III. The law of reformation in the state, as in the family, is the law
of kindness.
IV. As criminals vary in age and in experience as criminals, so should
their treatment vary.
V. Prisons and jails are not, in their foundation and management,
reformatory institutions, and only become so through influences not
necessarily nor ordinarily acting upon them.
VI. As prisons and jails deter from crime through fear only, exert very
little moral influence upon the youth of either sex, and fail in many
respects and in a majority of cases as reformatory institutions, we
ought to avail ourselves of any new agency which promises success.
Influenced, as we may reasonably suppose, by these or kindred
sentiments, and aided by the noblest exhibitions of private benevolence,
the state has here founded a school for the prevention of crime. As we
have everywhere among us schools whose _leading_ object is the
development of the intellect, so we now dedicate a school whose
_leading_ object is the development of the affections as the basis of
the cardinal virtues of life.
The design of this institution is so well expressed by the trustees,
that it is a favor to us all for me to read the first chapter of the
by-laws, which, by the consent of the Governor and Council, have been
established:
"The intention of the state government, and of the benevolent
individuals who have contributed to the establishment of this
institution, is to secure a _home_ and a _school_ for such girls as may
be presented to the magistrates of the state, appointed for that
purpose, as vagrants, perversely obstinate, deprived of the control and
culture of their natural guardians, or guilty of petty offences, and
exposed to a life of crime and wretchedness.
Pages:
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100