CHAPTER XV
THE ROD AS A REFORMATIVE AGENT IN THE EDUCATION OF YOUTHFUL LAW BREAKERS
A recent ruling of one of our city judges, after reprimanding two lads brought before him for a trivial offence, decided that they should be birched in “the good old way” prescribed by King Solomon, and he further declared that children brought before him in future may be punished by public school teachers just the same as they would be by their own parents, and he bases his ruling on Section 713 of the Penal Code, which reads as follows:
“When a person under the age of sixteen years is convicted of a crime, he may, in the discretion of the court, instead of being sentenced to a fine or imprisonment, be placed in charge of any suitable person or institution willing to receive him, and may be kept there until reaching his majority, or for a shorter term, subjected to such discipline and control of the person or institution receiving him as a parent or guardian may lawfully exercise over a minor.”
For several years some of our best American prison reformers have been in favor of the restoration of a mild infliction of corporal punishment in reformatories and other institutions where juvenile delinquents are kept. Indeed, after ten years of experience as Chaplain, I am satisfied that a sound birching would be a godsend to many a New York boy in the early stages of crime, and in a large number of cases might possibly cure him of his foolish delusions.
As many persons consider the phrase “corporal punishment” offensive, I am willing to accept ex-Superintendent Brockway’s suggestion, and call it “corporal treatment.” And I am inclined to believe that the word “treatment” would not militate against it as much as “punishment.”
“The object of punishment,” says Horace Mann, “is the prevention of evil.” If corporal punishment does not inspire our youth to do good works, it certainly in many cases deters them from doing evil ones.
It is interesting to know that four-fifths of all the school teachers and principals of Greater New York are in favor of the revival of corporal punishment for bad boys and have petitioned the Board of Education for its restoration. When this matter came before the Board a few months ago it was lost by only three votes, but it will come up again—and may possibly become a law next time.
A large number of our school principals and teachers of wide experience believe that something ought to be done to the boy who calls a teacher a vile name and wilfully despises his superiors, besides turning him out of school as an incorrigible. By that one act the Principal who is unable to punish him for his bad conduct simply puts him on the street to begin a criminal life. The only thing a bad boy fears is a spanking. And as there is no discipline in thousands of homes, the Principals of our City Schools in their appeal for the restoration of the rod, affirm that used under certain restrictions it would save yearly a very large number of our youths from moral shipwreck.
Z. R. Brockway while Superintendent of Elmira Reformatory frequently spanked unruly young men, but then only as a last resort. Personally I am opposed to the use of the lash in State prisons as entirely antiquated and out of place where the appeal should be to reason and the higher nature of man. But in dealing with malicious, disobedient and incorrigible boys it is different. They will not listen to reason and perhaps pay no attention to your warnings and will rush into crime like a horse to battle unless they fear the rod. I believe when a boy under sixteen years of age commits a crime, if he were taken aside and given a sound birching, as is the custom in many English and German towns, it would be vastly more beneficial and would make a deeper impression on him than sending him to prison to be the associate of thieves and pickpockets.
An English town clerk in a borough of 12,000 people writes, “It has been our rule for more than forty years, not to permit a boy or girl to go from our town hall to prison. The substitute, at least for boys, is a birching. In case of repetition of the offence another birching is given, and in one instance three whippings were given within a few days. The result is we have not a juvenile thief in town. Thieving is unpopular with boys who do not wish to be birched. But were it not for the birching which is very painful, many of them would not mind to be heroes in a prison or reformatory.”
In considering the right of parents to inflict corporal punishment on their children, the common law as interpreted by the best jurists sanctions it. There is no revenge whatever in the act—it is entirely eliminated. In a large number of cases it is a matter of absolute necessity. Although parental government preceded civil government, it is no less coercive and often force must be used in the home to carry out the will of the parents. Again, the parent is recognized as the natural custodian of the child and is accountable to God and society for his upbringing. Nor should we overlook the importance of inflicting corporal punishment on youthful wrongdoers as a deterrent to commit other offences. Punishment in itself is of divine origin and its application has become well nigh universal and is likely to be continued in the family till the end of time, and is also supported by Holy Writ. “He that spareth the rod,” says Solomon, “hateth his son.” “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”
During the past decade crime has increased among the youth of the city—at least fifty per cent.
The cause of all this is found in the criminal and lawless homes and the foolish prejudice that is abroad against the corporal punishment of minors. Every year hundreds of boys from sixteen to twenty years old are locked up in the Tombs for several weeks and afterwards sent to the House of Refuge and Elmira Reformatory where they can be detained all the way from one to twenty years, but they care not for such detention. In fact, when you speak to them of prison life they wear a bravado that is astonishing. But the moment you birch them for their wilful and disobedient conduct these young men quail and promise to do better.
There is so much foolish and unreasonable leniency exercised by magistrates and judges when small boys are before them, that many people begin to feel that parole without some kind of corporal punishment is a mockery and a farce. Only recently a city paper took a Special Session Judge to task for paroling some malicious boys who had committed vandalism in Central Park. There was no punishment in the sentence. Nothing to impress them with the majesty of the law. If these boys had been well spanked till they promised never to do the like again, the paroling would be all right, but not otherwise.
If it is degrading to punish boys for wrong doing, then the best men now living were punished in their youth. And many of the men now believe that it saved them from criminal lives. Foolish sentimentalists tell us that it is degrading to spank or birch a boy, but what is more degrading and damning than crime?
A well known Probation Officer of large experience in the city of Brooklyn, gave me to understand that if he had his way he would erect in every Police Station a whipping post where he would treat to a sound birching, a la Solomon, all the young hoodlums, thieves and law breakers that come before the courts. Most of these young men come from bad homes where they had no training whatever, and where their weak-minded or indulgent parents permitted them to violate the laws of God and men daily. If these young ruffians refuse to keep out of crime or be at home at night by 9:30 o’clock, let them have another dose of the strap, says this Probation Officer and keep it up till they come to their senses!
As soon as they promised faithfully “Never to do it again” I would give them a chance. A good spanking is far better for an unruly boy that breaks the law than sending him to a prison.
If young children are taken from homes and placed in reformative institutions, why should corporal punishment cease when it is vastly more humane than cellular confinement, deprivation of food or what is commonly called “cuffing,” which simply means to be hung up by the wrists to a cell door sometimes for twelve hours at a time. All of which I characterize as extremely brutal. And this is done in many of our reformatories.
At the annual meeting of the National Prison Association in Hartford, Conn., a few years ago the question of corporal punishment in our prisons was thoroughly discussed. Clarence B. Hoyt, Warden of the Colorado State Penitentiary, said that the feeling against corporal punishment was one of mere sentimentality, and advocated the use of paddles for spanking unruly prisoners and also the employment of an electric paddle to secure impartiality and prevent either partial indulgence or prejudiced severity. The warden produced a new version of an old proverb, “Spare the paddle and spoil the con.”
It is worthy of note that the whipping post in Delaware has had an astonishing influence over human brutes in that commonwealth and as an expeller of criminals from the State, surpasses any form of punishment known. All classes, with only few exceptions, are in favor of its maintenance; and even Chief Justice Lore, naturally of a sympathetic temperament, has been so convinced of its value as to commend it heartily and favor its retention.
Henry M. Boise, prison reformer and author, says: “There are found in reformatories, as well as in all other prisons, those who are so entirely devoid of mental and moral sensibility when committed, as to be beyond the reach of any incentive or punishment except physical pain. Their nature is but little above the animal. For such persons, the general experience of wardens of prisons, after trial of bread and water in dungeons, deprivation of all privileges, showers of water, tying up in a standing position, and other ingenious methods of inflicting pain and discomfort humanely, has been found a spanking with a piece of sole leather, softened by soaking in water, the most effective, immediate, certain and humane punishment.”