Remarks on the principles of criminal legislation, and the practice of prison discipline / by George Combe.

  • Combe, George, 1788-1858.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the principles of criminal legislation, and the practice of prison discipline / by George Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the maximum of deterring effect on the unknown persons who experience a proclivity to crime. An aggravation of that suffering, with a view to deter these persons, he considers not justifiable ;—Jirst, because the sufferer is in no way connected with, or responsible for them; and, secondly, because the prospect of mere suffering does not reach, and cannot remove the condition of the organism in Avhich the proclivity to crime originates. If the author is in error as. to the causes of crime, his conclusions fall to the ground ; but if his views in regard to the causes be correct, the conclusions appear to him to follow as logical consequences. He is gratified to perceive principles closely coinciding with those here stated, advocated in a report on The Treatment of Criminal Children, by the Society for promoting the Amendment of the Law. No system of criminal legislation and prison discipline, however, will suffice to cut off the sources of crime : Only a thorough education and training of the whole people can be expected to produce thiS effect. 45 Melville Street, Edinburgh, \st May 1854.