25 JULY 1914, Page 25

The Probation System. By Cecil Leeson. (P. S. King and

Son. 3s. 6d. net.)—" Probation" is a system by which reclaimable offenders are given a chance to reform. "Instead of being punished, these offenders are conditionally released under the friendly supervision of a skilled social worker, known as a probation officer." Mr. Leeson has worked under the English Probation Act of 1907, and gives us a timely and judicious review of its results : he holds that its defects are not of principle but of administration.