The only hope, therefore, of diminishing the habitual criminal population, is to lessen the number of recruits; and as most of these recruits are to be found among lads of between sixteen and twenty-one, it is to these lads that serious attention must be directed.  Every year a certain proportion of youths ranging between these two ages shows a pronounced disposition to enter permanently upon a criminal life by repeatedly returning to prison.  The deterrent effect of short sentences has ceased to operate upon them, and all the symptoms are present that a downright career of crime has begun.  In such circumstances what is to be done?  A plan has been proposed by Mr. Lloyd Baker for dealing with refractory and unmanageable Reformatory children, the substance of which is to send them to another institution of a stricter character than the ordinary Reformatory School, and which for want of a better name he calls a Penal Reformatory.  It is very probable that something in the nature of a Penal Reformatory is just what is wanted to prevent a youth on the downward road from finally swelling the proportions of the professional criminal population.  If Great Britain ever established such institutions, she would then possess a graded set of organisations for dealing with the young, which would cover the whole period of youthful life.  The Truant School would catch the child on the first symptoms of waywardness, the Industrial School would arrest him standing on the verge of crime, the Reformatory School would dual with actual offenders against the law, and the Penal Reformatory would grapple with habitual offenders under the age of manhood.[31]

    [31] Ages at which 507 offenders first began to commit crime—­

Under 10 1.5 41 to 45 2.1 11 to 15 17.0 46 to 50 2.3 16 to 20 36.1 51 to 55 2.1 21 to 25 20.1 56 to 60 .8 26 to 30 7.1 61 to 65 .8 31 to 35 5.1 66 to 70 .2 36 to 40 3.6

    Marro. I Caratteri dei delinquente.  Studio antropologico-sociologico,
    p. 356.

After the age of manhood has been reached, and the main lines of character are formed, punitive methods of dealing with criminal offenders must assume a more prominent position, and the prison should then take the place of the Reformatory.  In youth the deterrent effects of punishment are small, and the beneficial effects of reformative measures are at their maximum.  In manhood, on the other hand, this condition of things is reversed, and the deterrent effects of punishment exceed the beneficial effects of reformative influences.  An interesting example of the value of punishment for adults, as compared with other methods, is given by Sir John Strachey in his account of infanticide in certain parts of India.  “For many years past,” he says, “measures have been taken in the North-West Provinces for the prevention of