13 APRIL 1907, Page 24

The Making of the Criminal. By Charles E. B. Russell

and L. M. Rigby. (Macmillan and Co. Els. 6d. net.)—Criminals are, to a large extent, made for us. There is a °lase in which crime is an inheritance. Then there are those whom adverse circum- stances place in a position in which honesty is, to say the least„, extremely difficult. And there is a class of semi-responsible, creatures, not so weak as to justify control, but practically too weak to control themselves. The causes are patent enough ; it is when we come to the remedies that we find everything obscure. And this discussion of remedies is the most practically valuable, part of Messrs. Russell and Rigby's book. They have studied the history of the subject here; they have acquainted themselvea with the systems that are being worked in other countries. There are many differences of opinionj experience does not sewn

always to have the same lesson. On one point, however, there is something like unanimity,—the prison is an evil; it makes the bad worse ; it makes the indifferent, as we may can them, bad. And one fruitful cause of mischief is to be found in the vagrancy laws, or, at least, in the injudicious administration of them.