256 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

mended by the Cadogan Committee. There are, however, many
measures which may be taken to see that the offender is under
proper care for the future. Often it will be enough to remind the
parents of their duty, or require them to deposit a sum of money
as security for their child's good behaviour. Much use is made
of the system of probation, which is chiefly intended for juveni?*
and appears to be more successful in preventing repetition o*
crime, than any other method. If the offence has been grave, or"
the control at home is judged unsatisfactory, the offender may be
sent to an approved school for three years or more. Finally, any
court which has found a person between sixteen and twenty-one
years of age guilty of an indictable offence, and liable to fall into
serious criminality, may send him to a Borstal institution for two
or three years. The life is planned to resemble that of a school,
with a strong bias towards manual training and outdoor life; it
succeeds in turning about three-quarters of the pupils into good
citizens.

PRINCIPLES OF REFORM.

Despite the shortcomings which have been mentioned, English
penal and reformative methods havet greatly improved in the last
120 years. Penal reforms are usually made much kter than they
ought to be because so large a proportion of the people do not
get sent to prison, and find anxiety enough in the problems of
ordinary life. The question is sometimes put, why bother so
much about those who bxeak the kw? Would it not be better to
give attention to improving the life of honest people? There arfe
several answers, the most obvious of which is that it is quite
possible to deal with both problems* Further, it is cheaper to
reform the criminal at an early stage than to keep him in prison
at intervals for most of his life. On deeper consideration, it
becomes dear that a community that is callous towards its
criminals lowers its moral standards, and will be less alert to
Detect cruelty and injustice in other spheres. Careful study of
i^ie reasons why people break the law, often reveals the law