PRISON STATISTICS

Evening Star, Issue 21819, 7 September 1934, Page 13

PRISON STATISTICS

DROP OF 25 PER GENT. REMARKABLE RECORD IN HARD TIMES GOOD INFLUENCE OF UNEMPLOYMENT GAMPS [From Our Parliamentary .Reporter.] WELLINGTON, September 0. New Zealand’s prison population is declining, for in spite of the difficult times (usually regarded as a factor favourable to the increase of crime) the Prisons Department's annual report shows that the number of prisoners received last year, 2,731, represented a decrease of 670, or 25 per cent. Commitments in the previous year were abnormally high, owing to the relatively large number of 102 persons involved in riotous disturbances; but, according to th'e report, even if this inflation is allowed for, the decline is most marked, and the figures are back to the predepression period. “ This position is all the more satisfactory when it is borne in mind that, in all countries the authorities recognise that during a time of industrial depression, the tendency is for crime and prison populations to increase. The latest reports from England and Australia bear evidence of this.” The good effect of drafting young unemployed men to unemployment camps is mentioned as a contributory factor in reducing the commitments to prison. “ Several controlling officers and probation officers have commented on the fact that the unemployed schemes have been a boon, in that the removal of a large number of men from the temptations that inevitably follow in the wake of idleness in towns has deflected many from drifting into some form of criminal pursuit. In another way the unemployment authorities have relieved the burden of crime, in that the agencies of the board have cooperated with the probation officers, enabling men released from prison to bo placed in work, thus saving a relapse.” The report also shows that more care is being taken to place in work lads released from the Borstal institutions. Declaring that it is the crime statistics, not the prison population, which are the true criteria as to whether the methods utilised in tlte administration of criminal justice reasonably fulfil their function in protecting society, the report states that, despite an inevitable increase in the number of offences against property, symptomatic of tho tunes, the pursuance of a cautious policy in dealing with criminals in New Zealand has witnessed a drop m prison receptions since the immediate prewar years from 31 per 10,000 of general population to 17.75 for 1933. It has been a steady decline, because the numbers of those dealt with by fine or probation have also decreased.