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1. Habitual offenders, vagrants, beggars, inebriates, and juvenile delinquents. Report from the Departmental Committee. Minutes of evidence, appendices and index, 1895.
Vol. XXXVII, Report, lxp. [C. 7753] Minutes of evidence, appendix and index, ix, 676p. [C. 7753-I]
Chairman: Sir Charles Cameron.
"to inquire whether the number of such persons (habitual offenders, vagrants, beggars and inebriates in Scotland) is increasing, and into the cause of such increase; and further, to suggest such remedies as may, while deterrent, be likely to bring about their reformation and to prevent further additions to their numbers ... and also to inquire into the number of male and female juvenile offenders sent to prison in Scotland..."
The Committee inquired into the number of habitual offenders apprehended, convicted, fined or imprisoned for drunkenness and disorderly conduct, breaches of the peace and petty assaults, prostitution, vagrancy and begging, and petty thefts. They found that the number of habitual offenders was increasing. This was partly attributable to the increasing population, and the energy of the police. In most cases, the petty offenders were found to be under the influence of drink. They recommended that habitual offenders, i.e. those charged with four offences within one year, should be registered as such, and if charged with a further offence within 30 months, they should be committed to an adult reformatory.
They also inquired into vagrants, beggars, tinkers and gypsies, the shelters provided for them and the legislation affecting them, such as the Prevention of Crimes Act, 1871 and the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892. They made a number of recommendations concerning the education of gypsy and tinker children and the working-man travelling in search of employment.
Turning their attention to the non-criminal class of habitual drunkards, the Committee considered their admission to licensed retreats, homes and lunatic asylums, the periods of detention in these institutions, maintenance by friends, Church philanthropic or other agencies, the Habitual Drunkards Act, 1879, Inebriates Act, 1888 and secret cures, such as the "Tyson Cure" and "Metabolic Treatment".
The Committee discovered that the number of juvenile delinquents in Scotland had been greatly reduced owing to compulsory education and to option given to magistrates under the Reformatory Schools (Scotland) Act, 1893 of committing juvenile offenders to reformatories, rather than sending them to prison.
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