CRIME DECREASING

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 8054, 7 March 1912, Page 1

CRIME DECREASING

‘TRUE REFORM WORK

RESULTS OF HUMANITARIAN LEGISLATION

FACTS AND FIGURES

IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY THE CHIEF JUSTICE

In hia charge to the Grand Jury at the Supreme Court sittings at Napier on Tuesday the Chief Justice (Sir Itobert Stout) made important reference to tho reformed mettiods of dealing with crime that have been adopted in New Zealand. Sir Itobert observed : The number of prisoners for trial and for sentence at this sittings,of the court is not large, though it is in excess of the number in some districts of.the, Dominion that have the same population ae tho Hawke’s Bay district. lam glad, however, to be able to congratulate you on tbe fact that during tho past three years the number of persons convicted in tho Supreme Court, or who have pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court and have come up for sentence in the Supreme Court, shows a considerable diminution on tho number that was dealt with by tiro Supreme Court in the three years preceding. That is. the number of prisoners for 1009-1910 and 1911 is only about half of tho number for 1906-1907 and 1908. I also congratulate you on the

fact that on this occasion there are no persons charged witli any kind of scxrial offence. Tho offences charged are mainly thefts and are not of a serious character.

NEW METHODS—GOOD RESULTS. ■ We have in this Dominion made several efforts to deal with this question of crime and I think it may b© said that our efforts so, far have been 'attended with : good results. "We have, as you are aware, three distinct systems which were not in existence twenty-six years ago. We have tho First Offenders’ ,I’cbation Act which was passed in 1886. We have next the Habitual Offenders

Act passed in 1906 and now incorporated in our Crimes Act of 1908, providing for an indeterminate sentence, and we have also the statute passed in 1910 which provides for reformative detention. of criminals. In fact in New Zea-

land wo look upon persons ‘who are found guilty of crimes not ns persons merely to bo punished, but persons to be, if possible, reformed, and you are no doubt aware that the late Minister of Justice, Sir John Findlay, mad© strenuous efforts to get reform made on actuality. A largo farm has been provided and means are being taken in several of tbe ‘prisons, especially in Invercargill, to reform the younger criminals. The outlook at present is very hopeful. 1 have been looking over the criminal statistics, and I referred to them in my charge to the Grand Jury at Wanganui, but my remarks were not fully reported by the press.’ I find that during the three years 1909, 1910, and 1911 there has been a gradual decrease of srime not only in your district hut throughout the Dominion. The number if persons sentenced -or dealt;,', with in the Supreme Court for crimes was, in 1909. 544, in 1910 491, and in 1911,426. It is to he remembered that during these three years the population of the Dominion has increased. Taking the European and Maori population for 1909 the mean population for that year was 1,019,515, for 1910 it was 1,040.533, and for 1911 it was 1.064,740. It will therefore ho seen- that, the decrease of crime is very marked* and I think it is only fair to assume that the effects of these three Acts I’ have mentioned are now being realised. CAUSES’ OF CRIME.

Ido not overlook the fact that the causes of crime are manifold. Sometimes the roots, as they may he termed, of crime go hack to ancestors. Heredity has its play amongst our criminal population. Then there are the surroundings in which our youths may have heeu brought up. One cause is physical weakness, and perhaps the greatest cause is the want of will power which causes one who commits crime to fall on very slight temptation. Nor can we as a community expect that crime will cease so long as there are people of weak physique or who are mentally deficient or of weak moral fibre. There is no doubt that in those districts where some temptations havosbeeh removed from our youths crime is wonderfully lessened. I allude to the districts in which no-license prevails, but even if we could get rid of all the drug habits that the race possesses, crime would not cease. Its causes are, as I have said, manifold. I hope, however; that the efforts that are being made under the various statutes to which I have alluded will continue to have some effect in lessening the numbers ’ thatappear in our criminal calendars. I mention these facts to you because I think it is the duty of the community tarefully to watch everything that may tend to the benefit of the race. THE JURY SYSTEM.

I believe that the good that is done by having grand and petty juries to deal with criminal matters is greater than, the mere efficient administration, of justice. Possibly the law might be • better administered if instead of naving juries there were three or m«o* judges dealing with serious criminal matters, just as n-agistrates now deal without juries with minor offences. But if juries were abolished I think an injury, would be done to the community by not letting the jurors, grand and petty, understand and perceive that the responsibility for dealing with criminals rests with the people, and unless j uries are efficient crime must necessarily increase and injustice prerail.

PUNISHMENT NOT EVERYTHING. I may add that some people imagine that the only way to stamp out crime is to have the punishment a great deterrent to the criminal. , In my opinion that is not the best way to accomplish snch a desirable thing as the lessening of crime. No doubt the law must be a terror to evildoers, but unless we have some attempt made by kindness and love to redeem those Who have gone astray our prison system will be ft failure. Though criminals are treated now far better than they were forty or fifty years ago I have not met any prisoner in gaol who was not desirous of getting out. and as chairman of the Prison Board I have interviewed a great number—in fact all those who have received indeterminate sentences and some of those who have received reformative sentences —and all of them, though they aro well cared for in prison, desire their liberty. They feel that imprisonment is a real punishment. It is not necessary at .present that 11 should detail to. you, because you can I

obtain the information from the reports submitted to Parliament, what •is being done in the way of reforming criminals. I may, however, state that when a prisoner gets an indeterminate sentence he will .not be released from gaol until work is found for him and until he has shown that he has some will power to act rightly. Further, ho is pai<jt a small sum—fid—a day if he performs, his work well, and provision is made for hanking the money he may save 'in gaol so that when he "leaves the gaol he may have something to enable him to make another start in life. Further he is liable to supervision, so that proper work is found for him. and assistance given to him to live an industrial life." MUST BE SOME FAILURES.

Some who have been released have taken to crime again, but that of course must be expected. Others . have,. I think, been saved from a criminal career and onr people must not be downcast if there should' bo many failures under the system which wo have adopted. I hope, however, that when the tann that has been set apart is thoroughly in working order and when also there aro better" reformative conditions we may have 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 New Zealand, and I repeat that the decrease in crime . during the past three years has been exceedingly satisfactory and ought to give hope to those who aro engaged in this branch of social reform.