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The numbers of the Parliamentary Papers containing the previous volumes of the Criminal Statistics since the revision in 1892 are as follows:

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The volume for 1893 contains the Principal Report of the Criminal Statistics Committee, and that for 1898 a Supplementary Report.

From 1805 to 1856 Tables of Trials at Assizes and Quarter Sessions were printed annually as Parliamentary Papers. From 1857 to 1892 the Criminal Statistics formed part of the annual volume of " Judicial Statistics."

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1918.

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1919.

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1920.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

CRIMES AND OFFENCES.

Indictable Offences.-The number of persons tried for crimes, i.e., indictable offences, in the year 1923 was 56,764. During the three preceding years the figures were successively 60,617, 61,355 and 58,177. The figures for the war years are valuable for certain purposes, but no conclusions as to the progress of criminality under normal conditions in subsequent years can be based upon them. On the other hand the post-war period ending with 1922 is too recent for comparison with the figures for 1923, and in addition can only be regarded as a period of the gradual return of ordinary circumstances of criminality and social conditions generally. In 1913, the last complete year before the outbreak of war, the number of persons tried was 63,269, and the quinquennial averages for the preceding twenty years were successively 53,174, 53,833, 60,065 and 66,301. Measured by these figures crime was on the up grade before the war, resumed at a lower level after the return of peace, and now shows a definite tendency to further diminution.

By persons tried for indictable offences is meant the persons for trial at Assizes and Quarter Sessions added to the persons tried summarily for indictable offences. The figures for persons tried for indictable offences have usually been used as an index to the fluctuations of crime, in preference to the figures for crimes known to the police. The latter figures are, however, more trustworthy now than formerly. There may often be a difference of opinion as to whether particular circumstances constitute a crime, and it is believed that the pressure which has been put upon police forces to secure uniformity of practice in this regard tends to the recording of a greater number of cases. When in the past both sets of figures have been examined the results have been substantially the same, but since the war the two sets of figures have inclined to diverge. It will therefore be convenient on the present occasion to consider both crimes committed and persons tried.

The number of crimes which came to the knowledge of the police in 1923 was 110,206, the highest figures recorded during the sixty-seven years for which statistics are available. During the three years 1920 to 1922 the numbers were respectively 100,827, 103,258, and 107,320. In 1913 the number was 97,933, and the quinquennial averages for the twenty years from 1893 to 1912 were successively 82,258, 80,121, 92,844 and 102,573. These figures suggest a considerable growth of crime during the present century.

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The above are absolute figures. If the increase of population during the period under review is taken into account the falling off in persons tried is intensified, while crimes known to the police have not risen above the level they attained before the war. The proportions per 100,000 of the population of the quinquennial averages for the twenty years period from 1893 to 1912 of persons tried for indictable offences were (to the nearest whole numbers) 175, 167, 177 and 185. In 1913, 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1923 the proportions were respectively 171, 161, 162, 152 and 148. The corresponding proportions to population for crimes known to the police were respectively 270, 248, 273, 287, and 265, 268, 273, 281 and 287. With regard to the post-war figures, however, it must be remembered that changes in the sex and age distribution of the population resulting from the war might tend to reduce the number of crimes.

The increase or decrease in the total of all crimes may be expressed as the difference between the sum of the increases of certain classes of crimes and the sum of the decreases under the remaining headings. The various crimes are of widely differing degrees of seriousness and importance, and it is the rise or fall of the most common but least important offences which usually determines the rise or fall of the total. It is therefore necessary to examine separately the figures for the different descriptions of crimes in order to form an accurate opinion of the state of criminality. As stated above the figures for years subsequent to the outbreak of war do not afford a reliable basis for comparison, and therefore for this purpose use will be made of the annual averages of the five years 1909 to 1913. The materials for this comparison will be found in the Comparative Tables.

Taking first crimes known to the police, in 1923 as compared with the annual average for the period 1909 to 1913, there were increases under thirty-four headings of the classified list of crimes amounting in the aggregate to 13,993. Under forty headings there were decreases amounting to 4,891, and under ten headings there was no change. The net increase in the total of all crimes was 9,102. In persons tried for indictable offences there were increases under twenty-seven headings amounting to 2,752, and decreases under fifty headings amounting to 11,319, the net decrease of the total being 8,567.

It is difficult to summarize so many divergent movements in a few words. The following table shows, both for crimes known to the police and for persons tried, and also for the various descriptions of offences, the annual averages for the period 1909 to 1913, the figures for the year 1923, and the percentage of increase or decrease. The headings are grouped where it can conveniently be done. The figures which have increased are shown in heavy type.

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