Juvenile Offenders.

Juvenile Offenders. In the eye of the law persons are considered capable of committing crime when of the age of seven, and are punishable like other persons. But in England and Ireland, whenever a person under the age of sixteen is convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned, the court or magistrates may also sentence him to be sent to a reformatory school for not less than two or more than five years. Such sentence, however, cannot be passed upon an offender under ten years of age, unless his offence is by law punishable with penal servitude or imprisonment, or unless the sentence come from a superior court, such as a court of assize or of quarter sessions. Children who have not yet committed crime, but are in a vagrant and neglected state, may also be sent to an industrial school.