SOCIAL STATISTICS. 



218,398 were committed as criminals, the rest 

 being Civil and Military Act prisoners. Of the 

 231,184 prisoners, there were I female to 3 males 

 in England and Wales, and i to i -6 in Scotland 

 and Ireland. 



But committals by indictment or information 

 tried by the higher courts, include only a com- 

 paratively small number of offences. The others 

 are tried summarily by local magistrates and jus- 

 tices of peace. Recent summary conviction acts 

 have lessened the number of committals. Of 

 criminals, 5 in 6 are petty offenders. 



The following facts shew the state of crime in 

 England and Wales during the year ending 29th 

 September 1870. 51,792 indictable offences were 

 known to 26,441 police to have been committed, 

 and 26,613 persons were apprehended, of whom 

 16,742 were committed for trial in the higher 

 courts, and 2 in 3 were convicted. There were 

 also 3 in 4 convicted out of 526,869 minor 

 offenders proceeded against summarily in the 

 lower courts of justice. Thus, a total of 553,482 

 offenders (i female to 4-5 males) were proceeded 

 against. Besides prostitutes, vagrants, and tramps, 

 52,987 persons (i female to 3-6 males) were known 

 to the police as belonging to the criminal classes. 

 During the year, 168,134 persons were prisoners. 



The number of annual criminal committals shews 

 curious annual fluctuations, depending on the price 

 of food, and briskness of industry and trade. In 

 England and Wales since 1834 they have varied 

 from 14 to 19 in 10,000 of the population. Recom- 

 mittals, 1841-51, varied from 29-9 to 33 -4 per cent, 

 of the committals. Of the recommittals, in 1856, I 

 in 3-9 was of a previous offender. In Edinburgh, 

 1854, there were 1001 recommittals once ; 544, 

 twice ; 234, thrice; 226, four times ; 142, five times; 

 375, 6 to 10 times ; 337, n to 20 times ; 218, 21 to 

 50 times ; and 23, above 50 times. But in spite of 

 this, there are now fewer habitual and juvenile 

 criminals. Though London has nearly doubled 

 in population since the establishment of the 

 London police, 72,824 persons were apprehended 

 for crime in it in 1831, and only 71,961 in 1871 ; 

 35,601 were apprehended as drunk and disorderly 

 in 1833, and only 28,241 in 1871. 



In Scotland, 1871, a total of 141,644 offenders, 

 or i female to 2-4 males, were proceeded against, 

 and nearly I in 2 convicted. To i offence against 

 the person, there were two against property, and 

 27 miscellaneous. 28,588 persons (i female to 

 i -5 males) were received into Scotch prisons ; 

 but counting the same person only once, only 

 18,815 ( or r female to 2-5 males) prisoners were 

 received in the year into the prisons. Each was 

 confined, on the average, 31 days. Of those 

 imprisoned, 352 had been in the same prison 

 above 50 times. 



In 1870, in London, 71,269 persons were appre- 

 hended by the police, and 43,338 summarily dis- 

 posed of or bailed ; in Dublin, 34,994, and 3 1,602 ; 

 in Liverpool, 32,405, and 26,185 i m Manchester, 

 26,084, and 19,453 ; in Edinburgh, 10,499, an d 

 9686. This includes recommittals. 



Crimes have been divided into six groups : i. 

 Against the person ; 2. against property with 

 violence ; 3. against property without violence ; 

 4. malicious offences against property ; 5. forgery 

 and currency crimes ; 6. other crimes. In Eng- 

 land and Wales, 1834-49, the crimes in these 

 groups were in the ratio of 22, 18, 215, i, 6, 12 ; in 



1856, 13, 19, in, i, 8, 3; in 1870, 8, 7, 47, i, 1-5, 

 3. Thus by far the greatest number of crimes 

 is against property without violence, or thefts 

 and frauds. Offences against the person have 

 been 5 in Ireland to I in England. Petty thefts 

 are, proportionally to the population, more numer- 

 ous in Glasgow than in London or Dublin. 

 Fewer females than males commit thefts with 

 violence. 



By the census of 1871 there were confined in 

 the 115 convict-prisons, jails, and bridewells in 

 England and Wales, 28,756 prisoners, or i female 

 to 4-4 males, and I prisoner to 960 inhabitants ; 

 and the daily average during the year was 28,011. 

 In 1871-72, the number of criminals in England 

 and Wales was estimated at 77,790, or i in 291 

 of the population. Of these, 46,877 were at large, 

 known to the police as thieves, depredators, re- 

 ceivers of stolen goods, and suspected persons ; 

 and 30,913 were in confinement, 16,805 being in 

 local prisons (exclusive of debtors, and military 

 and naval prisoners), 9684 in convict prisons, and 

 4424 in reformatories. About 3 in 4 prisoners 

 are confined for very short terms. In 1857 it 

 was estimated, allowing each criminal a 5 or 

 6 years' career, that to keep up the number of 

 persons (105,000 in Great Britain, or I in 210 

 inhabitants) actually engaged in crime, requires 

 an annual supply of 20,000 to 25,000 youths. Each 

 criminal is reckoned to support two other persons, 

 and their annual plunder must be above ^5,000,000. 



In England and Wales, there are 21 criminal 

 prisoners of the ages 12-60, to i of other ages ; 

 and 3 in 4 are of the ages 15-50. Of persorts 

 aged 17-21, i in 232 are committed for crime ; of 

 those aged 40-50, i in 941 ; and above 60, i in 

 3391. Thus, the strong and wayward passions of 

 youth tend most to crime, which is also rife during 

 the years devoted by the well-doing to honourable 

 labour and support. 



Most criminals are deficient in intellectual, and 

 especially moral education. Of every 100 commit- 

 tals in England and Wales, 1836-48, 35-4 per cent, 

 could not read or write ; 54-2 per cent, could only 

 imperfectly do so ; 10 per cent, could do both well ; 

 and only 0-4 had a superior education. In 1870, 

 the ratios were 34, 63, 3, 0-3. In Scotland, 1836- 

 55, the ratios were 32, 42, 23, 3 ; and in 1870, 36, 

 57, 19, i. More of the Scotch lower classes are 

 educated than the English ; hence the superior 

 amount of instruction among Scotch criminals. 

 Of factory operatives, 95 per cent, can read, and 

 53 per cent, can write in Scotland ; but only 86 

 and 43 per cent, respectively in England. About 

 20 per cent, of the convicts in Millbank Prison are 

 insane or weak in mind. In Perth general prison, 

 11-3 per cent, of the convicts are more or less 

 insane. English counties having a greater number 

 of schools in proportion to the population, have 

 been shewn to have proportionally fewer criminal 

 offenders. 



In England and Wales, crimes are, in the gross, 

 most numerous in Middlesex, Essex, and War- 

 wick ; and fewest in Wales, the four northern 

 counties, Cornwall, and Derby. Taking 10 as the 

 average number of crimes in England and Wales, 

 that of London is 16-1, the highest ; and that of 

 Wales 3-1, the lowest In 1867, under 4 persons 

 in looo were committed or bailed for trial in 

 Devonshire, but 12 in Lancashire. 



In France, 1854, 403,235 offenders were tried 



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