SUMMARY CONVICTIONS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 258, 28 September 1935, Page 6

SUMMARY CONVICTIONS

LOWEST FOR YEARS.

JUSTICE STATISTICS. The number of criminal cases in Magistrates’ Courts during 1934 ■ (46,763) was a little lower than in 1933. I tile decrease being 668, or 1.4 per cent, , while the summary convictions (37,704) I j s “°w increase of less than 1 per cent : over those for 1933, which was the low-' ! cst figure recorded since 1923. The I total cases show the lowest figure since • 1923,” states the annual report of the Department of Justice. “The summary convictions for the year 1934 represent the lowest rate recorded in the last ten years, being only 24.32 per 1000 of mean population, as compared with 24.48 per 1000 in 1933. The greater proportion of the cases dealt with are in respect of somewhat insignificant offences, and a comparison of the figures for 1934 with those of 1933 shows that during file year under review a slight reduction occurred in drunken- ■ ness, with a decrease of 128 convictions, while minor traffic offences increased by 1 1425. Offences against property and 1 breaches of the Unemployment Act ■ show a decrease of 78 and an increase

of 41 respectively. “Tlie general statistics refer to all [ cases dealt with in Magistrates’ Courts, i including those in which a person is charged with two or more offences comj mitted simultaneously. If only the | principal offence is counted in each instance, the number of cases in 1934 is ■ reduced from 46,763 to 35,983, the Jat- | ter representing an increase of 17 per | cent on 1933. The total number of ; cases in which sentences were passed upon persons . brought before the Supreme. Court during 1934 shows a decrease of 300, or 24.73 per cent, from 1933. The number of distinct persons sentenced in the Supreme Court during 1934 was 490, or 7.55 per cent fewer than in 1933. Offences against property and forgery, etc., both show de-

• creases in the number of distinct persons sentenced during the year, while offences against the person show a definite increase. i “There are fourteen prisons and State reformatories and three Borstal institutions in New Zealand as well as twenty-four minor prisons and police- ; gaols. In addition to these, there are

i/iic llliiy UO LlCGHled to he prisons for any period (which must not exceed seven days) during which prisoners are detained there undergoing sentence. The daily average number of prisoners in confinement in these various institutions during 1934 was 1361, a figure 182, or 11.8 per cent, below that for 1933. Altogether there were 4529 receptions into the various prisons, etc., during the year, a decrease of 10.96 per cent from the previous year. The number of distinct prisoners received during the year under sentence for criminal offences was 2376, this figure representing a de-; crease of 12.99 per cent as compared with 1933. The disti net prisoners represent a rate of 15.33 per 10,000 of mean population in 1934, as compared with a corresponding rate of 17.75 in 1933.” |