make-up, his tendencies, his inclinations and his capacities, and no two
would be judged alike.

Any sudden change in the treatment of women in the courts will work a
great injustice that will leave its effect on both women and men, and
still more on the life of the race.




IX

JUVENILE CRIMINALS


This subject would scarcely have been noted a few years ago. True, there
was in the past a small mixture of children in the grist ground out in
the criminal courts. Usually they received some leniency, and were
viewed with more curiosity than alarm. The juvenile criminal was
regarded as a prodigy with a capacity for crimes far beyond his years.
Something of the attitude obtained in regard to him which attaches to
the child chess player or the child mathematician. The child criminal is
now common, and for the most part is a product of the city.

All crime is doubtless much more common in the city than the country,
and the young criminal especially is a product of the crowded community.
To those who look for natural causes for all phenomena the reason is not
far to seek. The city itself is an abnormal thing. Primitive man and his
ancestors were never huddled together in great multitudes, as are the
dwellers in cities today. To a degree almost all animals are gregarious,