1924 it was 3,160. The increase was mainly in indecent assaults upon young persons under 16. A committee appointed by the Secretary of State to inquire and report concerning the prevalence of sexual offences against young persons has come to the conclusions after a careful investigation that, while there is a considerable decrease in sexual crimes accompanied by violence, there is a distinct increase in indecent assaults on boys and on girls under 16 and that there are many more sexual offences committed against young persons than are reported. They also consider that, owing to the practice of reducing charges, mainly in the interests. of the child or young person, the statistics of indecent assaults now include a proportion of cases where the acts committed really constitute more serious offences.* Figures relating to sexual crimes are for several reasons specially difficult to interpret. Besides reducing to indecent assault, to enable the case to be dealt with summarily, charges of more serious sexual crimes committed against young persons, the Courts also, with the same object, sometimes reduce to common assault charges of indecent assault committed against adults. It should also be noted that the abolition, by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1922, of the defence of consent in cases of indecent assault upon young persons between 13 and 16, and probably also the prominence in recent years of the subject of punishments for sexual crimes against young persons arising from the persistent efforts which have been made to strengthen the law, have brought to the knowledge of the police a larger proportion of the crimes which have been committed. Crimes of Dishonesty. The increase of the number of crimes of shopbreaking, larceny and fraud known to the police, which has been noticed in recent years, was continued in 1924. There has, however, been no increase in the number of persons actually tried for such offences. The figures of crimes and * Report of the Departmental Committee on Sexual Offences against Young It will be noticed that practically the whole increase of crime is confined to crimes of dishonesty. There is usually an increase of larceny during hard times such as have been experienced in recent years. regards frauds, there appears to be a decay of commercial probity which may have had its origin in the opportunities for getting rich quickly afforded in certain quarters by the Great War. But it is suggested that the increase of crimes under all three heads is largely assignable to efforts to maintain the same or even a higher standard of living than before the War upon means reduced by the general impoverishment of the nation, and to reckless attempts to live more or less luxuriously without rendering any services in return, which may also be traceable to experiences during the War. It is a remarkable fact that while the number of offences of dishonesty known to the police increases, the number of persons tried remains almost constant. It seems that the proportion of persons practised and skilled enough to avoid detection is increasing. This may be due in part to the fact that persons of this type when convicted receive nowadays more lenient sentences than formerly; and return sooner to practise their criminal habits and prey upon the community so that, at any given moment, there are more of them at liberty than there were in former days when longer sentences were passed. Many of the crimes, as, for example, most cases of fraud, could not be prevented by the police, but much of the increase may be attributable to the weakening of police protection which is referred to below. On the other hand, the disparity between crimes committed and persons tried must not be used as a test of police efficiency. Persons are sometimes indicted for several crimes, and it is the practice of the Courts to take into consideration when assessing the punishment other crimes admitted by the prisoner. All these crimes are shown in the tables as "crimes known to the police," but only one person is shown in the tables as tried and convicted in connection with these crimes (see note (b) on page 37). NON-INDICTABLE OFFENCES. The number of persons tried in 1924 for non-indictable offences, i.e., the minor offences within the ordinary powers of courts of summary jurisdiction, was 584,453, as against 546,606 in 1923 and an annual average of 539,974 during the five years 1919 to 1923. The total for 1913 was 680,290 and the quinquennial averages for the fifteen years 1899 to 1913 were successively 729,868, 704,901 and 653,005. During the present century, therefore, there has been a substantial decrease in the number of persons tried for non-indictable offences, but the figures are now rising again. In the same period also there has been a curious change in the numbers tried for various classes of offences. This appears from the following statement which gives the numbers for certain groups of offences : The total for all offences for 1924 shows a decrease of 145,415 or 20 per cent. as compared with the annual average about twenty-five years ago, i.e., the five years 1899-1903. Offences against the Highway Acts, including motor cases, which in the period 1899-1903 averaged only just over forty thousand, amounted in 1924 to nearly two hundred thousand. The fall since the earlier period in the numbers for all other non-indictable offences is 299,571, so that for every hundred cases in the earlier period there were only fifty-six in 1924. The increase in offences against the Highway Acts is mainly in motor cases. The number of persons tried for offences against the Acts relating to Motor Cars (see page 201) has increased from 3,879 in 1904 (the first year for which separate figures for such offences are available) to 123,774 in 1924. If other offences committed by motorists but falling under other heads (e.g., highway obstructions and nuisances, drunkenness whilst in charge of vehicles, &c., &c.) were added, probably the figures would be largely increased, and it seems likely that of every three or four minor offences which occupy the attention of the police and the Courts one is committed by a motorist. In this connection attention may be drawn to the figures for street accidents caused by mechanically-propelled vehicles. For 1909 the figures were 426 fatal accidents and 11,700 nonfatal. By 1924 the figures had risen to 2,839 and 64,867.† The numbers of persons killed or injured were probably greater, as a single accident may involve more than one person. Prosecutions for offences against Police Regulations fell from an annual average of 129,134 during the five years 1899 to 1903 to a total of 67,050 in 1924, a decrease of 62,084 or 48 per cent. The number of offences actually committed probably does not vary from year to year, but the number of prosecutions for this particular type of offences is usually believed to be affected by increased or decreased activity on the part of the police, according as their other work leaves them more or less time for this duty, and the enormous amount of police work in connection with motor traffic and motor cases may largely account for the decrease in the number of persons prosecuted for offences against miscellaneous police regulations regarding other matters. * Including offences in relation to heavy locomotives. The statistics of convictions for drunkenness are commented upon in the Licensing Statistics of England and Wales.* The decrease in the figures is believed to be mainly attributable to the high price and diluted strength of intoxicating liquors, to restricted hours of sale, to unemployment, to the increased cost of living, and, last but not least, to a gradual change of habit and opinion. The total number of prosecutions for all other offences has fallen from an annual average of 345, 165 during the five years from 1899 to 1903 to a total of 237,794 for the year 1924, a decrease of 107,371 or 31 per cent. Against some headings the figures show an increase, but for most descriptions of offences there is a diminution in the figures. variations under particular headings do not call for comment. Conclusions. The To sum up it may be said that crimes of violence against the person are diminishing, that there is apparently a small increase of sexual crimes and that the growth of the crimes of shopbreaking, larceny and fraud, which has been marked feature of the statistics for recent years, was continued in 1924. The annual number of prosecutions for non-indictable offences shows a remarkable diminution during the present century, and the diminution would be much greater if it were not that offences by motorists have enormously increased during the same period. A large share of the energies of the police is nowadays devoted to the regulation of motor traffic, and to this fact must be attributed considerable proportions of the increase of crimes against property and of the decrease of prosecutions for non-indictable offences. METHODS OF DEALING WITH PERSONS FOUND GUILTY. FINES AND IMPRISONMENT. At the opening of the nineteenth century persons accused of crimes were triable only at assizes and quarter sessions. The punishment prescribed for most crimes was death, but some other punishment was usually substituted, i.e., transportation for life or for long terms of years, or, at a later date, penal servitude. Mere imprisonment was not a usual punishment for crimes. At this time the powers of justices out of sessions (i.e., out of quarter sessions) were mainly confined to the preliminary examination of persons accused of crimes, and to punishing poachers, vagrants, and drunkards. In the course of the first half of the century, however, powers were conferred on justices to try some crimes summarily under certain circumstances, and many minor offences created by statute were placed within the summary jurisdiction of justices. In 1857, the first year for which regular returns of summary proceedings were collected, 34,398 persons charged with crimes and 327,287 persons * Parly. Papers, Cmd. 2496. charged with minor offences were tried by courts of summary jurisdiction. In the same year 20,269 persons were tried for crimes before courts of assize and quarter sessions. (In 1807 the whole number of persons tried for crimes was only 4,446.) One result of the change in criminal procedure was that imprisonment became the ordinary punishment for all crimes, and for all minor offences too serious to be met by the imposition of a fine. So long ago as 1857 the number of convicted persons received into prison was about 100,000. By 1904 the total had increased to 198,395, including 107,625 persons imprisoned in default of payment of fines. In 1924, however, the number of convicted persons imprisoned had been reduced to 44,237, chiefly through the operation of two statutes, the Probation of Offenders Act, 1907, and the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914. Dealing first with the last mentioned statute, section 1 of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914, provides that if the circumstances permit, persons upon whom fines are inflicted upon summary conviction are to be allowed time for payment; consequently, in 1924, out of 470,056 persons sentenced to pay fines upon summary conviction only 14,633 were imprisoned in default of payment, including 3,140 who had been allowed time to pay but had failed to do so. PROBATION. The other factor in reducing the number of persons unnecessarily confined in prison is the application of the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1907, which enables the Courts to release on probation persons who are found guilty of crimes and offences. The Act, by section 1, provides two methods of dealing with offenders "found guilty" by the Courts (i.e., "charged proved" in Courts of Summary Jurisdiction and guilty by verdict of the Jury in the Higher Courts) namely: (1) Dismissal (by Courts of Summary Jurisdiction only), (2) Recognizances to be of good behaviour and to come up for judgment if called upon. Section 2 provides that a recognizance under section 1 may contain a condition that the offender shall be under the supervision of a Probation Officer, and other conditions. It must be understood that persons released on probation means not only those persons who are placed under the supervision of a Probation Officer but also the larger number released on recognizances and the still larger number who are simply dismissed without punishment but with a warning, generally expressed and always implied, that if they come before the Court again they must not expect similar leniency. These latter are in a very real sense placed upon probation, and of course those released on recognizances for good behaviour and to come up for judgment are in the words of the Act (section 1) "released upon |