Here lies the mischief.
An old thief will be sure to enlist others to perpetuate the race. There
is no disguising the fact: the whole blame is with the court whose duty
it is to take cognizance of these characters. Whilst the present system
is pursued, of allowing so many old offenders to escape with trifling
punishments, the evils will be increased, and the business of the court
go on augmenting, by its own errors. The thief is now encouraged to
speculate on his chances--in his own phraseology, "his good luck." Every
escape makes him more reckless. I knew one man who was allowed a course
of seventeen imprisonments and other punishments before his career was
stopped by transportation; a sentence which does, however, sooner or
later overtake them, and which would be better both for themselves and
the country were it passed the first time they were in the hands of the
court as known thieves. Observing only a certain, and nearly an equal,
number transported each session, they have imbibed a notion, that the
recorder cannot exceed it, and that he selects those to whom he takes a
dislike at the bar, not for the magnitude of their offence, but from
caprice or chance.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52