Legal Treatment: The Great Issues During Victorian Britain

Legal treatment
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Institution
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Legal treatment
Juvenile crime was one of the great issues during Victorian Britain, criminal gangs had been a concern since the 18th century, and however, the industrialization effects altered the family life, increasing the rates of juvenile crimes in the early 18th century. The general public raised concerns about the increasing activities of criminal gang boys and girls in London. The British government responded to the public's fear of juvenile crime by establishing committees and a professional police force.
Generally, the justice system convicted criminal offenders assuming that crime was an individual weakness and also an inborn trait. There was no distinction made between criminal of any age. Reformers questioned how young people ought to be treated since the law did not prevent children from engaging in crime. Several publications played a major role in shaping criminal laws targeting young children.
Published in 1820, Rowlandson's "Placard in Characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders" contained several plates showing harsh scenes within the streets of London. A picture of a young pickpocket in one of Rowlandson's pictures portraying the rampant rates of juvenile crime witnessed London in 1820. John Wade’s treatise stated that delinquents were born thieves and stealing was part of their inheritance and this influenced their mode of thinking habits; this is why stealing became an art of living.
Such assumption was refuted by other reformers like Mayhew and Binny, who wrote a report about the Criminal Prison of London. For them, the scanty of wages was the major cause of juvenile crime. They believed that it was not possible for a one person to support the family; their wives had to forgo their maternal duties to add up to the family income as children were neglected.
The legal treatment of children in the 19th century and the reform process
For many parts of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, transportation was a common form of punishment, anyone convicted of any criminal offense was sent to Australia. Reformers opposed such laws, providing various recommendations on how to minimize juvenile crime. In 1816, parliament set up a committee to investigate the ever-increasing rates of juvenile crime in the metropolis.
In one of the many committee reviews of the criminal justice system, transportation of young boys to Australia, especially for those between the ages of 14 to 15 years was opposed by many who testified. Reformers believed that the major problem was the great evil being committed in prison; young boys who committed simple larceny were left in prison for months before being brought to trial....