Thus, apart from the difference of penal legislation and social
life in the two countries, the Boston system is applied mainly to
drunkards, who are not true criminals by the mere fact of
intoxication.
As for the statistics of ascertained relapse, which in Boston
reached 64 out of 1,125 (6 per cent.) in 1889, I think they should
be received with caution. In the case of every new penal or
penitentiary system or measure, we never fail to receive more or
less wonderful figures on the results obtained; but the common
fate of all these splendid results has always been that they
dwindle down, even if they do not turn into a negative quantity,
so as to indicate the necessity of other more practical and
serviceable measures. The reason is, and will continue to be the
same, namely, that legislators, judges, and prison warders have no
adequate knowledge of criminals, and their activity is anything
but harmonious. This accounts for the superficial character, if
nothing more, of the measures which are taken, and which apply far
more to the crime than to the criminal, without so much as
touching the true and deep-seated roots of crime. Hence also the
inevitable disillusion, almost before the new device is a month
old.
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