STATE OF GBIME IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND. 



377 



§ 3. Population and Means of Repression. 



Tn order to appreciate the real value of the number of crimes and 

 criminals annually reported, we must first take into account the popula- 

 tion and number of police employed for the repression of crime, which 

 were as follows : — 



§ 4. Numher of Crimes committed. 



The first series of facts presented in the Judicial Statistics is the 

 number of indictable crimes reported to the police, which may be as- 

 sumed to represent the bulk, at least, of those committed ; for though 

 light offences may escape the vigilance of the police, or may never be 

 brought to their cognisance, the heavier crimes are sure to be. According 

 to these statistics, the number of indictable offences within the last ten 

 years in England and Wales, and Ireland, was as follows : — 



These figures indicate a slight increase of crime in recent years, both 

 absolutely and relatively to population. It will be seen, however, that 

 the number of crimes reported to have been committed is uniformly 

 smaller in Ireland than in England and Wales, a very different result than 

 is commonly imagined. The increase in the number of crimes at the 

 commGn(;oment and end of the ten years is clearly due to the unhappy 

 relations between landlords and tenants. 



