CRIME DECREASING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 9 March 1912, Page 5

CRIME DECREASING.

FACTS & FSGURhS,

! IMPORTANT statement by the [ CHIEF JUSTICE. In his charge to the Grand Jury .at tW Supreme Court sittings at Napier off Tuesday the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) Tw»de important reference. to : the reformed Ttt»thods of dealing with crime that have beert adopted in Mew Zealand. Sir Robert observed ; . , . The number of prisoners for tuaJ antt f<>r sentence at this sittings of the CO»rfc is not i»rgo, though it is in exceesOt the number in some districts of the dominion that have the same population ,as the Hawke's Bay district. I am. glaa, however, to be able to congratulate,you on the fact that during the past thjtee yeard the number of persons convicted uu the Supreme Court, or who have .pibadcdi guilty in the Magistrate's Court and have* come" up for sentence in the Supiedne Court, shows a cpnciderablo diminution on the number that was dealt with, by tile Supreme Court in the three . ye«u;& preceding. That is, the number .pi prisoners for 1909-1910 and 1911 is. only about half of the number ; for 1906-1901 and 1908. I also congratulate yw on tlie fact that on this Occasion' there itr® ■no persons charged with' any kind ofc sexual offence. The 'offences are mainly thefts and are not of a serious l character.

NEW METHODS—GOOD RESULTS. We have, in this Dominion made several efforts to deal; with this question- .oj crime, and I think it may be. «md ,that our efforts so far have been attended with good results. We have, as yon .ot® aware? three distinct systeins.which were not in existence twenty-six years ag?We have the First Offenders'. Probation Act which was passed in 1886. We'have next the Habitual Offenders Act in 1906, and now incorporated, m <ror, Crimes Act of 1908, .providing forani ind.eterminate sentence, f e also the statute passed m iplO •provides for reformative detewtion ot criminals. In fact in New je look upon persons who are f o""d of crimes not as persons bo punished, but persons to \ fa e,.if. onht sible, reformed, and you are no doubt aware that the late Minister of Justice, Sir John Findlay, made strenuous eiforts to get reform made an actnality. A large farm has been provided ajd means are being taken in" several of i.the prisons, especially ini .Invercargill, £ reform the younger crirriinalß . r The outlook at present is very .hopeful I have, been looking the criminal . statistics,. f 1 * j. l . them in my charge to the Grand. Jury at Wanganui, but. my remarks. wel-fc fully reported by the ; press. I fine# that during the three years. I^,. 1910, and 1911 there has been a of crease of crime not only in y°^, but throughout the Dominion. The jjum 'bev of persons sentenced or - in the Supreme. Cotirt for 1009 544 in 1910 494, and m 191L426Itie'to be remembe-rcjd that three years the IK>pulation of thfe^dtaai^ nion has incrcased. Takmg e. and Maori population for 1909 the mea population for that year was !,019,515, for 1910 it was it. was 1,064,740. It seen that the decrease of crime marked and I .jt » th^Se tfa ST! to™ Sntoi' -now betoj realised. v ' ' ■

CAUSES OF CRIME. . , v I do not overlook the * aot R causes of crime are manifold. ~ f the roots, as they may be o crime go back k> ancestors.. ft^s Its play amongst our- criminal • in which our youths < (brought up. One cause weakness, and perhaps the v. is the want of will power whi<:hAWg* one. who commits crime to fall on very community' fixpect that » ■ . . , so long as iherfe are peopl£ oi pixy sique or who are mentally of weak moral fibre. Ttee is.® douW. that in those district® where tations have been rfcmoved irom °«r youths crime is wonderfully,. « allude to the districts in which n^cei n . prevails, but even if we,-pould get* air the drug habits that the, race , po* sesses. crime would not cease.. _ - Its causes are; as I have said, hope, however, that the efforts beme made under the various statutes to which I have, alluded wiU -oontasge to have some effect in lessening; the numbers that appear in our criminal <cale 22. I motion these facts. to^ cause I'think it is the duty of % com. imunity carefully to■ watch . that may tend to the benefit of the race. -THE JURY SYSTEM. . , I believe that tiie Rood that is. doiio bv having grand and pfetty .junes with criminal matters is greater than Up mere efficient administration of < justice. Possibly the. law might K e tter administered if instead of' having/ j there were three or more judges deal-, ihcr with serious ciiminal mattcy6, ]UBt as magistrates now deal without ] u „rie \vith minor offences. But if juries w , abolished I think an injury would bo done to- the community by not .letting itlhe .jlurdrs, gijand'• .and fitand and perceive that the rfcfipons bilitv. for dealing with criminals rests with \t,he people, and unlesi. ]urieS aro efficient crime must necessarily increase and injustice prevail.

PUNISHMENT NOT EVER^iHINte.

I mav ad<i that some peopU Jmagine that the 6nly way to stomp out f mf. £ to havo thfe punishment a gireat rent to the criminal. lii Jny .opimqn that is not th e best way to accbmpli&ti such a desirable thing a 6 the lessening of crime. No doubt the law must be * terror to evildoters, but imteSs w© haya some attempt made by "kindness a 1 lov© to redeem those who , have, go"® astray our prison system. >vill. be a failure. Though criminals arc .treated now far better than they were forty or fifty years ago, I have not met any pi?: soner in gaol who was riot desiroys .of setting out*', and as chairman of Prison Board I have intervi'e>ved_a grtot number —in fact all those who haye received indeterminate sentences and some of those who have received jeformi^tivo sentences —and all of them, though are well cared for in prison.desivo their liberty. They feel that imprisonment ii s a real punishment. MUST BE SOME FAILURES. Some who have been released: l iavo taken to crime again, bat tl*at of course must b© -expected. Otlieis nave, think, been- saved from a criminal career and our people must not bo downcasbiJE there should be many failures under the system which we have adopted. I hope, however, that when the farm that . tids been set apart is thoroughly in working order and when also tlifere are better reformative conditions wo may hav e fewer failures than we have had in the past. On the whole, I think it may be said that the habitual criminal is recognising that he cannot long pursue a- criminal career in Ney Zealand, and;t repsafcthat the decrease in crime dui'inc; tho;-past thrfee ■ ljas. "beGfc; e*£*6diit£!y ; ' Satisfactory and <>iigHt -to givfe hopato those who are engaged in this branch of social reform.—"New Zealand Times."