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CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
By SIMEON NASH,
" Author of *♦ Morality and the State '
** Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old
he will not depart from it."
CINCINNATI:
ROBERT CLARKE & CO.
1S76.
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Kntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, .by
SIMEON NASH,
In the Oflfice of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
Stereotyped by Ogden, Campbell. & Co., Cincinnati.
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PREFACE.
The first hint for the following discussion came to my
mind from an experience gained in the administration of
criminal justice, t had occasion to pass sentence upon
several boys, whose history was known to me ; and in that
history, I thought, I saw the reason why these boys were
criminals, instead of being honest and industrious. It ap- *
peared to me, that in parental neglect I saw the true rea- ,
son why they were what they were, and not other than '
they were.
Having.a call to deliver a lecture, I took up the subject
and discussed it substantially in the manner here pursued.
I repeated that lecture upon several occasions, and, at each
time, these views made, I had reason to believe, a deep and
lasting impression. I was urged by many to write them •
out for publication. Encouraged by these requests, and
feeling that the public mind needed to be roused up to a •
better understanding of this all-important subject, I have
prepared the following work for publication, in the earnest
hope that it may call attention and stimulate to thought
on this subject. Amid the imperious calls of pressing pub-
lic duties, I can not promise myself that the work might
not have been better done ; I have labored to make myself
understood, and, if I have not failed there, I am satisfied.
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IV PREFACE.
The value of a book should be tested by the truth it con-
tains, not by its fine writing.
I now subrait this little work with the earnest hope that
it may be as good seed sown in a fruitful soil, growing up
into an abundant harvest — that it may awake public atten-
tion, and lead to thought, until others may come forth to
supply its imperfections and enforce more 'eloquently its
truths ; so that the children that may come after us may,
by a more earnest performance of parental duties, escape
the dangers which have so thickly beset the paths of those
who have gone before. We may then hope to see the cur-
rent of crime narrowing and shoaling until it shall wholly
disappear.
SIMEON NASH.
Gallipolis, Ohio, a. d. 1861.
The above was written some years since, as will be
seen by the date. Circumstances then made it prudent
not to publish. Now, on re-reading the proof after so many
years, I see no reason to alter what I then wrote, but sub-
mit the same to every candid, truth-loving, and earnest
mind.
S. N.
Gallipolis, May 10, 1876.
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CONTENTS.
Chap. 1. — Introduction, . . . . • 1
Chap.. 2. — Crime, Some op its Explanations, . . 6
Chap. 3. — Crime, Some of its Manifestations, . 1 3
Chap. 4, — Crime, its true Source, . . . .21
Chap. 5. — Thb Child, the Subject, ... 28
Chap. 6. — The Family, the Medium, . . .45
Chap. 7. — Parents, their Position, ... 54
Chap. 8. — Government, . . . . .58
Chap. 9. — Teaching, Spiritual Culture, . . 67
Chap. 10. — Teaching, Materla.l Living, . . .93
Chap. 11. — Teaching, Industry, . . . • 1^^
Chap. 12.— -Teaching, Society, . . . .113
Chap. 13. — Teaching, the Mode, . . .125
Chap. 14.— The Wrong Way,
Chap. 15. — The State, its Duty,
Chap. 16.— Conclusion, . • - • .152
131
145
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CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION,
Crime and the family I It may be objected that
this is a strange juxtaposition of these two words — the
one indicating all that is wicked and debased in hu-
manity ; the other, all that is endearing and holy.
Strange, however, as it may seem, I think I shall be
able to show that there is a most intimate relation be-
tween the family and crime ; a more intimate one than
many mistaken and misguided parents have suspected,
while they were blindly engaged in working out for
their children a future overclouded with vice, crime,
and misery. I hope to be able, by a discussion of
this relationship, to wake up the attention of parents
to a clearer perception of their duties and responsi-
bilities.
Much has been said, written, and done upon the
subject of the reformation of criminals, and somewhat
of good has grown out of these discussions and do-
ings, in the improved architecture of our prisons, and
the better and the more humane administration of
them ; but in the matter of the reform of criminals,
little or nothing has been accomplished. This has
been owing to various causes — mainly to the almost
moral impossibility of reclaiming those who have
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CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
\
grown up into crime, and acquired the thoughts and
opinions and development necessarily attendant upon
a life of crime. There is another consideration, how-
ever, which is not to be overlooked ; and that is, the
objection raised against the adoption, in the govern-
ment of prisons, of a thorough system of religious
teaching. If the criminal is to be reformed, it must
be by the introduction of a radical change in his life ;
and religion alone holds out any hopes of working in
humanity such a change. The prisoner must become
religious, must feel within him a new life and new-
emotions — a life wrought out from a belief in God, and
emotions of love and gratitude toward God, which that
faith alone is capable of developing in a human soul.
But it is said that to press upon the attention of crim-
inals confined for crimes against the State, the subject
of religion, is an infringement of their rights of con-
science ; as though the State had not a right to employ
all and any means which were reasonably calculated
to reclaim the criminal, to change the bad man into a
good one, to convert the law-breaker into a law-
abider ! This imaginary difficulty has been got round
b}'' indirection — by the appointment of moral instruc-
tors instead of chaplains — just as though a change of
name could work a change in the nature of the thing ;
for no mere moral teaching, no mere appeal to the
principles of expediency and prudence, ever did, ever *
will, or ever can work that moral and spiritual reforma-
tion in a human soul, without which it can not become
what it must be, in order that the criminal shall be
converted into the honest, law-abiding man.
There is still another difficulty connected with this
effi)rt, which has contributed to this failure — the abso-
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INTRODUCTION.
lute disqualification of the men appointed to the office
of religious teacher for these outlawed men. . Clergy-
men are, in most cases, illy fitted to address such men. \^
They are wholly ignorant of the mysterious workings
of a human soul educated into crime. They can not
reach it, can not get hold of it, since to do this re-
quires a thorough knowledge of humanity, of a human
soul, and of the motives and views which influence its
actions and affections, when sunk into these terrible
depths of vice and crime. One may be able to meth-
odize into science the whole of revealed truth, and yet
utterly fail when brought face to face before a human
soul tainted with crime. It would be well if our
clergy studied humanity more, even if they studied '
theology less. The truths through which the Chris-
tian life is worked out are few and simple, while theol-
ogy, as a science, is the way in which the intellect
regards revealed truth, and methodizes it into a sys-
tem. If the human soul is to be spiritually affected,
it must be by the presentation of these plain and sim-
ple facts and truths, which go directly to its moral
consciousness. The criminal must be made conscious
of his guilt, or nothing in. the way of reform can be
accomplished. This self-consciousness of guilt is the
first step in every moral change of heart and life
and character. To do this with success, the teacher
must understand the human soul in its degraded con-
dition — must know its thoughts and opinions, and the
motives by which it is influenced and impelled into
action. This knowledge is necessary to the success-
ful teacher or preacher, under all circumstances ; but
it is indispensable when he is called upon to address a
class of men so far removed from his own mode of
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CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
life and thoughts as are the depraved inmates of a
prison. He must know what these men believe, and
how they think, if his instruction is*to exert any ben-
eficial influence upon their lives.
While these discussions on prisons and criminal re-
forms have been prosecuted, little or no attention has
I been given to this terrible fact — the existence of crime
/itself. The existence of crime and criminals has
[ seemed to be regarded as the necessary products of
social development. Hence no investigations have
been prosecuted to search out the origin and source
and cause of this terrible social evil, and ascertain, if
possible, upon whom rested the responsibility that
.criminals were, somewhere in the bosom of society,
being constantly educated into a life of crime. This
subject is of the deepest moment, and an effort to
fathom it can not fail to do good. It will at least open
up the inquiry, and point out the mode of its prosecu-
tion. These criminals were once innocent babes,
drawing their life from a mother's breast. They were
once in the family, and have come forth from it, not
to adorn and bless, but to prey upon society. By
whose fault and neglect does this take place? And
how can it be prevented, if prevented it can be? In
the following work, I shall endeavor to furnish a solu-
tion to these all-important questions, by endeavoring
tp ascertain the origin and cause of crime, and the
manner in which these causes may be removed, and
the education of criminals prevented.
The effort is certainly worth an attempt at its solu-
tion ; and in such a cause, even a failure can not be
without its beneficial influences. A failure oftentimes
is as good as a success — if not for the author, at least
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INTRODUCTION.
for the public mind. Some imperfect and incomplete
productions possess a fertilizing value, which works
more perfect do not. Sterile even from their very
perfection, they are an initiation. They open up new
ways, break the old worn-out molds, stimulate the
thought and imagination of readers, and render easy,
to those coming after, victories which the}'' have failed
to 'obtain. Such works become the germs, which
other minds, under more favorable auspices, will de-
velop and perfect in form. All serious efforts will
have their influence, and that influence can only prove
beneficial to future thought and social progress. If,
then, I shall succeed simply in calling attention to this
subject — in turning the public mind in a new and fruit-
ful direction — I shall not have labored in vain. A
book which sets the reader thinking can never be a
worthless book. It will open up new views of an old
subject, and lead to new trains of thought. Whether
I shall have succeeded in doing this, it is not for me
to say. That conclusion must be formulated by the
reader, not by the author.
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CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
CHAPTER II.
CRIME — SOME OF ITS EXPLANATIONS.
The existence of crime in society is a fearful and
strange fact. If it were not so common, how startled
should we be at the report of a larceny, or an arson,
or a murder? The idea that men could be found "ca-
pable of violating human law, to say nothing of the
divine law, and run the chances of being overtaken
by its penalties, is a startling fact, and would seem to
be almost an impossible one ; and yet so it is. Men are
found who will violate the law, set society at defiance,
and proclaim perpetual war upon its interests, al-
though the chances are that their crimes .will be found
out, and they in their .persons be compelled to suffer
the penalties. The continuity of crime is a permanent
fact, and punish as society may, the number of crimes
is kept up, and the number of criminals goes on in-
creasing with the growth of population and the accu-
mulation of wealth.
Since the enforcement of criminal law, the prompt
conviction, and the rigid punishment of criminals are
powerless to check the growth of crime and the multi-
plication of criminals, it becomes an all-important in-
quiry to ascertain what is the permanent source of
crime, what the method by which this army of crim-
inals is recruited, is constantly kept up? If we could
verify the real source of crime, we might be able to
abate this, and thus get rid of it ; but so long as we
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CRIME — SOME OF ITS EXPLANATIONS. 7
confine our attention to the punishment and reform of
the criminal, instead of seeking to prevent his educa-
tion, we shall never succeed in getting rid of crime.
We must trace out the history of the criminal, ascer-
tain how and where h^ was educated into crime, by
whose agency and by whose neglect. We must pre-
vent the formation of criminals, if we would put an
end to the perpetration of crime. In this way, society
will best protect its own interests, and advance civili-
zation, intelligence, and moral worth. When the
criminal is once formed, there seems, judging from
experience, to be but. very little hope of ever reclaim-
ing him ; hence the great aim should be to prevent the
formation, the education of the criminal.
Criminals are not born such ; they were all at first
infants in their mothers' arm§, and from that home of
tenderness, they have somehow strayed away from its
influences and grown up to be law-breakers, the ene-
mies of law and social order. How then does it hap-
pen that one child grows up to be a criminal, and an-
other to be an ornament and a blessing to society and
friends? There is no necessity by which this strange
result is wrought out ; there must be some cause con-
sistent with free will and moral responsibility for this
strange diflference in the history of two human beings.
How does it happen that of two infants, the one may
become the judge upon the bench to pronounce, and
the other the criminal at the bar to receive the sen-
tence whicji the law has affixed to its violation ?
Various answers have been given in explanation of
this social mystery, and these explanations have been
as various and diverse as the men who gave them.
Each has explained it according to his theory of hu-
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8 CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
manity and society, and yet all these explanations have
led/ to no reforms; the race of criminals has gone on
unbroken, and crime has continued to be prosecuted,
and society has found no relief to this wound, under
which it has suffered and still^does suffer.
The positive philosopher has his theory ; he explains
crime By statistics. Gathering up the statistics of
crime, he will tell you that a certain number of murders
and robberies and arsons and larcenies are committed
each year, and a certain proportion of the criminals are
prosecuted, and a certain other proportion convicted.
In his investigations he does not confine himself to one
nation or country ; he turns over the records of all
countries, and shows that this law of proportion is
found to exist in all civilized nations, in all social or-
ganizations ; hence he infers that this is a law of social
development, a law as permanent and uniform in its
action as any other law of humanity and society.
Crime, therefore, is, according to his theory, a neces-
sary condition of societjs as much as disease is a neces-
sary condition of the body.
All these statistics may be correct, and they may de-
monstrate the existence of certain facts and laws ; but
do they ex f lain anything? Do they furnish any clue
to the cause why society is so developed ? Why this
proportion of crime is kept up ? They show that some
law is at work, some cause ever operative, and pro-
ductive of nearly the same results, under nearly similar
conditions ; otherwise this uniformity of results would
not be wrought out. These philosophers give us the
diagnosis of the disease, but they furnish us no expla-
nation of its cause, no remedy for its cure. The man
whose limb is broken, or whose body is being con-
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CRIME — SOME OF ITS EXPLANATIONS. 9
sumed by a slow disease, is little benefited by having
the nature of the fracture or the condition and working
of his disease explained, unless he is also told how
the one can be reduced and cured, and the cause and
remedy for the other. So society is little benefited
by all these figures, by all these facts, by all these sta-
tistics, unless it is enlightened upon the true causes
which produce these uniform eflfects. There must be
some cause, underlying all these figures and facts,
which operates upon beings endowed with reason and
free will, and in harmony with these endowments, to
bring about these uniform results, to produce these ef-
fects. It is this cause which we wish to know, which
we must know before we can intelligently set ourselves
to the work of anticipating and preventing these re-
sults, the education of criminals ; but of this cause of
these causes the positive philosopher with all his sta-
tistics gives us no information : hence he is but a blind
guide in the inquiry now before us.
With another class of minds, all the vices and crimes
of men are attributed to poor, depraved human nature.
Unless humanity had received a shock, a twist, an in-
jury, there would have been no vice or crime, no sin
of any degree of demerit. If man acted according
to the idea by which God wrought in his creation, per-
fect order and harmony and happiness would have
been the portion of humanity ; but man violates the di-
vine idea, the divine law in his action and develop-
ment, and hence the existence of sin, and vice, and
crime, and misery. But while this depravity is truly
the source and cause of vice and crime, and if the
former did not exist the latter could not, still is it true
that this depravity necessarily leads* to crime? If so,
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lO CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
all men ought to be criminals, and society and social
order would be an impossibility. But all men are not
criminals against the laws of society, whatever they
may be when tried by the higher and more compre-
hensive laws of God. Hence depravity does not neces-
sarily lead a human soul to crime ; there must be some
other cause which produces the wide differences which
we witness in the lives and characters of men. Why
is it that with this common inheritance of depravity,
some men are honest and others dishonest, some are
virtuous and others vicious, some observers and
others breakers of the law? Now it is this cause
which makes these men so unlike, so different that we
need to know and comprehend, before we are prepared
to guide this depraved humanity in all cases and in
every instance into the development of a life of hon-
esty, and virtue, and obedience.
Another will insist that the existence of crime de-
pends upon the constitution of the race, or family,
or individual ; that some races and families and
individuals possess a constitution, an organization,
something peculiar, which works out this result.
It may be true that races and families deteriorate ;
that, with some, this disease called depravity is
stronger, and harder to be counteracted and over-
come, than with others. Facts would s?em to show
that races and families improve ; that a race or family
highly cultivated and moral produce children with
more active intellects, with moral susceptibilities more
easily excited and developed. They may also dete-
riorate. Ignorant and immoral parents do probably
impart something of their own stupidity and animal
development to their children, and so far may this
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CRIME — SOME OF ITS EXPLANATIONS. II
deterioration be carried on in the process of genera-
tions that the race or family will die out — ^be incapable
of perpetuating itself; but, before this can take place,
moral responsibility must cease, and the race or fam-
ily become idiotic. But still this fact, if it is a fact,
does not necessitate the criminal, since, in these races
and families, all are not violators of the laws of so-
ciety and the State. The same distinction is here
seen as among all societies — some are criminals, and
others not. Hence there must be some reason,
some cause for this distinction, for this marked differ-
ence in men of the same race and family. This ex-
planation, then, is no better than the others, and
equally false and insufficient to explain the existence
of crime in a society composed of beings endowed
with reason to comprehend the true and the divine,
and a free will to obey or disobey their teachings.
All these explanations imply, if they do not assert, .
that crime is a fatality, not a sin — the result of blind
causes, instead of the natural action of a free will and