DOWNWARD TREND

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 42, 18 August 1939, Page 5

DOWNWARD TREND

PRISON POPULATION

ANALYSIS OF OFFENCES

DRUNKEN DRIVERS

The daily average number of prisoners in custody during 1933 was 870, compared with 866 during 1937, which was the lowest figure for the Dominion on record, according to the annual report of the Prisons Department, which has been presented to Parliament. There was an increase of 233 in the number of distinct persons received into prison during ths year, but the i report states that over the past five idecades there has been a general I downward trend in the numoer of | commitments to prison in the | Dominion. For the purposes of the statistics, the receptions cover all persons received under sentence, regardless of the shortness of duration, and include 543 persons received into police gaols and lock-ups. The ratio of prisoners to 10,000 of population is shown as having fallen from 38.61 in 1890 to 13.84 in 1938. INCONGRUOUS INCREASE. "An examination of the figures for last year shows that there was an increase in the offences against property, but that the greater proportion of the total increase in the number of commitments comes under the group 'Miscellaneous Offences,' and it is interesting' and significant to note that the increase under this heading is accounted for almost exclusively by two types of offence, which unhappily, show an increasing tendency," says the report. "One is for being 'drunk* in charge of a motor vehicle,' for which offence no fewer than 146 persons were imprisoned during 1938, as compared with 63 for the previous year, and the other is for default of maintenance orders, which showed an increase of 55. Considering the improved industrial conditions and the higher wages prevailing, the increase under this head seems strangely incongruous. "With regard to crimes classified in the group 'Offences against the Person,' it is satisfactory to observe that there has been a decrease in the number of commitments for offences of a sexual nature, particularly offences against children, but this decrease has been offset in the aggregate by an increase in the number of criminal assaults and negligent driving offences.

"With regard to offences against property, there have been fewer commitments for the more simple felonies, but the diminution in % number in the group has been more than counterbalanced by an increase in the commitments for 'breaking and entering,' 'fraud and false pretences.' and 'unlawful conversion.'

"Whilst it is satisfactory to note that there has been a falling-off in the number of commitments for nonpayment of fines, it would still appear, having regard to the fact that no fewer than 540 persons last year were committed to prison for nonpayment of fines, that the prison population is unduly swelled thereby, and there is no doubt the passing of the proposed amendment to the Justices of the Peace Act requiring Courts to have regard to the means of offenders and to allow time for the payment of fines will materially diminish commitments under this head. If the intrinsic gravity of an offence is such that the Courts in the first instance consider it can be adequately met by the imposition of a fine, then imprisonment should not ensue automatically simply because the offender has not the means to pay."