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Image reproduced by permission from the Mitchell Library, Glagow
Dr James Devon (1866-1939) was Medical Officer at Duke Street Prison, Glasgow from 1895 until his appointment as a Scottish Prison Commissioner in 1913. Born into poverty in the Calton area of Glasgow's East End, he was described in 1908 as "prison doctor, aphorist, critic of officialdom, advocate of better methods of reforming criminals, but, first and foremost, a good friend and adviser to all whom his varied employments bring him in contact" (The Bailie 6.1.1909 p.2). There is more detailed biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
In his "The Criminal and the Community" (1912) Devon uses his own background and prison experience to comment on the study of the criminal, common factors in the causation of crime and the treatment of the criminal. It is a fascinating work and deserves to better known both because of the insight it gives us into the new penal optimism of the period, and as a rich document of Scottish social history.
The Clarke Foundation for Legal Education awarded CjScotland a grant in 2006 to digitise the book. However the book is now readily available online in several formats from the Internet Archive (Canadian Libraries) . As originally envisaged the project isn't just about releasing the book in a form accessible to a wide readership but also to use James Devon's work to reflect on developments (if any) in our understanding of 'the criminal and the community' and what has actually happened in Scottish criminal justice over the century between. Has the optimism of his final chapters been realised? If not, why not?
Foreword by Professor Andrew Coyle CMG, King's College, London
The distinctive ethos of the Scottish prison system was forged during the fifty years of existence of the Scottish Prison Commission between 1878 and 1929. James Devon was appointed a Commissioner in 1913 and remained one until the final abolition of the Commission. The only Commissioner to be medically qualified, Devon was influential in Scottish prisons during a period of great change and development. His contribution deserves to be much better known and for that reason this project from CjScotland is to be very much welcomed. It casts light on a little known period in the history of Scottish prisons and helps us to understand how the prison system in Scotland has come to be as it is today.
Sample: This is the closing paragraph of the final chapter entitled "The Better Way"
"There is only one principle in penology that is worth any consideration; it is to find out why a man does wrong, and make it not worth his while. There is nothing to be gained by assuming that individual peculiarities may be disregarded, and there is everything to be lost thereby. If we would make the best of him we should restrict the liberty of the offender as little as possible consistent with the well-being of the community, and enlarge it gradually as reason is shown for doing so. We cannot injure him without injuring ourselves, and we ought to set about to make the best rather than the worst of him."
Review of The Criminal and the Community. New York Times 12.3.1912.