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THE EX-CRIMINALS
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On the afternoon of the Sunday on which I visited the Blackfriars
Shelter, I attended another service, conducted by Commissioner1
Sturgess, at Quaker Street.

Here the room was filled by about 150 men, all of whom had been rescued, and were then working in the various Shelters or elsewhere. I may say that I have seldom seen a congregation of more respectable appearance, and never one that joined with greater earnestness in a religious service.

I will take this opportunity to observe that the Salvation2 Army enforces no religious test upon those to whom it extends its assistance. If a man is a member of the Church of England or a Roman Catholic, for instance, and wishes to remain so, all that it tries to do is to make him a good member of his Church. Its only sine qua non is that the individual should show himself ready to work zealously3 at any task which it may be able to find for him.

The rest of that afternoon I spent in interviewing ex-criminals who were then in the charge of the Salvation Army. To give details of their cases in this book is impossible. Here I will only say, therefore, that some of these had been most desperate characters, who had served as much as thirty or forty years in various prisons, or even been condemned4 to death for murder. Indeed, the nineteen men whom I interviewed had, between them, done 371 years of what is known as 'time.'

I cannot honestly report that I liked the looks of all these gentry5, or believed everything that they told me. For instance, when such people swear that they have been wrongly convicted, an old lawyer and magistrate6 like myself, who knows what pains are taken by every English Court to safeguard the innocent, is apt to be sceptical. Still, it should be added that many of these jailbirds are now to all appearance quite reformed, while some of them are doing well in more or less responsible positions, under the supervision7 of the Army.

The Salvation Army Officers have authority from the Home Office to visit the various prisons, where the inmates8 are informed that those who are desirous of seeing them must give in their names. Then on a certain day, the Officer, who, under Commissioner Sturgess, is responsible for the Prison work of the Army in England, appears at the Wandsworth or the Pentonville Prison, or wherever it may be. There he finds, perhaps, as many as 150 men waiting to see him, the total number of ex-prisoners who pass through the hands of the Army in England averaging at present about 1,000 per annum. He interviews these men in their cells privately9, the prison officials remaining outside, and stops as long with each of them as he deems to be needful, for the Governors of the prisons give him every opportunity of attaining10 the object of his work. This Officer informed me that his conversation with the prisoners is not restricted in any way. It may be about their future or of spiritual matters, or it may have to do with their family affairs.

The details of each case are carefully recorded in a book which I saw, and when a convict is discharged and given over to the care of the Army, a photograph and an official statement of his record is furnished with him. This statement the Army finds a great help, as in dealing12 with such people it is necessary to know their past in order to be able to guard against their weak points.

The Government authorities have now begun to seek the aid of the Army in certain special cases. If they feel that it is unnecessary to retain a man any longer, they will sometimes hand him over, should the Salvation Army Officers be willing to take him in and be responsible for him. General Booth and his subordinates think that if this system were enlarged and followed up, it would result in the mitigation or the abbreviation of many sentences, without exposing the public to danger.

In discussing this matter with them, I ventured to point out that it would be a bad thing if the Army became in any way identified with the prison Authorities, and began, at any rate in the mind of the criminal classes, to wear the initials G.R. instead of those of the Army upon their collars. This was not disputed by Commissioner Sturgess, with whom I debated the question.

What the Army desires, however, is that the Government should subsidize this work in order to enable it to support the ex-convicts until it can find opportunity to place them in positions where they can earn their own bread. The trouble with such folk is that, naturally enough, few desire to employ them, and until they are employed, which in the case of aged13 persons or of those with a very bad record may be never, they must be fed, clothed, and housed.

After going into the whole subject at considerable length and in much detail, the conclusion which I came to was that this work of the visitation of prisoners by Salvation Army Officers, and the care of them when released either on or before the completion of their sentences, is one that might be usefully extended, should the Home Office Authorities see fit so to do. There is no doubt, although it cannot guarantee success in every case, that the Salvation Army is peculiarly successful in its dealings with hardened criminals.

Why this is so is not easy to explain. I think, however, that there are two main reasons for its success. The first is that the Army takes great care never to break a promise which it may make through any of its Officers. Thus, if a man in jail is told that his relatives will be hunted up and communicated with, or that an application will be made to the Authorities to have him committed to the care of the Army, or that work will be found for him on his release, and the like, that undertaking14, whatever it may be, is noted15 in the book which I have mentioned, and although years may pass before it can be fulfilled, is in due course carried out to the letter. Now, convicts are shy birds, who put little faith in promises. But when they find that these are always kept they gain confidence in the makers16 of them, and often learn to trust them entirely17.

The second and more potent18 reason is to be found in the power of that loving sympathy which the Army extends even to the vilest19, to those from whom the least puritanical20 of us would shrink. It shows such men that they are not utterly21 lost, as these believe; that it, at any rate, does not mark them with a figurative broad arrow and consign22 them to a separate division of society; that it is able to give them back the self-respect without which mankind is lower than the beast, and to place them, regenerated24, upon a path that, if it be steep and thorny25, still leads to those heights of peace and honour which they never thought to tread again.

This is done not by physical care and comfort, though, of course, these help towards the desired end, but by its own spiritual means, or so it would appear. Its Officers pray with the man; they awake his conscience, which is never dead in any of us; they pour the blessed light of hope into the dark places of his soul; they cause him to hate the past, and to desire to lead a new life. Once this desire is established, the rest is comparatively simple, for where the heart leads the feet will follow; but without it little or nothing can be done. Such is the explanation I have to offer. At any rate, I believe it remains26 a fact that among the worst criminals the Salvation Army often succeeds where others have failed.

Another point that should not be overlooked in this connexion is that it must be a great comfort to the sinner and an encouragement of the most practical sort to find, as he sometimes will, that the hands which are dragging him and his kind from the mire27, had once been as filthy28 as his own. When the worker can say to him, 'Look at me; in bygone days I was as bad as or worse than you'; when he can point to many others whose vices29 were formerly30 notorious, but who now fill positions of trust in the Army or outside of it, and are honoured of all men; then the lost one, emerging, perhaps, for the fifth or sixth time from the darkness of his prison, sees by the light of these concrete examples that the future has promise for us all. If they have succeeded why should he fail? That is the argument which comes home to him.

There remains a matter to be considered. Let us suppose that as time goes by the Authorities become more and more convinced of the value of the Army's prison work, and pass over to its care criminals in ever-increasing numbers, as they are doing in some other countries and in the great Colonies, what will be the effect upon the Army itself? Will not this mass of comparatively useless material clog31 the wheels of the great machine by overlading it with a vast number of ex-prisoners, some of whom, owing to their age or other circumstances, are quite incapable32 of earning their livelihood33, and therefore must be carried till their deaths? When I put the query34 to those in command, the answer given was that they did not think so, as they believed that the Army would be able to turn the great majority of these men into respectable, wage-earning members of society.

Thus of those who have been sent to it lately from the prisons, it has, I understand, been forced to return only two, because these men would not behave themselves, and proved to be a source of danger and contamination to others. As regards the residuum who are incapacitated by age or weakness of mind or body, General Booth and his Officers are of opinion that the Government should contribute to their support in such places as the Army may be able to find for them to dwell in under its care.

I hope that these forecasts, which after all are made by men of great experience who should know, may not prove to be over-sanguine. Still it must be remembered that in England alone there are, I am told, some 30,000 confirmed criminals in the jails, not reckoning the 5,000 who are classed as convicts. If even 20 per cent of these were passed over to the care of the Army, with or without State grants in aid of their support, this must in the nature of things prove a heavy burden upon its resources. When all is said and done it is harder to find employment for a jailbird, even if reformed, than for any other class of man, because so damaged a human article has but little commercial value in the Labour market.

If, however, the Salvation Army is prepared to face this gigantic task, it may be hoped that it will be given an opportunity of showing what it can do on a large scale, as it has already shown upon one more restricted. Prison reform is in the air. The present system is admitted more or less to have broken down. It has been shown to be incompetent35 to attain11 the real end for which it is established; that is, not punishment, as many still believe, for this hereditary36 idea is hard to eradicate37, but prevention and, still more, reformation.

The 'Vengeance38 of the Law' is a phrase not easy to forget; but among humane39 and highly-civilized peoples the word Vengeance should be replaced by another, the best that I can think of is—Regeneration. The Law should not seek to avenge—that may be left to the savage40 codes, civil and religious, of the dark ages. Except in the case of the death sentence, which is not everywhere in favour, it should seek to regenerate23.

If, then, among other agencies, the Salvation Army is able to prove beyond cavil41 that it can assist our criminal system to attain this noble end, ought not opportunity to be given it in full measure? Is it too much to hope that when the new Prison Act, of which the substance has recently been outlined by the Home Secretary, comes to be discussed, this object may be kept in view and the offer of the Salvation Army to co-operate in the great endeavour may not be lightly thrust aside? If its help is found so valuable in the solution of this particular problem in other lands, why should it be rejected here, or, rather, why should it not be more largely utilized42, as I know from their own lips, General Booth and his Officers hope and desire?

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1 commissioner gq3zX     
n.(政府厅、局、处等部门)专员,长官,委员
参考例句:
  • The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
  • He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。
2 salvation nC2zC     
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困
参考例句:
  • Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
  • Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。
3 zealously c02c29296a52ac0a3d83dc431626fc33     
adv.热心地;热情地;积极地;狂热地
参考例句:
  • Of course the more unpleasant a duty was, the more zealously Miss Glover performed it. 格洛弗小姐越是对她的职责不满意,她越是去积极执行它。 来自辞典例句
  • A lawyer should represent a client zealously within the bounds of the law. 律师应在法律范围内热忱为当事人代理。 来自口语例句
4 condemned condemned     
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
  • The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。
5 gentry Ygqxe     
n.绅士阶级,上层阶级
参考例句:
  • Landed income was the true measure of the gentry.来自土地的收入是衡量是否士绅阶层的真正标准。
  • Better be the head of the yeomanry than the tail of the gentry.宁做自由民之首,不居贵族之末。
6 magistrate e8vzN     
n.地方行政官,地方法官,治安官
参考例句:
  • The magistrate committed him to prison for a month.法官判处他一个月监禁。
  • John was fined 1000 dollars by the magistrate.约翰被地方法官罚款1000美元。
7 supervision hr6wv     
n.监督,管理
参考例句:
  • The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
  • The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。
8 inmates 9f4380ba14152f3e12fbdf1595415606     
n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 privately IkpzwT     
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地
参考例句:
  • Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
  • The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
10 attaining da8a99bbb342bc514279651bdbe731cc     
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的现在分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况)
参考例句:
  • Jim is halfway to attaining his pilot's licence. 吉姆就快要拿到飞行员执照了。
  • By that time she was attaining to fifty. 那时她已快到五十岁了。
11 attain HvYzX     
vt.达到,获得,完成
参考例句:
  • I used the scientific method to attain this end. 我用科学的方法来达到这一目的。
  • His painstaking to attain his goal in life is praiseworthy. 他为实现人生目标所下的苦功是值得称赞的。
12 dealing NvjzWP     
n.经商方法,待人态度
参考例句:
  • This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
  • His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
13 aged 6zWzdI     
adj.年老的,陈年的
参考例句:
  • He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了,也老点了。
  • He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老,然而记忆力还好。
14 undertaking Mfkz7S     
n.保证,许诺,事业
参考例句:
  • He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
  • He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小,不敢从事任何事业。
15 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
16 makers 22a4efff03ac42c1785d09a48313d352     
n.制造者,制造商(maker的复数形式)
参考例句:
  • The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
  • The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
17 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
18 potent C1uzk     
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的
参考例句:
  • The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
  • We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。
19 vilest 008d6208048e680a75d976defe25ce65     
adj.卑鄙的( vile的最高级 );可耻的;极坏的;非常讨厌的
参考例句:
20 puritanical viYyM     
adj.极端拘谨的;道德严格的
参考例句:
  • He has a puritanical attitude towards sex.他在性问题上主张克制,反对纵欲。
  • Puritanical grandfather is very strict with his children.古板严厉的祖父对子女要求非常严格。
21 utterly ZfpzM1     
adv.完全地,绝对地
参考例句:
  • Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民,把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
  • I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。
22 consign uamyn     
vt.寄售(货品),托运,交托,委托
参考例句:
  • We cannot agree to consign the goods.我们不同意寄售此货。
  • We will consign the goods to him by express.我们将以快递把货物寄给他。
23 regenerate EU2xV     
vt.使恢复,使新生;vi.恢复,再生;adj.恢复的
参考例句:
  • Their aim is to regenerate British industry.他们的目的是复兴英国的工业。
  • Although it is not easy,you have the power to regenerate your life.尽管这不容易,但你有使生活重获新生的能力。
24 regenerated 67df9da7e5af2af5acd8771deef0296f     
v.新生,再生( regenerate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • They are regarded as being enveloped in regenerated gneisses. 它们被认为包围在再生的片麻岩之中。 来自辞典例句
  • The party soon regenerated under her leadership. 该党在她的领导下很快焕然一新。 来自辞典例句
25 thorny 5ICzQ     
adj.多刺的,棘手的
参考例句:
  • The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题。
  • The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点。
26 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
27 mire 57ZzT     
n.泥沼,泥泞;v.使...陷于泥泞,使...陷入困境
参考例句:
  • I don't want my son's good name dragged through the mire.我不想使我儿子的名誉扫地。
  • He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。
28 filthy ZgOzj     
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的
参考例句:
  • The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
  • You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发,然后再去买张新的。
29 vices 01aad211a45c120dcd263c6f3d60ce79     
缺陷( vice的名词复数 ); 恶习; 不道德行为; 台钳
参考例句:
  • In spite of his vices, he was loved by all. 尽管他有缺点,还是受到大家的爱戴。
  • He vituperated from the pulpit the vices of the court. 他在教堂的讲坛上责骂宫廷的罪恶。
30 formerly ni3x9     
adv.从前,以前
参考例句:
  • We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
  • This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。
31 clog 6qzz8     
vt.塞满,阻塞;n.[常pl.]木屐
参考例句:
  • In cotton and wool processing,short length fibers may clog sewers.在棉毛生产中,短纤维可能堵塞下水管道。
  • These streets often clog during the rush hour.这几条大街在交通高峰时间常常发生交通堵塞。
32 incapable w9ZxK     
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的
参考例句:
  • He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
  • Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。
33 livelihood sppzWF     
n.生计,谋生之道
参考例句:
  • Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
  • My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。
34 query iS4xJ     
n.疑问,问号,质问;vt.询问,表示怀疑
参考例句:
  • I query very much whether it is wise to act so hastily.我真怀疑如此操之过急地行动是否明智。
  • They raised a query on his sincerity.他们对他是否真诚提出质疑。
35 incompetent JcUzW     
adj.无能力的,不能胜任的
参考例句:
  • He is utterly incompetent at his job.他完全不能胜任他的工作。
  • He is incompetent at working with his hands.他动手能力不行。
36 hereditary fQJzF     
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的
参考例句:
  • The Queen of England is a hereditary ruler.英国女王是世袭的统治者。
  • In men,hair loss is hereditary.男性脱发属于遗传。
37 eradicate Ui1zn     
v.根除,消灭,杜绝
参考例句:
  • These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
  • They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。
38 vengeance wL6zs     
n.报复,报仇,复仇
参考例句:
  • He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
  • For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。
39 humane Uymy0     
adj.人道的,富有同情心的
参考例句:
  • Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗?
  • Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。
40 savage ECxzR     
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人
参考例句:
  • The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
  • He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。
41 cavil uUbyt     
v.挑毛病,吹毛求疵
参考例句:
  • A carper will cavil at anything.爱挑剔的人对什么都挑剔。
  • Even he could find nothing to cavil about.连他都挑不出什么毛病来。
42 utilized a24badb66c4d7870fd211f2511461fff     
v.利用,使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • In the19th century waterpower was widely utilized to generate electricity. 在19世纪人们大规模使用水力来发电。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The empty building can be utilized for city storage. 可以利用那栋空建筑物作城市的仓库。 来自《简明英汉词典》


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