _ad hoc_; in either case it deals with all
the punishable offences committed by children, with the exception of
very serious crime. In many of the States of the American Union the
Children’s Courts deal not only with neglected children and truants
from school, but also, and very logically, with certain offences
committed by adults; for example, the infliction of excessive
punishment upon children, the ill-treatment of children, breaches
of the laws regulating child-labour, and the like. In this we see
a clear manifestation of the tendency to make the Children’s Court
responsible for all legal matters wherein juveniles are concerned.
The Children’s Court lays the greatest possible stress upon giving
the accused an opportunity, after he has received appropriate
instruction, to effect his own amendment without the further
intervention of the Court. But should the offence be repeated, a
sentence will have to be passed, and the matter of recidivity will
have to be taken into consideration. The powers of the Court are the
widest possible. It can reprimand the child, punish it, postpone
sentence, send it to a reformatory, determining where and how the
coercive reformatory education shall be effected, can summon the
child before the Court at any time, &c. In many of the States,
individualisation and classification have been carried so far that
the Courts hold special sittings to deal with truancy from school,
the case of neglected children, criminal offences, &c.
The judge of the Children’s Court cannot expect to attain any very
valuable results in the absence of a staff of assistants possessing
the necessary training. But these assistants are not educationalists,
nor doctors, nor child-protectors. The right hand of the Children’s
Court is the “Probation Officer,” who is appointed by the Court--a
thoroughly cultivated person, generally one trained originally as a
teacher, who has received theoretical and practical training in a
“philanthropical school.” They have no connection with the police,
and yet have some of the powers of police officials. It is their duty
to make all the investigations needed by the Court; they compile a
record of the personal data of all the children who pass through
their hands; they furnish reports to the Courts; help the children
and their parents by word and deed, both during and after the legal
proceedings, in the manner prescribed by the Courts; if necessary,
they find suitable foster-parents, and keep under supervision all the
children who are placed on probation.
The introduction into Europe of this American system is, in the first
place, a problem of the organisation of the law courts, inasmuch as
the Children’s Court combines the functions of an ordinary law court
with those of a Board of Guardianship. In the second place, the
problem is one of the reform of criminal law, since the Children’s
Courts would be of no value without the power to place children on
probation. In such countries as Hungary, in which the authority
exercising guardianship is not a law court, but a specialised
administrative body, the judge who has to try a child charged with a
criminal offence is not empowered to exercise any of the functions of
a Board of Guardianship. In those countries in Europe in which it is
possible to effect the necessary changes in the organisation of the
law courts, and to secure the necessary reforms in criminal law, and
where suitable judges for the Children’s Courts are available (the
personality of these judges is, of course, a matter of fundamental
importance), the introduction of Children’s Courts is possible.
In Europe the American example is more and more appreciated and
imitated; of recent years advances in this direction have been made
in almost every civilised country, not even excepting England, whose
legal development is essentially conservative. In the application of
these ideas we find numerous differences; in Germany, for instance,
several systems are in vogue. The general introduction of the
Children’s Courts into Europe is certain to ensue, inasmuch as the
conditions which have led to their introduction in America obtain
equally in Europe.
CHAPTER III
PROSTITUTION
_The Causes of Prostitution._--As in every commercial transaction,
so also in the women-market, two factors are decisive--supply and
demand. The demand arises from the fact that to men of the upper
classes marriage has become difficult or impossible. Whereas in the
case of the lower classes of the population, concubinage offers a
substitute for marriage, so that for the men of the lower classes
prostitution may be regarded as superfluous, in the case of men of
the upper classes prostitution is practically the only available
substitute for marriage, so that these men are led to purchase
casual and temporary wives from among the women of the lower
classes. The supply depends upon poverty, which is the principal
cause of prostitution. By this it is not meant to imply that actual
destitution is usually the direct and immediate cause of the adoption
of a life of prostitution. It is rather that a number of factors,
the outcome or the accompaniments of poverty, combine to place girls
in a position very favourable to their becoming prostitutes. The
environment in which proletarian children live is an unfavourable one
in the matter of sexual relationships. It is one which prepares girls
for prostitution, and makes them very liable to adopt this mode of
life. They are forced to live in a single room with the other members
of a large family, with strangers, and even casual night-lodgers--a
room in which they all cook, eat, sleep, and practise sexual
intercourse. The girls even have to share a common bed. Thus there
is no place in their experience for the sentiment of shame. In
addition, proletarian children often form evil associations at a very
early age, and become acquainted in very early childhood and in the
dirtiest possible manner with all the circumstances of the sexual
life--with the most offensive and unclean, the most abnormal and
morbid excrescences of the disordered sexual life. Many women would
never have sunk into the slough of prostitution had their upbringing
been a different one. Often enough the pressure of poverty even leads
parents to make money out of the procurement of their own children.
The great majority of prostitutes are recruited from the class of
young maid-servants. Maid-servants pass their childhood in country
villages. Even to-day, in some countries, most of them can neither
read nor write. They are not only unintelligent, but thoroughly
simple; naturally they are easily seduced. In the country circles
from which the great majority of them come, premarital sexual
intercourse is hardly regarded as immoral, and is an almost universal
custom. The girls bring these ideas with them to the town, with
results that are necessarily disastrous. In most cases they are
completely cut off from their parental homes, and lack the firm
support given by a well-ordered family life, are sent from the
country into a strange and incomprehensible world, and live under one
roof with persons belonging to a social class by whose members they
are regarded as being of inferior birth. They pass their new lives
in a circle in which the demands are far higher than they have been
accustomed to; imitatively, they soon come to share these demands,
but can satisfy them only by the supplementary earnings of shame. By
the men of the household, most often by their employer or his sons,
they are seduced, and then left to fend for themselves. They seldom
stay long in one situation; and when out of employment, especially if
they have formed bad associations, they are exposed to the gravest
moral dangers. Their hours of work are unlimited, and for this reason
they wish to live as intensely as possible during the few and scanty
hours of liberty. Their legal position is a very unfavourable one,
and it is practically impossible for them to organise themselves in
a trade union. They form a servile class. Their personal desires are
continually repressed, and even this is but a preparation for their
subsequent profession, in which servility and repression will be
their fate.
_Prostitution and Child-Protection_.--Prostitution explains and
favours the development of numerous factors which make the work of
child-protection an ever-existing need. These factors are: (_a_)
criminal offences against persons under age; (_b_) venereal diseases;
(_c_) a fall in women’s wages, and a consequent fall in men’s wages
also; (_d_) corruption of the sexual morals of juveniles; (_e_) the
fact that prostitutes, though somewhat exceptionally, bear children.
(_a_) The definite purpose of certain criminal offences committed
against women under age is simply to supply fresh and new wares for
the market of prostitution. For it is not only or mainly women who,
in respect of physical beauty, age, or of some other circumstance,
are of comparatively little value, that become prostitutes. Among
the men who have recourse to prostitutes are some who can pay high
fees, and therefore demand an article of high quality. Among these
latter, there are, of course, some who actually prefer experienced
prostitutes. But most of them demand especially physical beauty, and
this is more likely to be possessed by younger women than by older
ones. A considerable proportion of prostitutes are under legal age;
a large majority of them have entered the career of professional
prostitution before coming of age. An adult woman is much less likely
than one under age to become a prostitute. Statistical data bearing
on this question are, however, lacking. The white-slave traffic has
to-day attained gigantic proportions; the sources of this traffic are
supplied by professional procurement, a branch of industry in which
many thousands are engaged. It is obvious that the young girls who
will attract the attention of the professional procurer or procuress
will, for the most part, belong to the proletariat.
(_b_) Prostitution is an unceasing source of the venereal diseases,
the character of these in any district being intimately associated
with the characteristics of prostitution in that district. The
principal seats of prostitution are the true foci of the venereal
diseases.
(_c_) The matter of women’s wages has already been discussed.[7]
(_d_) Prostitution leads to the corruption of children’s morals and
drags them into vicious courses. Prostitutes usually live in those
quarters of the town, in those streets, in those houses, in which the
population belongs mainly to the proletariat. It is utterly improper
that prostitutes should live in the same house with persons who have
young children. Indeed, the question arises whether prostitutes
should not be absolutely forbidden to live in any house in which
there are persons under age.
(_e_) No official statistics exist to show how many children are
born to prostitutes. According to certain private statistical
data, collected in large towns, two children are born each year
to every hundred prostitutes. Many regard it as inexplicable that
prostitutes, who have sexual intercourse so often, should so
rarely become pregnant. But it is precisely on account of over-use
that the female reproductive organs, in these cases, lose their
functional reproductive power. Where everyone walks, the grass
never grows. Moreover, there is no necessary association between
coitus and conception. In most cases, alike in the prostitute and
in the man who has intercourse with her, the idea and the desire of
procreation are non-existent. Many make excuses for prostitution on
the ground that, since prostitutes seldom have children, we have
here a counterpoise to illegitimate births. But it is statistically
proved that where prostitution is general--as, for example, in great
towns--illegitimate births are commoner than in the country, where
prostitution is practically unknown. We need not stop to consider
here whether the wider diffusion of prostitution would be more
desirable than the occurrence of a greater number of illegitimate
births. It is obviously necessary that the children of prostitutes
should be removed from the care of their mother and brought up
elsewhere.
Those who regard every prostitute as a degenerate being will reject
_a priori_ any attempt to rescue them. It is a fact of experience
that attempts to reform prostitutes are rarely very successful.
Experience shows also that the reformatory education of boys is more
effectual than the reformatory education of girls, and that such an
education gives better results in the case of girls who are merely
neglected than of those who are morally fallen. But this difference
is not due to the fact that prostitutes are congenitally degenerate,
but simply to the fact that they have become degenerate owing to
the conditions of their life. For in women a life of prostitution
develops all those qualities--laziness, love of adornment,
hypertension of the sexual impulse, &c.--which make it impossible
for people to earn their bread by regular work. As soon as the girl
is subjected to the supervision of the _police des mœurs_, she is
for ever lost. The supervision breaks down completely her power of
resistance, exposes her to contempt, and permanently excludes her
from what is called respectable society. For these reasons, girls
under age should on no account be subjected to the supervision of
the _police des mœurs_. Precisely because it is almost impossible to
induce a prostitute to adopt any other mode of life, we must, in our
campaign against prostitution, devote ourselves above all to those
prophylactic measures by which girls may be withheld from the first
steps which will lead ultimately to the marketing of their bodies.
CHAPTER IV
PUNISHABLE OFFENCES AGAINST CHILDREN
_The Two Groups._--Previously we have spoken of punishable offences
committed by children; we pass now to consider those committed
against children. These latter may be classified in two sub-groups.
To the former group belong the punishable offences in which the
primary aim is to injure or destroy a child. To the latter group
belong offences against children in which the injury to the child
is incidental. The precise line of demarcation between these two
groups differs in the legal systems of different countries. The most
important offences in the former group are: infanticide, the exposing
of children, abortion (these three crimes occur chiefly in connection
with the birth of illegitimate children), criminal offences against
the chastity of women (for example, rape, seduction, procurement).
It is only with regard to offences in this first group that
statistical data are available. In association with the development
of capitalism, there has been a great increase in their number. But,
according to official statistics, there is not one of the offences
above specified which occurs to the extent of 1 per cent. of all
criminal offences; most of those named are considerably less than 1
per cent. In the case of the other criminal offences, only private
statistical data are available.
In respect of the offences comprising the second group, the
important questions arise, whether there exist any mitigating or
aggravating circumstances, such as that the offence was committed
against a child, and not against an adult, or that it was committed,
not against a stranger, but against one for whose instruction or
upbringing the offender was responsible. Is it not desirable that
the circumstance that the criminal offence was committed against
a child should be stated in the law expressly as a reason for an
increase in the severity of the punishment, or else that the law
should give children, precisely because they are children, a higher
degree of protection against certain offences? Owing to the fact that
young people, in consequence of their physical weakness, are much
less able than adults to resist aggression, there is every reason
for the preferential legal protection of children. The protection
should, indeed, be more effective the younger the child. For example,
a child of ten can call for help, and can run away, but an infant is
utterly defenceless. Punishable offences against children need to
be severely punished, because they betray the existence of a coarse
and rough disposition in the offender. It must be regarded as an
aggravating circumstance when the offender is the person responsible
for the child’s upbringing. And yet the criminal offences of parents,
guardians, foster-parents, and teachers, against the children under
their care, are often nothing more than a misuse in all good faith
of the authority entrusted to them. Simply in the interests of
the child, severe punishment is often undesirable, because of the
rancour against the child it would tend to arouse. (These questions
are of importance only so long as the practice continues of passing
determinate sentences. The introduction of the indeterminate
sentence, which is in line with the tendency of evolution, would
render these questions unimportant.)
If any offender whose conduct against a child has proved him to
be incapable of exercising with propriety parental authority, the
powers of a guardian, the powers of a foster-parent, the duties of
a teacher, it is essential to deprive him of these powers without
delay; and this should be done, not only in the interests of the
particular child, but in the interests of all children. Anyone who
has committed a serious punishable offence against a child is, as
a rule, altogether unfitted to exercise authority of any kind over
any children. If the offender is punished, and thereafter the child
is left in his power, the child will usually become the object upon
which he will work off the rancour inspired by the punishment. It is
essential that this change in the guardianship of the child should
not be postponed until the case is decided and judgment is passed,
but that it should be effected immediately it is thought necessary
to institute proceedings. The objection that the right to remove
a child from the care of an offender properly belongs, not to the
criminal court, but to the Board of Guardianship, is invalid. The
procedures rendered necessary in consequence of the initiation of the
criminal proceedings cannot, in these cases, be distributed among
various different authorities. In most instances it is essential
to act at once. Authority over a child, in a modern State, is not
essentially different from an official position. Since our criminal
courts are empowered to decree any one’s unfitness to hold an
official position, and to deprive any citizen of his civil rights,
why should they not also be empowered to decide that certain persons
are unfitted to exercise authority over children? The courts have
the power to declare that through the loss of civil rights a man has
become unfitted for the position of an official guardian; a teacher
in a State school loses his position _ipso facto_ if convicted of a
criminal offence; why should not the criminal courts have the power
to deprive parents, foster-parents, and private teachers of their
“office,” and to declare them to be unfitted to hold it?
The great majority of punishable offences against children are
committed against children of the lower classes.
_Infanticide._--By infanticide we understand the deliberate killing
of an illegitimate child by its mother during or immediately
after birth. For the following reasons, it is necessary that this
offence should not be punished with extreme severity: (_a_) in the
act of parturition the mother’s physical and mental equilibrium
is disturbed, so that her condition must be regarded as one of
diminished responsibility; (_b_) in the act of parturition the
unmarried mother is influenced by the dread of disgrace, and by fears
as to the child’s future, in ways from which the married mother
is free; (_c_) neither the secret and indiscriminate reception of
illegitimate children into foundling hospitals, nor the most severe
punishments, suffice to prevent the commission of this crime. (In
France, for example, infanticide is punished with the greatest
possible severity, but this does not prevent the commission of the
offence. For, in the first place, since in France inquiry into
paternity is forbidden, during parturition the fears of the unmarried
mother as to the future of the child are exceptionally distressing.
In the second place, since the jury know that the offence will be
punished with draconian severity, they prefer to return a verdict of
Not Guilty.) We do not find, in every modern State, such an attitude
towards infanticide. There are certain countries in which infanticide
is even more severely punished than the murder of an adult. In
the country, infanticide is comparatively commoner than in towns,
this difference being connected with the fact that in the country
districts there are no foundling hospitals, and with the fact that in
the country criminal abortion is less frequently practised than in
the towns.
There are certain children with respect to whom medical science
indicates, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that it is impossible
for them ever to become useful members of society; indeed, in the
case of many of them, it is obvious that their existence is directly
harmful to the species--for example, cripples, high-grade cretins,
idiots, and children with gross deformities. But at the present
day such children are preserved to lead a life of martyrdom. The
greatest possible pains and the highest refinements of medical skill
are employed to keep them alive. Huge institutions are erected for
their care, and there is great rejoicing if, after years of laborious
efforts, some of these small unfortunates have been taught to speak
or write a few words. This procedure is a grave infringement of
the law of parsimony (see the first paragraph of Chapter V. in the
General Part), if only for the reason that in other departments of
social life, with the same expenditure of effort, far greater and
more valuable results could be obtained. When such children, for
one reason or another, find their way into the world, they should
be quickly and painlessly destroyed. What method should be adopted
to attain this end is a minor consideration. The most suitable plan
would appear to be that, after a thorough expert medical examination,
such children should be killed by a swift and painless narcotic.
For the present, we may leave the question open whether the consent
of the parents should first be obtained. According to the moral
conceptions of to-day, not only do people shrink back when such
energetic measures are proposed, but every act by which individuals,
however worthless, are sacrificed in the interests of the species,
is regarded as immoral, and even as a punishable offence. But just
as to-day we treat certain individuals whose conduct endangers the
present generation in such a way as to deprive them of opportunities
for doing further harm, so also should we deal as seems best from
the social point of view with those individuals who are useless to
society, or may be harmful to future generations. As soon as it
is generally understood that the interest of future generations
is at least as important as that of the present generation, that
the interest of the species is more important than that of a few
individuals useless to society, and as soon as the number of cases
in which such destruction of children is desirable has been greatly
diminished owing to the adoption of appropriate preventive measures,
it will be regarded as a necessary and moral act to put an end to
these defectives.
_Abortion._--Abortion is common in every age. In ancient times,
amongst the majority of peoples, it was not considered a punishable
offence. Even in Christian Europe, down to the eighteenth century, it
was not punished when the act was performed within ten weeks of the
occurrence of conception. The explanation of this is that during the
earlier stages of development the embryo was not supposed to possess
a soul. To-day, abortion is a punishable offence, but is none the
less extraordinarily common. Official statistics make no approach to
completeness, for the great majority of abortions remain secret. An
expert to-day, owing to the gigantic advances in surgical technique,
can procure abortion without either difficulty or danger. In every
large town there are numerous doctors who specialise as abortionists.
Even the midwives do not hesitate to undertake such manipulations. In
every populous resort will be found large institutions where women
are given an opportunity for concealing the consequences of illicit
intercourse by the practice of abortion.
Where conception has occurred in a married woman, it may be fear for
the future of the child, of a lowering of the standard of life of the
family, or of the act of parturition, which leads to the practice
of abortion; where the pregnant woman is unmarried, fears as to the
future of mother and child may also be operative, but the principal
motives are the dread of disgrace and the desire to conceal the fact
that pregnancy has occurred. Among women of the proletariat it will
readily be understood that abortion is carried out less skilfully
than in the case of women belonging to the well-to-do class,
for proletarian women are unable to pay for such highly-skilled
assistance. It is for this reason that a much larger proportion
of criminal abortions are discovered in the case of proletarian
women than in the case of the well-to-do. The number of abortions
is comparatively greater in the towns than in the country, and the
technique of abortion is a more skilful one in the former districts
than in the latter.
It has recently been advocated that abortion should no longer be
regarded as a punishable offence. Others are satisfied with the
proposal that the mother should be left unpunished. These proposals
are supported by the following arguments. The existing law is
altogether inefficient, for it attacks not the act in itself, but
merely the poverty of the doer and the clumsiness of the act. The
punishment of abortion is especially unjust: (_a_) when the act of
intercourse has been effected against the will of the woman who has
been impregnated--for example, in case of rape; (_b_) when abortion
is indicated on special grounds of health--for example, when the
health or life of the mother is seriously threatened by pregnancy or
parturition, and there is no doubt that the life of the mother is
more valuable than that of the child; (_c_) when there is no doubt
that the child, if born at full term, would be weakly, diseased,
useless, or even injurious to society--for example, when a person
suffering from severe insanity or chronic alcoholism impregnates
a woman, or when an insane, epileptic, or imbecile woman becomes
pregnant. (As to certain other arguments which are put forward, such
as that everyone has a perfect right to the disposal of his own
body, and that for this reason the prospective mother can deal with
the fruit of her womb precisely as she pleases; or that, according
to the biogenetic law, the embryo is not a human being, but a lower
animal--no importance need be attached to them. They are altogether
superfluous.)
As yet there is no country in which these views have been
incorporated in legislation, but the time cannot be far distant in
which this will take place. Of course, when this happens, abortion,
if effected by a married woman, without sufficient cause, and without
the consent of her husband, would have to be regarded as an adequate
ground for divorce.
_The Protection of Feminine Chastity._--The criminal laws of to-day
recognise only the more serious offences against the chastity of
women, such as rape, seduction, gross instances of procurement,
and so on. The aims at reform in this connection are as follows.
Feminine chastity, above all as far as young girls are concerned,
demands much more effective protection than it receives to-day.
The age of consent--that is, the age below which intercourse with
a woman is in any case a punishable offence--should be raised at
least to eighteen, since protection is needed, not merely for the
age of bodily immaturity, but also for the period of the puberal
development, the dangerous time during which the sexual impulse
is awakening. Not only those should be punished who have effected
intercourse with a woman by force or under stress of threats, but
also those who have effected intercourse by fraudulent means, by
promise of marriage, or by taking advantage of the woman’s dependent
position (as in the case of employer and female employee or master
and maid-servant). Procurement, in the legislation of most countries,
receives a ridiculously mild punishment; and in order to restrict
the growth of the white-slave traffic, which, as previously pointed
out, has now attained colossal dimensions, it is essential that any
one who procures a child for sexual purposes should be punished very
severely. Those also should be punished who perform improper acts in
the presence of an immature person, or who show such a person obscene
pictures, or tell obscene stories, or the like. Boys, on account of
their sexual inexperience, need the protection of the criminal law no
less than girls.
_Maltreatment of Children._--Maltreatment of children belongs to the
second group of punishable offences against children. It is rare
for the offender to maltreat the child of a stranger; the offence
is usually committed against a child for whose care the offender
is responsible. The principal kinds of maltreatment of children
are--(_a_) corporal chastisement; (_b_) improper behaviour towards
children (in this connection the question arises whether parents can
commit an offence against the honour of their own children); (_c_)
working children to excess, either in the form of overwork at school,
excessive domestic work, overwork at wage-earning, forcing children
to beg, and the like.
Begging is more lucrative in proportion to the degree to which the
child’s appearance is calculated to arouse compassion--the poorer,
the more miserable, the more delicate it looks. In actual fact, a
child is often ill-used simply in order to give it an aspect which
will arouse more sympathy. Frequently a minimum amount of money
is fixed, which, under fear of punishment--usually gross physical
ill-treatment--the child has to bring home as a result of its day’s
begging. In large towns children are hired out to professional
beggars; in such towns as Paris and London there is actually a
regular market for such children. The child employed for purposes
of begging suffers many moral disadvantages; it becomes crafty and
obstinate, acquires a dislike for work and a love of enjoyment,
&c. The general public, which squanders money freely in almsgiving
to child beggars, gives without thought of the consequences. It is
less trouble to drop a few coppers into the outstretched hand of a
mendicant than to undertake a thorough investigation of the case,
and, if necessary, to remove the child from the corrupting influences
of its present environment, and to see that it will be properly cared
for in future. Mendicancy frequently leads to criminal courses, more
especially to offences against property, and in the case of girls to
offences against sexual morality.
The immediate causes of the maltreatment of children are the
following: (_a_) Illness or delicacy of the child; (_b_) illness or
nervousness in the parents; (_c_) interested motives; (_d_) a rough
disposition and incapacity for education on the part of the child;
(_e_) improper views concerning education; (_f_) alcoholism; (_g_)
exaggerated religious ideas; (_h_) sexual causes; (_i_) unhappy
conditions of conjugal life.
(_a_) Parents are much more likely to ill-treat sickly or weakly
children than healthy ones, for the former much more readily prove
a burden than the latter. Feeble-mindedness, moreover, is difficult
to recognise, and is often regarded by the parents as obstinacy or
naughtiness. It is a painful fact that in many cases the parents are
themselves responsible for the defective intellectual equipment of
their child, and yet it is on account of this very defect that they
ill-use the child.
(_b_) Delicate and nervous parents are much more likely than healthy
ones to ill-treat their children. In the case of parents who are
mentally unsound, the lust of cruelty may be a direct outcome of
their mental state.
(_c_) In many cases children’s lives are insured for a considerable
sum, and in this case the death of the child may be desired by the
parents for the sake of the insurance money. This happened very often
in the manufacturing towns of England, until the matter became the
subject of special legislation. Sometimes parents ill-treat children
in the hope of inheriting money belonging to these latter.
(_e_) The view is very general that the corporal punishment of
children plays an essential part in the process of education. The
child becomes to some extent accustomed to such punishment, whereby
the punishment ceases to be effective; as a result of this, yet more
severe punishment is inflicted.
(_f_) Alcoholism is a cause, both direct and indirect, of the
maltreatment of children. The father of a family who, in a state of
intoxication, will maltreat his family, and who, when sober again, is
bitterly ashamed of himself, is a familiar figure.
(_g_) Maltreatment of children (especially by clergymen, monks, and
nuns) often depends on the belief that it is necessary to mortify
the flesh in order to save the soul. There is also some connection
between exaggerated piety and sexual perversion.
(_h_) A quite considerable proportion of cases in which children are
maltreated are dependent upon sexual motives. But the maltreatment of
a child may give rise to sexual excitement, not only in the active
agent, but also in the passive. Cases of this nature occur chiefly in
the upper classes.
(_i_) In an unhappy marriage, one of the parents will often maltreat
the child simply because the latter loves the other parent.
Ill-usage of children may be the act either of relatives or of
strangers. Among the relatives, we have first of all the unmarried
mother; secondly, the natural father; thirdly, the stepmother;
fourthly, the lawful parents. Among strangers, we have chiefly to
consider teachers and foster-parents.
(_a_) Among children suffering from gross ill-treatment, we find a
preponderance, in view of their respective numbers, of illegitimate
as compared with legitimate children.
(_b_) We are always told that an illegitimate child will be horribly
ill-treated if its mother marries, not the child’s father, but
another man. It will be ill-treated by the man because it is a
stepchild, and by the woman because it interferes with her relations
to her husband, and awakens unpleasant memories. But these views are
exaggerated.
(_c_) The rôle of the stepmother is also commonly exaggerated. It
is easier to excuse a stepmother for ill-treating a child than it
is to excuse the child’s own parents. When all is said and done, it
is impossible to expect a stepmother to have the same love for the
stepchild as for the children of her own body, and it is only natural
that the stepchild which stands between her and her husband should be
differently treated from her own children. A stepchild is certainly
more likely to be ill-used when the stepmother has children of her
own.
(_d_) A mother is more likely to ill-treat children than a father.
The father cannot love children so well as a mother, nor can he hate
them to the same extent.
(_e_) Many teachers maltreat their pupils. They are seldom prosecuted
on this account, for many children are unfortunately accustomed to
the same sort of ill-treatment at home; moreover, the parents may
regard the teacher’s treatment as perfectly natural, or may be afraid
to institute proceedings against him.
(_f_) Ill-treatment of children by foster-parents is comparatively
common, owing to the fact that in this case the inhibiting influence
of the natural love for the offspring is lacking.
The consequences of maltreatment are extremely serious to the health
of the child, alike physically, mentally, and morally. The child
becomes naughty, lazy, and untruthful, and this results in yet more
maltreatment. The child’s affection and confidence are destroyed,
not only towards the person who ill-treats it, but towards others
as well; feelings of hatred towards the whole of society and desire
for revenge may even be aroused. Such a child will in turn maltreat
other children; its will-power is defective and its ambition is
destroyed. Actual disease, physical or mental, often ensues. Many
children run away from home as a result of ill-treatment, become
vagabonds, and even commit suicide. The increase recently noted in
the number of suicides is probably, in part, dependent upon the more
frequent ill-treatment of children during the same period. The usual
motive for suicide where children are concerned is seldom anything
else than the fear of ill-treatment. (Dread of parents, of school, of
punishment at school, of examination, &c.)
Most of the cases of the maltreatment of children take place among
the lower classes of the population. This is clearly proved by
statistical data, which show that more than 90 per cent. of those
convicted of maltreating children belong to the lowest strata of the
population.
(_a_) Among the lower classes, the rôle of the child is a very
different one from what it is among the upper classes. It often
makes its appearance, not as the greatly-desired heir, the inheritor
of an honoured name, or of considerable property, but merely as an
additional mouth, whose presence forces the parents to lower yet
further their already low standard of life, and entails upon them
numerous other inconveniences.
(_b_) The lower classes are less cultivated, rougher, more
passionate, less gentle, than the upper. They work all day, and we
need not be surprised if they become rough and disagreeable. The
proletarian parent has not received a proper education.
(_c_) Far more commonly they are slaves to alcohol.
(_d_) They are subordinated to everyone. The only persons to whom
they can display power and superiority are their own immediate
dependants.
(_e_) They come into far more intimate contact with their children,
and are not in a position to hand over the upbringing of their
children to salaried persons. In this connection we have to remember
that the presence of strangers in the house tends to put a check upon
maltreatment.
(_f_) They find it essential that their children should begin to earn
money very early in life.
The circumstances in consequence of which the part played in the
maltreatment of children by the lower classes appears to be even
greater than it is in actual fact, are as follows. (_a_) In the
case of the lower classes, maltreatment of children takes the form
exclusively or almost exclusively of gross physical misusage. In
this form the maltreatment of children is more obviously apparent,
and is legally punishable; whereas more subtle but in fact worse
modes of ill-usage are less easy to discover, and many of them are
not legally punishable. (_b_) Owing to the housing conditions of the
lower classes, the maltreatment of children is in their case far
less likely to remain secret. (_c_) People are readier to lodge an
information and to institute criminal proceedings when the offender
is poor than when he or she is well-to-do.
Where the effects of capitalism have been most marked--that is to
say, in the large towns--the maltreatment of children is commoner,
and takes worse forms. The maltreatment of children occurred in
very early times, but no particular importance was then attached
to the matter, owing to the sacred character in those times of the
institution of the family.
Far from being an indispensable part of the education of children,
their maltreatment is a direct hindrance to a good education. In
the discovery and the prevention of the maltreatment of children,
teachers, medical practitioners, and private associations play a
very important part. A teacher is able to observe whether a child
is ill-used, and is also in a position to obtain information from
the brothers and sisters of the child. The useful work the teacher
can do in this regard can be powerfully supported by the school
physician. Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children are
both influential and important, especially in England and the United
States of America. To the latter country we owe the institution of
Children’s Courts. In England, it may be, that so great importance
is attached to efforts for preventing the maltreatment of children,
owing to the fact that in that country the position of the
illegitimate child is an exceptionally bad one.
The following measures are recommended for the prevention of the
maltreatment of children. (_a_) Cruelty to children on the part of
those legally responsible for the care of such children must be the
subject of official prosecution. (_b_) Parents who maltreat their
own children must at once be deprived of their parental authority,
for unless this is done, after they have been punished, the parents
will be likely to maltreat the child more than ever, merely taking
more care to avoid discovery. (_c_) It should be made the legal duty
of anyone who becomes aware of a case of cruelty to a child to lodge
official information without delay.
Children are not in a position to protect themselves against adults,
nor are they able on their own account to initiate proceedings
against anyone who has misused them. This difficulty is especially
great when the offender is one upon whom the child is legally
dependent.
_Suggested Reforms._--Recently the necessity has been recognised that
many offences against children should be punished much more severely
than they now are, and that many acts not otherwise punishable should
be made punishable if committed against a child.
(_a_) It is suggested that a new criminal offence should be defined
in the following terms:--“A parent, 1, who, although possessed of
the requisite means, fails, wilfully or neglectfully, to provide
for the child’s proper maintenance; 2, who, in consequence of a
disorderly life, is rendered unable to provide for the proper support
of his child; 3, who neglects his child--shall be punished in the
following manner.... A guardian or a foster-parent shall have the
same liabilities to punishment under this clause as the real parents
of a child.”
(_b_) It is suggested that, in the case of offences against the laws
regulating child-labour, the criminal legal authorities, and not the
local authorities, should have the right of intervention, that in
the case of the graver breaches of these laws, the offence should
be regarded, not as a petty offence, but as a misdemeanour, or as a
crime, and that, for this reason, the description of these offences
should be incorporated in the criminal code.
(_c_) It is suggested that the employment of children in mendicancy,
vagabondage, &c., which is at present treated as a petty offence
merely, should be constituted a misdemeanour.
(_d_) It is proposed to make it a punishable offence to supply, or
cause to be supplied, in a public place, to any juvenile, alcoholic
drinks whereby that juvenile becomes intoxicated.
(_e_) As regards the sale of tobacco, similar legal provisions are
considered desirable.
(_f_) It is suggested that parents should be severely punished, when
in the case of one of their children being ill they fail to summon
medical advice, or when they send the child to school suffering from
one of the acute infectious disorders, or from a house in which any
such disorder prevails.
With regard to the first recommendation (_a_), people begin to
recognise that a misuse of the rights and powers involved in parental
authority must be visited, not by private condemnation only, but
by that of the criminal law. It is seen that the standpoint of
the existing law, by which only the gravest offences, such as the
abduction of a child, or the infliction upon a child of grievous
bodily harm, are specified as punishable, is inadequate. Ever more
general becomes the demand that parental neglect of the proper
maintenance or education of a child should be constituted an offence
_per se_, and dealt with as such. It is only in the case specified in
(_a_) 1 that deliberate or gross neglect constitutes the essential
quality of the offence. (If all cases of neglect were punishable,
the provision (_a_) 1 would operate chiefly against offenders of
the lower classes, since it is in their case that such neglect most
commonly occurs.) In (_a_) 2 deliberate or gross neglect is no
essential part of the offence, because the idler, the man led astray
by his passions, &c., should not escape punishment. In (_a_) 3 simple
neglect is made punishable, because in such cases the community
becomes responsible for the maintenance of the child. Nothing must be
done to encourage what is really quite common--that parents should
neglect their child, simply in order that it should be taken away
from their care, and that in this way they may be freed from the
burden of its maintenance. It is essential that no complaint by
the injured party or his representatives should be requisite to the
initiation of a prosecution, for in most cases the child is itself
unable to complain, and the legal representative is often the prime
offender. Moreover, it is not the child alone that is injured, but
also the State, which has entrusted the offender with the care of the
child.
The objection has been raised that such legal provisions as have been
suggested would be directed principally against the lower classes,
that they would often lead to the unjust infliction of punishment,
that no one can be compelled to love another, and that it would be
difficult to determine the precise point at which the proper limits
of parental authority had been exceeded. But all these objections are
invalid, if only the gross cases that have been mentioned are made
punishable, and provided that wherever necessary the child is removed
from the care of the offender.
With regard to (_b_), it is altogether disproportionate that the
most trifling bodily injury to a child should be legally punishable
through the instrumentality of the criminal courts, whilst one who
inflicts a far more severe injury upon a child by forcing it to
perform excessive and unsuitable work is liable to nothing more
effectual than a reprimand on the part of the local authority. The
local authority is seldom in an independent position, but is commonly
subject to the influence of large employers of labour. The maximum
punishment which can be inflicted for a breach of the laws regulating
child-labour is so trifling, that the risk of this punishment is far
more than counterbalanced by the profits the employer can make by
the illegal exploitation of child-labour--especially when the fact
is borne in mind that not one instance in ten of a breach of these
laws is ever the subject of a prosecution. The gross injustices
and miseries which occur daily and everywhere from the improper
exploitation of child-labour will not disappear until the punishments
inflicted are such as the employers will seriously fear to incur, and
which they will be unable to avoid. The employer laughs at a fine,
for he pays it out of his surplus profits; but he will think twice
before incurring the risk of imprisonment.
With regard to (_d_), since alcohol affects children more powerfully
than it affects adults, it is necessary that it should be a legally
punishable offence to expose children to the dangerous influences of
this intoxicant.
With regard to (_e_), for the young, the use of tobacco is hardly
less harmful than the use of alcohol.
With regard to (_f_), it sometimes happens that the parents fail
to take the steps absolutely essential to the preservation of the
child’s health, and in this way the public health may be seriously
endangered.
The proposals mentioned under these last three headings, (_d_),
(_e_), and (_f_), are as yet hardly realised anywhere; but there
are good grounds for hoping that they will soon be adopted in more
countries than one.
INDEX
Abortion, 93, 118
Accidents to children, 136
Acquired immunity, 86. _See also_ Regeneration
Adoption, 90, 117
Advice to mothers, 65, 134
Age of parents, 80, 81
-- productive and unproductive, 12
-- pyramid, 12, 13
Agricultural colonies, 146
-- schools, 214
Agriculture, 156, 157, 158
Aims of child-protection, 4
Alcoholism, 79, 80, 129, 262, 267, 269
Apprenticeship, 162, 168, 169, 170, 171
Artificial feeding, 19, 24, 126, 127, 128, 134, 135, 137, 143, 167, 179
Artificial selection, 25-41. _See also_ Eugenics, Euthanasia, and
Marriage and Heredity
Atavism, 78
Atrophy, infantile, 50, 127
Austria, 157, 158
Authority for child-protection, centralised, 64, 65
Authority, parental, 71-76
Baby-farming, 132, 146-152
-- murderous, 95, 96, 150
Bastardy actions, loose conduct as defence in, 90
Baths for school children, 202
Beauty, 192
Begging, 164, 168, 261
Belgium, 222
Betrothed, children of, 99
Blindness, 179, 180, 181
Blind schools, 181
Boarding-out, 132, 141, 144, 145, 147
Breast feeding, 126-128
Capacity for understanding the punishable character of an offence, 221,
228
-- inborn, 28
Capitalism (private), its destruction essential to true
child-protection, 56, 57
Care after leaving school, 211-215
-- of foundlings, 44, 45, 46, 49, 52, 53, 58, 59, 61-64, 66, 67, 101,
102, 121, 122, 131, 132, 135, 184
Care of foundlings, Latin system and Germanic system, 144-146
-- institutional. _See_ Institutional Celibacy, 84
Centralised authority for child-protection, 64, 65
Certificates, medical. _See_ Doctors Character, inborn, 29
-- of the child, 29
Charity Organisation Society, 61
Childbirth, 94, 120, 121
Child-labour, 155-179
-- mortality, 17-24
-- protection after birth, 121, 122
-- -- before birth, 118, 119
-- -- during birth, 120, 121
-- -- for the illegitimate, 90-105
-- -- of the future, 56, 57
-- -- and the population question, 3-5
Children, wet-nursing of. _See_ Wet-nursing
Children’s clinics, 180
-- clubs, 208
-- hospitals, 180
Civil law and individual rights, department of, 71-117
Class differences in upbringing, 36, 37
Classical criminal law, 220-222
Clinics, children’s, 180
Co-education, 197, 198
Coercive reformatory education, 75, 152, 154, 223, 236-241
Colonies, agricultural. _See_ Agricultural Colonies
-- semi-urban, 183
Community at large, 60, 61
Compulsory military service, 84
-- school attendance, 168, 188, 189
Conception, prevention of, 8
Conditional release, 231, 232
-- remission of punishment, 231, 232
-- sentence, 231, 232
Confidential assistants to the official guardian, 115, 116
Congenital syphilis, 132
_Consultations de nourrissons_, 134
Continuation schools, 213
Contracts of service for minors, 108
Convalescent homes, 121
Cooking, instruction in, 210, 213, 214
Corporal punishment, 33, 34
Country holiday funds and open-air schools, 182, 183
Cow’s milk, 125, 126, 132-134. _See also_ Artificial Feeding
Crèche, 43, 135-138
Criminal law, 217-269
-- -- classical, 220-222
-- responsibility, 221-225, 228 _et seq._
Criminality, juvenile, 97, 98, 217-242
-- in the illegitimate, 97, 98
Cripples, 180
Cripples’ schools, 181
Culture, general. _See_ General Culture
Curriculum for child-protection, 66
Darwinism, 45, 46, 47
Deaf-mute schools, 181
Deaf-mutism, 180, 181, 182
Debility, congenital, 50, 94
Defectives, euthanasia of, 257, 258
Denmark, 215, 230
Diarrhœa. _See_ Intestinal
Digestive disorders, 127
Disabilities of the illegitimate, 90-93
Disciplinary classes, 196
Diseases, infective. _See_ Diseases
-- of occupation, 163
-- of school life, 202
Divorce, 83
Doctors, 46, 66, 88, 89, 120, 121, 138, 151, 172, 184
Domestic assistants, 121
-- care clubs, 121
-- economy, instruction in, 210, 213, 214
-- instructors, 186, 187
-- servants, 37, 169, 250
-- work, 155
Domicile, 63, 112
Ecclesiastical benevolence, 61, 62
-- marriage prohibitions, 83, 84
Education, 76, 185-216
-- and heredity, 25-41
-- by parents, 34-36
-- coercive reformatory, 75, 152, 154, 223, 236-241
-- factors of, 37, 38
-- institutional. _See_ Institutional
-- physical, 201-204
-- sexual, 197-199
-- under care, 75. _See also_ Coercive Reformatory Education
Educational science, 39
Elementary school, public, 185-216
-- -- unified, 216
_Enfants assistés_, 117
England, 53, 59, 61, 62, 112, 133, 141, 145, 152, 155, 168, 172, 174,
183, 198, 203, 211, 220, 222, 230, 235, 237, 248, 262, 265
Enlightenment of children, sexual, 197-199
Environment, 37, 38
Epidemic diseases, 135
Ethical instruction, 199-201
Eugenics, 25-41, 257, 258
Euthanasia, 257, 258
Example, good, 32, 33
_Exceptio plurium concumbentium_, 90
Excess of women, 13-15
Exclusion of certain school children, 195, 196
Executive instruments of child-protection, 58-68
Exposure of infants, 95, 142
Factors of child-protection, 58-68
-- of education, 37, 38
-- of poor relief, 58-59
Factory crèche, 137-138
-- inspection, 172, 173
Family crèche, 137-138
-- education, 53, 148-152, 235, 236
-- schools, 185
Feeble-mindedness, congenital, 30
Feeding of school children, 209-211
-- rooms for the infants of women working in factories, 137, 138
Feminine chastity, protection of, 260
Fertility of the lower classes, 5-9
Fines, 225
Flogging, 230. _See also_ Corporal Punishment
Foundlings, care of, 44, 45, 46, 47, 52, 53, 58, 59, 61-64, 66, 67, 101,
102, 121, 122, 130-132, 135, 141-154, 184
France, 5, 58, 101, 102, 116, 117, 123, 128, 132, 133, 147, 153, 172,
200, 201, 209, 222, 237, 256
Free-love, 105
Future, child-protection of, 56, 57
General culture, 32, 191, 192
Germany, 60, 100, 114, 116, 123, 133, 138, 141, 152, 157, 158, 160, 172,
203, 248
Gonorrhœa, 80
Gonorrhœal ophthalmia. _See_ Ophthalmia of the New-born
Good example, 32, 33
_Gouttes de Lait_, 133
Governesses and tutors, 186, 187
Government, central, 61-63
-- local, 59, 60
Great number of children, 20-22, 26
Guardianship, 107-117
Guardianship, official and institutional, 112-116
Guilds, 155
Gymnastic lessons, 202
Gynecology, 94, 120, 121
Half-timers, 169
Health of proletarian children, 178
-- resorts for children, 183
Heredity, 77-89
-- and education, 25-41
-- and marriage, 77-89
Holiday playgrounds, 183
Home education, difficulties of, 39, 40
-- industry, 160, 162
-- work for school children, 194, 195
Homes of technical instruction for girls, 170
Hospitalism, 135
“Hospital-marasmus,” 135
Hospitals, lying-in, 121, 134
Household right, 63
Housekeeping, instruction in, 213, 214
Housing conditions and child mortality, 23
Human milk, 125, 126. _See also_ Breast Feeding
Hungarian Child-Protection League, 61
Hungary, 54, 56, 61, 62, 137, 143, 146, 152, 153, 208, 248
Illegitimacy and occupation, 99
-- and prostitution, 98, 99
Illegitimate children, 47, 64, 71, 90-105
-- sexual relations, 15, 16
Illiteracy, 32
Ill-treatment of children, 196, 260-269
Imbecility. _See_ Feeble-mindedness
Immunity, acquired, 86. _See also_ Regeneration
Imprisonment, 225-228
Incubators, 122
Indeterminate sentence, 232, 233, 239-241
Individual guardianship, 108-117
Individualisation, 31, 192, 237
Individuality, 31, 192
Industrial reserve army, 31
-- schools, 238
Ineducability, 30
Infant-feeding, natural, artificial, and by wet-nurses, 125-140
Infanticide, 95, 96, 142, 256, 257
Infantile atrophy. _See_ Atrophy
Infant life protection, 125-140
-- mortality, 17-24, 96
-- -- attainable minimum of, 18
Infants’ hospitals, 134, 180
-- milk depots, 65, 133
Infective diseases, 51, 129. _See also_ under Special Diseases, as
Syphilis, Tuberculosis, &c.
Inheritance, 28, 77-89
-- of disease, 78-80
Inquiry into paternity, 58
Institutional and official guardianship, 112-117
-- care, 148-150
-- -- of infants, 135-138
-- education, 235-238
Instruction, religious and moral, 199-201
Instructions for pregnant women, 118
Instruments of child-protection, executive, 58-68
Insurance of children, 262
-- of motherhood, 122-124
Intra-uterine influences, 96
Intestinal catarrh, 135
-- disorders, 50
Italy, 58, 101, 102, 123, 147
Juvenile criminality, 97, 98, 217-242
_Kinderhorte_, 208
_Kinderschutzliga_, 61
Kin, marriage of near, 81, 82
Knowledge, 192, 193
_Krankenkassen_, 120
Labour, premature, 11, 93, 94, 166
Lactation, constitutional incapacity for, 128, 129
_La Recherche de la Paternité_, 58
Law, classical criminal, 220, 222
-- of parsimony, 42
Laws for child-protection, unified system, 63, 64
Leaflets on infant care, 138
Legal protection of children against consequences of their own actions,
106, 107
_Legitimatio per rescriptum principis_, 90
-- -- _subsequens matrimonium_, 90
Legitimisation, 90, 117
_Lex minimi_, 42
Limited powers of minors, 106-107
Local governing bodies, 59, 60
Loose conduct as a defence in bastardy actions, 90
Lying-in hospitals, 121, 134
Maintenance allowances, 104
Malthus, 5
Maltreatment of children, 196, 260-269
Manual training, 204-208
Marasmus. _See_ Atrophy
Margate, 183
Mark system, 239
Marriage, 15, 71-89
-- and disease. _See_ Marriage and Heredity
-- early, 15
-- and heredity, 77-89
-- and parental authority, 71-76
-- history, 72
-- of near kin, 81, 82
-- prohibitions, 83-89
Maternal authority, 73
Matriarchy, 72
Medical profession, medical science, &c. _See_ Doctors
Mendicancy, 164, 168, 261
Mental disorders, 30, 79-80, 163-164
Mercantile system, 5
-- theory of political economy, 5
Merit system, 239
Meteorological conditions, 24
Midwives and monthly nurses, 120, 121, 138
-- schools for, 65, 134
Military service, compulsory, 84
Milk. _See_ Cow’s Milk and Human Milk
-- depots, 133
-- stations, 183
Minors, limited powers of, 106-107
Miscarriage, 11
Monogamy, 105
Monthly nurses and midwives, 120, 121, 138
Moral instruction, 199-201
Morphinism, 80, 129
Mortality, 11-12
-- of illegitimate, 94-97
Mother as guardian, 94
Motherhood, insurance of, 122-124
-- protection, 118-124
Mothers, advice to, 134
-- schools for. _See_ Schools
_Mutterschaftskassen_, 124
Napoleon I, 153
Natural selection, 25-41, 45-47
New-born, ophthalmia of. _See_ Ophthalmia
Night work, 156
Norway, 127
Notification of pregnancy. _See_ Pregnancy
Number of children, great, 20-22, 26
Object lessons, 206
Objections to child-protection, 43-45
Obstetrics. See Gynecology
Occupation, diseases of, 163
Offences against children, punishable, 238-269
Official and institutional guardianship, 112-117
-- and private activities, 65-66
Open-air schools, 182, 183
-- -- and country holiday funds, 182, 183
Ophthalmia, contagious, 135
-- of the new-born, 80, 179
Organisation of juvenile labour, 170, 171
Orphan asylum, 145
“Over-parent,” State as, 74-76
Parental authority, 71-76
Parents, age of. _See_ Age of Parents
Parents’ evenings at school, 197
Parents, school, environment, 37, 38
Parole, release on, 231, 232
Paternal authority, 73
Paternity, inquiry into, 58
Patriarchy, 72
Physical education, 201-204
Physicians. _See_ Doctors
Playgrounds for children, supervised, 208
Pneumonia, 135
Poor-relief, factors of, 58, 59
Population question, quantity, 3-16
-- -- quality, 25-41
-- classified according to age, 12, 13
Poverty, 51, 52
Powers of minors, limited, 106-107
Pregnancy, notification of, 119
Pregnant women, instructions for, 118
Premature labour, 11, 93, 94, 166
Preparatory schools, 208
Prevention, 42
Preventive methods. _See_ Conception, prevention of
Primiparae, 96
Private and official activities, 65-66
Probation, 231, 232
-- officer, 247
Procurement, 251, 260
Proletarian children, health of, 178
Property of wards, 108, 116
Pros and cons of child-protection, 42-58
Prostitution, 98, 99, 118, 249-253
Protection of feminine chastity, 260
Prussia, 140
Public advocacy of breast-feeding, 133, 144
-- elementary school, 185-216
-- performances by children, 168
Punishable character of an offence, capacity for understanding the, 221,
228
-- offences against children, 254-269
Punishment, conditional remission of, 231-232
-- corporal, 33, 34. _See also_ Flogging
Punishments and rewards, 196
Quality of population, 20-41
Quantity of population, 3-10
Rachitis, 127, 162
Rape, 259, 260
Recognition, 90
Reformatory education, coercive, 75, 152, 154, 223, 236-241
-- schools, 236-241
-- system, 236-241
Regeneration, 86, 88
Relative as guardian, 110
Release, conditional, 231-232
-- on parole, 231, 232
Religious and moral instruction, 199-201
Religious motives for ill-treating children, 262
Repressive measures, 42, 55
Reprimand, 230
Rescue homes, 146
Reserve army of labour, 51
Resident wet-nurses, 131
Responsibility, criminal, 221-225, 228 _et seq._
Rewards and punishments, 196
Rickets, 127, 162
Sanatoria, 183
Scattered homes, 146
School and juvenile criminality, 229, 230
-- attendance, compulsory, 168, 188, 189
-- baths, 202
-- care after leaving, 211-215
-- diseases, 202
-- feeding, 209-211
-- gardens, 202
-- hygiene, 202
-- kitchens, 210
-- nurses, 203
-- physicians, 67, 202, 203
-- public elementary, 185-216
-- savings banks, 209
-- teachers, 172, 265
-- unified elementary, 216
Schools, agricultural, 214
-- for mothers, 138, 139
-- for the blind, 181
-- industrial, 238
-- of child-protection, 66
-- of public welfare, 66
-- preparatory, 208
-- reformatory, 236-241
Science, 193, 194
Scrofula, 50
Seasonal variations in birth-rate, 24
Seduction, 260
Selection, artificial, 25-41
-- natural, 25-41, 45-47
Semi-urban colonies, 183
Sentence, conditional, 231-232
Servants, domestic, 37, 169, 250
Sexual education, 197-199
-- enlightenment of children, 197-199
-- motives for ill-treating children, 262
-- relations, illegitimate, 15, 16
Sicily, 163
Siege of Paris, infant mortality during, 127
Social developments of the near future, 39-41, 56, 57
-- hygiene, 179, 180
Socialism, 51-57
-- and palliatives, 56, 57
Societies for prevention of cruelty to children, 265
Special schools for defective children, 181, 182
State as “over-parent,” 74-76
Still-birth, 11, 93, 166, 167
Stomach disorders, 50
Summer and child mortality, 24
Supervised playgrounds for children, 208
Supervision of family care, 150-152
Sweden, 127
Switzerland, 117, 157, 182, 209
Syphilis, 80, 93, 94, 96, 118, 129
-- congenital, 132
Tobacco, 267, 269
Towns, child mortality in, 22, 23
Training ships, 146
Transmission of venereal diseases, 84, 85
Truants, 195
Tuberculosis, 42, 80, 127, 129, 182, 202
Turn-table, 44, 45, 142, 143
Tutors and governesses, 186, 187
Underfeeding of proletarian children, 178, 179
Understanding the punishable character of an offence, the capacity for,
221, 228
Unified school for all classes, 216
Unified system of laws for child-protection, 63, 64
United States of America, 53, 61, 89, 108, 172, 173, 196, 197, 201, 203,
208, 209, 215, 222, 223, 231, 232, 233, 235, 237, 238, 240, 246,
247, 265
Venereal diseases, 85, 251
Voluntary benevolent activities, 60, 61
-- workers, 65, 66
Wages, 158, 159, 160, 161, 166, 176, 213
Wards, property of, 108, 116
Warm chambers, 122
Welfare, schools of public, 66
Wet-nurses, resident and non-resident, 131
Wet-nursing of children, 126, 127, 130-132, 146-148
White slave traffic, 251, 260
Withdrawal of parental authority, 75, 76
Women, excess of, 13-15
Women’s labour and child-labour, 155-177
Workers, voluntary, 65, 66
Workhouse system, 145
Youth, criminality in, 217-242
THE END
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
Edinburgh & London
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In this work the term _infant_ is used to denote all children
under one year of age; where reference has to be made to infancy in
the _legal_ sense of a person under twenty-one years of age, the term
_infant-at-law_ or _minor_ will be employed.--TRANSLATOR.
[2] _Boards of Guardianship_.--This term is not used in the sense
in which in England we speak of _Boards of Guardians_, to denote
the _ad hoc_ local authorities which administer the English Poor
Law, but to denote local committees which, in the continental system
of child-protection, administer the functions for which the State
is responsible in its capacity of “Over-Parent” (an expressive and
convenient term we owe to Mr. H. G. Wells). Dr. Engel suggests
_Court of Orphans_ or _Court of Wards_ as alternate English
terms.--TRANSLATOR’S NOTE.
[3] Unless and until humanity is able and willing to apply its
intelligence to purposive racial improvement, by discouragement
of the procreation of the less fit, and by encouragement of the
procreation of the more fit--by an application, that is to say, of
the principle of negative or restrictive eugenics, on the one hand,
and the principle of positive or constructive eugenics, on the
other.--TRANSLATOR’S NOTE.
[4] _Krankenkassen._--These are the executive institutions for the
administration of the medical benefits of the workmen’s insurance
laws of Germany, and of other countries with laws based on the German
model.--TRANSLATOR’S NOTE.
[5] England lags behind the rest of the world in this
matter.--TRANSLATOR.
[6] This theory of the “born criminal” is associated chiefly with the
name of Lombroso. See my translation of Kurella’s memoir, “Lombroso,
his Life and Work,” London, 1911. Rebman.--TRANSLATOR’S NOTE.
[7] Consult the chapter on “Women’s Labour and Child Labour.”
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained: for example,
goodwill, good-will; syntonised; moiety; hebetude; sempstress.
Pg 96: ‘to the lattter’ replaced by ‘to the latter’.
Pg 157: ‘country districs’ replaced by ‘country districts’.
Pg 176: ‘proved that that the’ replaced by ‘proved that the’.
Pg 192: ‘quantity of knowlege’ replaced by ‘quantity of knowledge’.
Pg 199: ‘enlightenmeut of children’ replaced by ‘enlightenment
of children’.
Pg 221: ‘first convicion for’ replaced by ‘first conviction for’.
Pg 228: ‘stands constrasted’ replaced by ‘stands contrasted’.
Pg 265: ‘In this conn e ton’ replaced by ‘In this connection’.
Pg 271: new Index entry for ‘Artificial feeding’ inserted.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Elements of Child-protection, by Sigmund Engel