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20
Letter 3d
expect to find it within the compass of human
ability, though devoted exclusively to the service,
to bring the improved English prisons in question
upon a level in point of economy with that of
Philadelphia. It is not without surprize that
in some instances within my reach Dorsetshire
in particular (Oxfordshire I have but an indistinct
recollection of) I have observed in how meritorious
a degree these obstacles have been overcome. (c) (c) Account of earnings from Neild.
In these home instances the grand misfortune
is, that in regard to the main object — the object
with reference to which example and reformation
themselves are but as means to an end — I mean
the decreased of crimes — circumstances do not
admit of their affording any such satisfactory proofs
of efficacy as in the more favourable situation of
the Philadelphia prison may be and have been
afforded: — why? — because the good effects of the
discipline of these good jails are to such a degree
drowned in the bad effects of the surrounding bad
ones. * In Pensylvanyia too & in New York, the whole
system of penal justice is invigorated by the abolition
of capital punishment as above: while in England
the debility resulting from the opposite excess (by
debility I mean the relaxation that pervades the
whole system of procedure) is such as cannot be
compensated in any ascertainable degree by the
utmost efficacy of such local & partial improvements. Would
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Identifier: | JB/116/617/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 116.
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116 |
panopticon versus new south wales |
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617 |
letter 3d |
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001 |
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copy/fair copy sheet |
1 |
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recto |
d20 |
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john herbert koe |
cw 1799 |
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c. abbit lees |
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1799 |
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letter was never sent; see note 8 to letter 1747, vol. 7 |
38150 |
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