Crime in the British Isles

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 3, 17 January 1907, Page 11

Crime in the British Isles

By way of, , addendum to the^.extended.editorial article on ' Catholics and. Crime ' in the last issue of the ' N.Z. Tablet/ the following article from the London 1 Saturday Review ' will be of interest to our readers :—: — .... - 1 The prison boards in Scotland and in Ireland worik under identical acts of Parliament — those of 1877. The principles by which they are regulated, should; therefore, he precisely similar. There are fewer criming' als in Ireland than in Scotland. According to the esti-mates-of 1905, it ;is allowed^ that there will be 120 less prisoners a day in the prisons of Ireland than in those .of Scotland. Yet the Irish board is to absorb £144,597. as against £105,588 allotted ,tq the Scotch. Why ? Because, although there are less^risoners-in Ireland, there are more officials. In Scotland there are only 467 paid , employees,; in Ireland no " less than 622. ' The -policing of Ireland costs the ridiculous sum of nearly- a- million, and a half. The- metropolitan police of Dublin costs nearly six .times as much per head as that" of London. "And yet there is very little crime in Ireland. The statistics of Irish -crime are really remarkable. They prove that the- police can discover scarcely any criminals, and the" ~ prisons are almost empty. The following list shows' that there is less crime in Ireland than in- England and Scotland :—

' It will be^ apparent from this 1 list that only in one year (19U1X had there been more crime in Ireland than, in England, and in that case only by ah infinitesimal percentage. Roughly speakiug, the convicted criminals in Ireland are in proportion only about twelve to every thirteen in England, and of three to every five in Scotland.. The British Parliamentary estimates of 1905 were drawn up on the basis- of {here being 120 more prisoners per day in Scotch, prisons than in those of - Ireland. \'et England^ and. -Scotland are often referred to, and I imagine with justice, as the most law abiding nations in Europe. 'It seems, therefore, that there is scarcely any possible justification for the newspapers which continually represent Ireland as in a. lawless condition.' Not -only is it peaceful,' but the law is there better observed . than in England. Even if the figures, given could be reversed, it would not therefore" follow" that Ireland would be in a more perilous state than the majority of European nations. Why, then, does she pay nearly a million and a half for her police ? And, apart from the. police, why does she remain burdened with an organisation largely designed to meet extraordinary difficulties arising out of .the great agitation- Jiefore the Home Rule bills ? Because an irresponsible bureau- - cracy can only work on a system) of fixed rules. 1 However active minded its officials, they cannot escape the ties of routine. It is therefore the -^lowest moving kind of goycrnment in the world, almost ut-' terly unresponsive to national needs, demands or enthusiasm. It has here failed to adapt itself either to national growth or to the melancholy " phases of national decay. It is, in fact, "a gigantic " War Office " with about forty 'different branches, but worse in one respect than the prototype' has ever been, for in the vast majority of cases its head officials have no seat in Parliament, and cannot be called to account.' _ . '

Year. 1900 1901 1902 1903 1901 Population. 32,249,187 ...... 32,621,263 32,997,626 : 33,378,338 33,763,434 Convicted Criminals. 8,157 8,841 9,352 9,879 10,233 ' One • Criminal in "3,953 3,689 3,528 3,378 3,099

ENGLAND.

.3W - 901 1902 1903 ;904 4,445,630 4,432,274 4,413,655 .. 4,402,168 i.,\JOi1,221 1,086 1,160 1,296 3,640 4,081 3,775 3,396 -

..IRELAND.

law 1901 1902 1903 1904 4,483,880 4,531,299 4,579,223 4,627,656, 1,000 1,872 .. 2,052 2,114 . 2,207 2,4 1 V '2,395 2,208 2,166 2,296

SCOTLAND.