378 



REPORT — 1882. 



The number of crimes reported in England and Wales -witliin the last 

 twenty-five years, was as follows : — 



Per 1,000 

 2-72 

 2-47 

 2-43 

 1-97 

 2-07 



Average of twenty-five years 51,656 



2-33 



§ 5. Prosperity and Crime. 



The ten years, 1871-80, include five years of great prosperity of trade 

 and high wages, and five years of decline of trade and lower wages. The 

 value of exports of British produce and manufacture, and number of 

 marriages, -were as follows : — 



Exjwrts of British Produce and 3Ianvfactii/re, and Number of Marriages. 



And parallel to this we find the average number of crimes in the 

 respective groups of five years to have been as follows : — 



Number of Crimes Committed. 



England and Wales Ireland 



Years Per 1,000 Per 1,000 



1871-75 . . . 1-98 . . . 1-36 



1876-80 . . . 209 . . . 1-37 



Indictable crimes are thus shown to have been greater in number 

 during the five bad years than during the five good years. 



§ 6. Apprehensions for Grime. 



But the knowledge on the part of the police that an ofience has been 

 committed is no guarantee for the apprehension of the criminal. How 

 often, on the contrary, does he escape from the pursuit of justice ; in how 

 many cases the highest reward fails to bring the criminal within the grasp 

 of the law. The judicial statistics record the number of crimes com- 

 mitted, and the number of persons committed for trial, but no trace is 

 given of the number of criminals who escape. That no crime shall 

 remain unpunished, that the fugitive from justice shall be arrested and 

 made amenable to law, that the sheltering of the criminal shall be regarded 

 as a crime against public safety, these must ever be the aim and purpose 

 of criminal jurisprudence. Filangieri, in his ' Scienza della Legislazione,' 

 justly said, ' Neither the Royal Palace, nor the Temple, nor the Altar, 



