Ex parte Nichols

Citations

• 110 Cal. 651
• 43 P. 9
• 1896 Cal. LEXIS 528

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional Law—Preston School of Industry—Detention and Education of Minor Offenders.—The act of March 11, 1889, establishing the Preston School of Industry is constitutional, the legislature having the power to provide for the detention and education of minor offenders; and the fact that the term of detention is made greater by the judgment of the court than the term of the longest imprisonment in the county jail allowed for the same offense does not render the act invalid; nor can it be said that the punishment inflicted is greater than can be put upon an adult for the same offense, the object of the act being not punishment, but reformation, discipline, and education, and to afford the juvenile offender the opportunity and instruction to learn a trade, and to qualify himself for the duties of citizenship.</p> <p>Id.—Habeas Corpus—Commitment for Petit Larceny—Jurisdiction of Justice’s Court—Felony—Transfer of Boys from State Prison. A juvenile offender sentenced by the justice’s court for petit larceny to the Preston School of Industry until he is twenty-one ye^rs of age is not punished as for a felony beyond the jurisdiction of the justice’s court; and the fact that the act provides that any boy under eighteen years of age who is serving a sentence in any state prison, who shall be deemed a fit subject for training in said school, may, upon the recommendation of the board of prison directors and the approval of the governor, be transferred to said school, and, when honorably discharged therefrom, shall be entitled to such benefits and immunities as are provided for other inmates thereof, does not turn the school into a state prison, but such transfer is in effect a commutation by the governor,' and an offender sentenced by the justice’s court cannot be released upon habeas corpus upon the ground that such transfer may be made from the state prison.</p>