i K1MKS AND PUNISHMENTS. 



UIMIN AM) ITXISIIM 



816 



crcHinum on varioiu geologic*! formation* ; in Borne, cro'lin* are mart 

 numerviu in the Jure formation ; in Au-ti : i (ln-y are UUxl to pre- 

 vail moit in those valleys rtrting on trapp, porj>hyry, or cl.iy-lat*. 

 The due**e doe* not appear to be generally ban with the child, though 

 (ometimai scrofulous symptom* precede, bat to derelope itaelf between 

 the eeoood and sixth yean of age, commencing by a aoftcning of the 

 bone*, and an erer-increaalng fatuity. TbeM symptom* can, it in said, 

 be ometimea removed or alleTiated by early applied medical and 

 . 



In Berne, an institution hu been formed at Abendberg, for the 

 reception and instruction, where poaaible, of Uic poor mifferen, uuder 

 the management of iU founder, Dr. Ciuggenbtihl ; who hu contributed 

 an intererting account of hi* proceeding*, and of the various rliime* of 

 cntinisxn, to the ' DouUcheu Vierteljahrachrift ' (Quarterly Journal of 

 Germany), in 1M'. 



CRIXiKS AND PfNISIIMEXTS. The punishment* under the 

 criminal law had been greatly mitigated previous to 1840. In con- 

 sequence of this, and perhaps still more from the cittnblishmfiit of au 

 effective police in the metropulia by Sir R. Peel'a Act, the 10 Qco. IV., 

 c. 44, which has been gradually extended to the whole of Great Britain 

 a nl Irvbnd. though the number of executions baa declined, the number 

 of commitments and the proportion of convictions have increased. In 

 1831 the number of commitments had been 19,647, of whom 3047 

 were females. Of these 13,830 had been convicted, and 1601 sentenced 

 to capital punishments. Of these only 52 were executed, 12 being for 

 murder. Up to 1834 there had been no classification of offences. 

 From that year and subsequently they have been classed under the 

 following heads, from which it will be seen that the increase of offences 

 has been, in England and Scotland, chiefly in offences against property 

 without violence : Class 1, offences against the person; 2, offences against 

 property, committed with violence ; 3, offences against property, com- 

 mitted without violence; 4, malicious offences against property; 5, 

 forgery and offences against the currency ; 6, other offences, not included 

 in the foregoing classes. In 1835 there were 20,731 commitments, of 

 which 2016 were under class 1, 1354 under class 2, 15,478 under class 3, 

 156 under class 4, 368 under class 5, and 1359 under class 6. Of the 

 total 14,729 were convicted, of whom 523 were sentenced to capital 

 punishment, and 34 executed, of whom 21 were for murder. In 1856, 

 there were in England 19,437 persons committed for trial, of whom 

 15,425 were males and 4012 females ; of these, 4672 were acquitted or 

 discharged, and 31 were found insane ; of the number convicted, 1264 

 were for offences against the person, 1787 for offences against property 

 with violence, 10,487 for offences against property without violence, 94 for 

 malicious offences against property, 757 for forgery and offences against 

 the currency, and 345 for offences not included in the preceding 

 dimes, and including misdemeanors ; 69 were sentenced to death, of 

 whom 16 were executed; 57 were transported for life, and 216 for 

 terms exceeding ten years ; 2158 were sentenced to penal imprisonment 

 for terms varying from four years to life; 11,805 were sentenced to 

 various imprisonments, from one month and under to not exceeding 

 four years ; and in thin class, in the terms between six months and one 

 month or less, the numbers show a remarkable decrease from previous 

 years; in 1856 the numbers were 7800, against 13,447 in 1855, and 

 16,509 in 1854 ; indeed it U by far the smallest amount in any year 

 from 1847; --- were ordered to be detained in reformatory schools, 

 and 127 were whipped, fined, or discharged on sureties. The great 

 decrease in the number of commitments is probably to bo attributed 

 in a considerable degree to the extended provisions of the Summary 

 Convictions Act*. On summary proceedings, the number of cases 

 under the Criminal Justice Act, was 11,272, and under the Juvenile 

 Offenders' Act, 2031. Altogether there were 132,869 persons com- 

 mitted to prison, 99,336 of whom were moles, and 33,363 females. 

 The commitments were 19,278 for trial, 77,712 on summary con- 

 victions, 2794 for want of sureties, 13,952 remanded and discharged, 

 11,406 debtors on civil process, and 7557 under the Mutiny Act. The 

 total shows on increase of nearly 4000 commitments over those for 

 1855 : but there is a decrease of 7000 in the number of summary con- 

 victions. Of the committals, omitting debtors and military prisoners, 

 which reduce the number to 113,736, 1990 were of children under 12 

 yearn of age; 11,991 of persons between 12 and 16; 24,868 between 

 16 and 21; 83,400 between 21 and 30; 20,973 between 30 and 40; 

 11343 between 40 and 50 ; 5519 between 50 and 60 ; 2732 above 60 ; 

 and 920 of whom the age was not ascertained. Of the whole, 37,686 

 could neither read nor write, 61,253 could read or read and write. 

 imperfectly, 6108 could read and write well, 318 had received superior 

 instruction, and of 8371 the instruction was not ascertained The 

 county and borough prisons are stated to be constructed to contain 

 26,447 prisoners; the daily average of prisoners is 17,754, and the 

 greatest number at one time waa 22,035 ; but, though on the average 

 there may be room enough, some prisons are terribly overcrowded. 



In Ireland in 1856 the total number of persons committed or held 

 to l*il for trial was 7009, of whom 3075 were either acquitted or dis- 

 charged. Of the number committed, 2063 were for offences against 

 the person, 656 for offences against property with violence, 2884 for 

 offences against property without violence, 78 for malicious offences 

 against property, 75 for forgery and offences against the currency, and 

 1143 for other miscellaneous offences. Of those convicted only 8 were 

 sentenced to death, and 3 only executed ; 1 4 sentenced to transportation 



i i lif.-, and 372 to other periods of transportation or penal earvitndc ; 

 ' various toruu of imprisonment ; and 832 were whipped or 

 fined, or discharged on surety, or pardoned. In the same year UK i . 

 were 25,461 cam heard at petty seasions or before magistrates, and 

 9526 persons were imprisoned for drunkenneea. 



In Scotland in 1856 the total number of offenders committed for 

 trial was 3713. Of these 1046 were for offence* against the peinon, 

 S80 for offences against property committed with violence, 1942 for 

 offences against property without violence, 79 for malicious offence* 

 against property, 85 for forgery and offences against the currency, and 

 181 other offences not included in the preceding rliimfn Of the total 

 number committed, 2723 were convicted, of whom 8 were sentenced 

 to death and executed, 274 sentenced to various period* of transpor- 

 tation ,-md penal servitude, 2170 to various periods of imprisonment, 

 ami '.'70 to U; whipped, fined, or discharged on sureties. Of thoae not 

 . on\ i. ted. ',','> were outlawed, 7 were found insane, 55 were found not 

 guilty, and 1 79 not proven ; the remainder were discharged without trial. 

 In 1857 was commenced a more complete re|>ort, under the title of 

 Judicial Statistics. In this year the report was confined to criminal 

 statistics, of which the following is an abstract. 



Pdice and Cvrutaliulary. The number and expense of the police 

 and constabulary for every county and town, with their respective 

 divisions, and the cost, are given. The total number in Km.-. 

 19,187, consisting of 7301 for the various county conaUbularii 

 for borough police, 6083 for the metropolitan police, and 552 for the 

 city of London police. The total cost of this force for the year 

 ended Sep. 29, 1867, had been 1,265,5791. ; of which 441.569/. 

 woe for the county constabulary, 337,8532. for the borough police, 

 llL',212/. for the metropolitan police, and 43,9451. for the OU 

 London police. A part of this expense, except in the case of the city 

 of London, is defrayed from the public revenue, there being paid to 

 the county constabulary 71,1 12/., to the borough police '' 

 to the metropolitan police 103,3802. In the year there were altogether 

 401,264 cases of minor offences, assaults, petty thefts, drunkenness, 

 vagrancy, and offences under the Highway Acts, Licensed Victuallers 

 and Beer Acts, Stage-carriage Acts, Ac. Of these, 31 4,432 were by males, 

 and 86,832 by females. Of the total, 369,233 cases were decided sum- 

 marily by magistrates ; 233,759 were convicted, and 135,474 were dis- 

 charged. The remaining 32.031 cases were the results of 

 offences which had come to the knowledge of the police, and of these 

 17,861 were committed or boiled for trial. Of the total number appre- 

 hended by the police, the classification is as follows : 



Males. Females. Total. 



Known thieves 18,596 4,540 21,102 



Prostitutes 24,282 24,282 



Vagrant* and tramps . . . . 14,272 4,988 



Suspicious characters .... 40,112 C,6t)2 46,804 



No known occupations . . . . 5,218 1,696 6,914 



Previous good characters . . . 112,017 14,548 126,565 

 Characters unknown and not ascertained 124,257 10,070 154,327 



314,432 86,832 401,264 



Of the convictions, the number for assaults was 44,860, for drunken- 

 ness 44,894, for theft 20,577, and for vagrancy 18,023. 



Criminal /'rvxw/i'nr,*. The total number of persons committed f,.r 

 trial in 1857 was 20,269, of whom 15,970 were males, and 4299 were 

 females; of these, 15,342 were convicted : 1442 for offences against 

 the person, 1752 for offences against property with violence, 10,850 for 

 offences against property without violence, 101 for malicious offence* 

 against property, 830 for forgery and offences against the currency, and 

 332 for offences not included in the foregoing classes. There v, 

 sentenced to death, of whom 20 were for murder, and of these IS were 

 executed ; the punishment in all the other cases being commuted to 

 transportation or penal imprisonment. 



1'risani. The report notices great improvement* in the construction 

 and management of prisons. The number of persons committed to 

 them in 1857 was 



Males. Female*. Total. 



Fur tdal at assizes or serious . . 15,958 4,294 20,212 



On summary conviction . . . . 62,170 24,625 86,795 

 For want of sureties .... 2,318 845 3,163 



On remand and discharged . ... 10,631 4,022 1 



For debt and on civil process . . . 13,499 840 14,339 



Under the Mutiny Act 2,808 .. !,M 



107,384 34,580 141,970 



Of re-committals for crimes or offences, there were 42,169, of which 

 18,874 hod been previously committed once, 8128 twice, 4400 thrice, 

 2970 four times, 1857 five times, 2276 nix and seven times, 17<" 

 to ton times, and 2464 above ton times. Of the commitment 



i children under twelve years of age, 10,624 were between twelve 

 and sixteen, and 2'J,949 were between sixteen and twenty-one. Omit- 

 ting prisoners for debt, and the military, there were 124,823 persons 

 in confinement, of these 97,054 were English, 2903 Welsh, 2399 Scotch, 

 18,067 Irish, 652 from British colonies and the East Indie,, -jnn; 

 foreigners, mid 1732 not ascertained. Of the whole, ll.'j'.tl 

 neither read nor write, 72,387 could read or read and write imperfectly. 

 6348 could read and write well, 409 had had a superior education, and 



