CRIME IN ENGLAND

Evening Star, Issue 18809, 6 December 1924, Page 18

CRIME IN ENGLAND

LESS VIOLENCE. DECREASE IX DRUNKENNESS. Striking facts arc disclosed by the criminal statistics for 1922. issued in buttland in the form of a Blue Book, lor instance ; Cases of drunkenness have decreased since 1913 by 123.575, or 61 per cent. '['he number of people tiicd tor shopbreaking in 1922 was 2 452. compared with only 1,866 in 1913. There ’were only 895 crimes of violence in 1922, as against 1,387 in 191,>. Betting and gaming offences increased by 5,543, or 106 per cent. There was an increase of 69.667, or 92 per cent., in offences against the Highway Aids, attributable to the growth of motor traffic. It is satisfactory to learn that crime ns a whole is on the decline. Idie number of persons tried in 1922 for indictable offences— usually regarded (says the report) aa tiie most trustworthy index of the stale of crime—was appreciably less than in pre-war years. STEADY DECLINE. The figures for three years in succession were; —■ 1922 58.177 1921 61.595 P 920 60,617 The average of the six years 1914 to 1919, during which the figures were inlluenced by war conditions, was 57,958. In 1913, however, the number of prisoners for trial was 63,269, ami in the five previous years the average was above 66,000, tho highest aim mil total being 63,116 in 1908. In proportion to population the decrease in crime of this class is much greater than the figures suggest. Grimes against property (mainly acts of dishonesty) make up more than five-sixths of the total. In spite of the prevalence of unemployment and of other conditions. conducive to their committal, crimes against property arn fewer than formerly. An exception is certain crimes against property committed with violence—as, for instance, shop-breaking. Sexual crimes were on the increase during the period 1913-22. They rose from 1.939 in 1913 to 2,074 in 1922, tho increase) being almost wholly confined to eases of bigamy. Jf bigamy is omitted, tlnm sexunrerimes show signs of diminishlng‘ 081 Ml NADS BUSIER. An increase of crimes known to the police, mainly consisting of offences against property committed with violence - burglary, bouso-breaking, and particularly .shop-breaking—and of simple larceny is attributed not so much to a’spread of criminal propensities among tho general' population, as to greater variety among habitual criminals. Dart of (bo increase of larcenies (says the report) may he, attributed to trade depression, and part, to the greater facilities to commit crimes afforded to persistent. offenders by the modern, tendency to milder sentences. Tho 8,986 persons imprisoned for simple larceny included 787 with six to ten previous ” convictions, 550 with eleven to twenty, and 379 with over twenty. For non-indictablo offences 524,678 persons were tried in 1922, compared with 630,290 in 1913. In 1922 there were 47,606 convicted , persons received into prison—only 482 under sentences of penal servitude-compared with 159,060 in 1925.