The result is that serious crime has
considerably decreased in this district, so much so that there were only
six cases for trial at the assizes, whereas, at the previous assizes,
the average number of cases was from twenty-five to thirty, which fact
was made the subject of much comment and congratulation by Mr. Justice
Willes, the presiding judge."
These remarks relate chiefly to the reformatory schools, but we know
that the prevention of crime by education is much easier than its
reformation by the same means. Indeed, it is the result of the
experience of Massachusetts that the necessity for reform schools has in
a large degree arisen from neglect of the public schools. It is stated
in the Tenth Annual Report of the Chaplain of the State Reform School
that of nineteen hundred and nine boys admitted since the establishment
of the institution, thirteen hundred and thirty-four are known to have
been truants. It is also quite probable that the number reported as
truants is really less than the facts warrant. It may not be out of
place to suggest, in this connection, that when a boy sentenced to the
Reform School is known to have been guilty of truancy, if the parents
were subjected to some additional burdens on that account, the cause of
education would be promoted, and the number of criminals in the
community would be diminished. From the views and facts presented, as
well as from the daily observation and experience of men, I assume that
ignorance is the ally of crime, and that education is favorable to
virtue.
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