THE CRIMINAL “AGE”

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1680, 31 October 1925, Page 7

THE CRIMINAL “AGE”

Is there a “danger” period for men? According to a Blue Book on Criminal 'Statistics issued by the British Home Office, there is. More men fall foul of the law in early manhood, it seems, than at any other time of their lives. Of course the 46,807 persons convicted of all classes of crime during 1923 no fewer than 10,685 were men between the ages of 21 and 30. Curiously enough the danger period for women is not until 10 years later. Perhaps, up to the age of 30, Avomen are hopeful of achieving matrimony, and then, as the years advance and that hope disappears, folloAv courses, either through economic necessity or adventurous spirit, which lead to trouble. As Avas only to be expected, these statistics clearly demonstrate that the age of youth is the age of daring and callousness, for there were 2000 odd. convictions for acts of violence, including burglary, against men between 16 and 30. Incidentally, 22 Avomen were convicted of burglary, one being Avell over 50 years of age. Truly the spirit of daring manifests itself strangely. For some reason or other, forgery is regarded in popular imagination as an offence peculiar to elderly men—the wicked uncle, the unscrupulous lawyer, and the like. Actually it is a young man’s crime. Ninety-five men under 40 years of age were convicted of this of fence in 1923, four being under 21. It seems, too, that we must revise our idea of the “receiver” (Avrites “A Psychologist” in the Daily Mail). Everyone imagines this kind of criminals as an old man steeped in vice—a misleader of foolish youth. The truth is that only nine persons over 60, one being a woman, were convicted during the year under review. But there were 138 betAveen the ages of 21 and 30, and 100 betAveen 30 and 40. All men, so we are told, are liars. Apparently women run them very close, for of the 21 persons convicted of perjury 13 Avere men and eight Avomen. Another curious psychological fact is that, although 164 women were convicted of cruelty to children, only three were guilty of cruelty to animals.