I had been keeping records of the child crimes
that came up in the course of my work that year. They began before
the kindergarten age with burglary and till-tapping. "Highwaymen"
at six sounds rather formidable, but there was no other name for
it. Two lads of that age had held up a third and robbed him in
the street; at seven and eight there were seven housebreakers and
two common thieves; at ten I had a burglar, one boy and four girl
thieves, two charged with assault and one with forgery; at eleven
four burglars, two thieves with a record, two charged with assault,
a highway robber, an habitual liar, and a suicide; at twelve five
burglars, three thieves, two "drunks," three incendiaries, three
arrested for assault, and two suicides; at thirteen five burglars,
one with a record, five thieves, five charged with assault, one
"drunk," one forger; at fourteen four burglars, seven thieves, one
drunk enough to fight a policeman, six highway robbers, and ten
charged with assault. And so on. The street had borne its perfect
crop, and they were behind the bars every one, locked in with the
boys who had done nothing worse than play hooky.
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