Scotland in the nineteenth century

2. Crime and punishment

Section 2.13: Young offenders

A circular inquiring whether the existing law concerning juvenile offenders should be amended, especially with a view to the prevention of imprisonment of young children, elicited replies from the sheriffs in Scotland (pp. 181-187) and the sheriff-substitutes (pp. 187-230).

As the law stood, every child had to undergo at least ten days' imprisonment if he was to be sent to a reformatory. Many of the sheriffs and sheriff-substitutes advocated the repeal of this clause.

The sheriff of Lanarkshire took a very optimistic view (pp. 183-186). He thought juvenile crime had decreased and attributed this to "a gradual improvement in the moral tone of the community; a gradual rise in the civilization of the masses, consequent on the spread of education and enlightenment..." He opposed long and severe sentences for juvenile delinquents and thought they should be sent to reformateries unless they had no parents or guardians or until other means could be tried. He did not advocate flogging as a substitute for imprisonment, being of the opinion that "nothing tended more powerfully to brutalize the masses and retard the growth of civilization."

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The sheriff-substitute of Banffshire (pp. 195-196), on the other hand, thought the lash was the most suitable punishment for the majority of juvenile offenders, but he said no one had been whipped in the county since 1854. Similarly, Thomas Anderson, sheriff-substitute, complained that the Whipping Act, 1862 was a dead letter in Ayrshire (pp. 194-195). He said "the prison warder employed to do so, on appearing in the streets, was so mobbed by a crowd calling out "hangman", etc., that he preferred resigning his situation rather than perform the duty".

The sheriff-substitute of Forfarshire (pp. 203-204) took the view that the parents often actively encouraged their children to commit crimes and in such cases they should be fined. He suggested that the children of habitual drunkards should be brought within the scope of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866. Such parents, who often pledged their children's clothes to obtain money for drink, should be liable for the cost of maintenance of their children in industrial schools and should be punished for criminal neglect. The Glasgow Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Repression Act, 1878 attempted to deal with the problem of rescuing destitute and neglected children and placing them in industrial schools.

A memorial adopted by a conference of directors of reformatory and industrial schools and of members of the school boards of Edinburgh and Leith (pp. 243-244) put forward four suggestions:

1. No child should be sent to prison before being sent to a reformatory.
2. The power to enforce contributions from parents, which existed in England, should be extended to Scotland.
3. When a child was brought up for a first offence, the parents or guardians should also be charged.
4. There should be no alteration in the law regulating the minimum age of admission to industrial schools and reformatories.

A number of amendments to the in Industrial Schools Act, 1866 and the Reformatory Schools Act, 1866, was suggested by the directors of houses of refuge and reformatory and industrial schools in Glasgow (pp. 244-248). They thought each county should be divided into districts, each with its own reformatory and industrial school. They recommended that there should be one school in Scotland to which the more serious offenders, aged between 15 and 18, should be sent. They also stressed the need for more day industrial schools for children from poor homes.