The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-08-28 00:00:00

citourlyibgc 01)5erVer.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28,1869.

HABITUAL CRIMINALS.

A very important Act of last session. dealing
with what are colic liar want of a more definite
oh rase, habitual criminals, is now in operation,
and it bil4 f tir to exort ci pa vorfol etTe on the
criminal classes. We trust that on the whole tho
re,ult will be for gaol, but it will undoubtedly
live the police a vastly lomat, ed powar, which
maw he abused. We are imiehte,l to Mr. Serjeant
Cox, when charging the jury at the MiatUesex
sesions. tor on extremely lucid exposition of
this new law. How important are its provisions
will at once be seen from the brief summary Wtt
shall give. The Act provides that on a second
conviction for felony or misdemeanour, part of
the second sentence passed on him shall b,.pa
6u-to, police surveiliaace for seven years. This
is an entirely new feature in our laws, which we
have borrowed from the continent. It will place
the 83-called Imhitual erintioal (though it is
rather herd that two conviAions for orime should
he regarded as certifying ft " habit " on tho port
.4 the prismicri, at a great disadvantage iii res-
pect to hie uatairol enemy the polieeman. If the
" habitual calming" motet supervision is charged
bv a policeman with not vetting his living in an
honest iii if the habitual criminal is found
under such circumstances as satisfy a magis-
trate that he was about to cmomit or trying to
eommit eritne ; or, if the habitual criminal is
found by any person on any premises without
being able pvouu4 for his being there— in each
tht-ee VaileN the burden of prn,if is thrown up-
in the nee-used, and if he cannot eleqr lanowlf

to he sobjectod to hoprlianifiteht for atom
not execeding twelve walla. with or without
.Itora lahoor. Ur. Scrittatit Cox very tru!y wy
that those enactments will give a groat hold
Non the cfnoircil pow-doll:Al of (ho country.
rhe only question is whether they will not give
110 poliro LI grout dela too touch power. If the
police woos always usiNe and 10.1k1,me, if they
Were liv r ovorwoeuingly anxious to some 0
in sit sun, the power thou conferred upon them
wolvd of conc.; not In, to ge it; but it i 4 eeey
Ii see that this 10. wly-avrptired power is vory
'ikoly to he aloHod. A twice•convieted man, for

•• f mod by the plliee in any place"
ni cleLrged with " Waif ing for ;In oppottnnity
rolfll pit or ai.l et Vie coo iiiii :sion "of robbery.
It nt ty lii frightfolly for the nem dto
Prove to the wutisf.etion of a niag,i,:tr thnt he,
. . .

. _
the habitual erim:nal, was not waitiag, ,ke., and
Clue juoliceitiuti. Ile it r.onentliered, does not have
to prove th At the elelege is true, but the accused
oas to prove that it is false. If the charge can.
not he disproved it is to be regarded as proved ;
or, in other words, we now reverse the old max-
im, and consider the accused guilty till he is
proved, or rather proves himself innocent. The
same harden of proof on the accused relates to
a charge of receiving stolen goods or having
them in his possession knowing them to be sto•
len. Hitherto such charges have had to be
proved by the preseentiou, and faifing this proof
the accused was discharged ; but now the charge
has not to be substantiated on the one side, but
it must be disproved on the other. This onus
erobcedi makes just all the difference. In the
matter of goods alleged to be stolen, where there
has been no guilty knowledge it will generally
be easy perhaps for the accused to clear himself
of the charge, but surely many eases will arise
where this will be difficult, if not impossible.
You knew it, says the policeman, and that charge
stands good till disproved. I did not know it.
says the accused ; and if he cannot prove that
he did not know it he is. convicted and impri-
soned. But how can every accused man in all
cases prove this? Itic notoriously difficult to
prove a negative, and yet this difficulty is now
imposed upon the suspected or habitually crimi-
nal classes. There is another important enact-
ment in the new law. It has hitherto been the
practice to conceal from juries all former con-
v lotions till after the verdict, and then, previous
convictions having been announced, sentences
were passed accordingly. But now, in the case
of a charge of receiving stolen goods, if there
has been a previous conviction this is to be an-
nounced before the trial, and " the knowledge
will he presumptive proof that the prisoner knew
the ,!oods were stolen." With this presumptive
proof and the difficulty of proving a negative,
the burden of disproof resting on the prisoner,
he will stand but a poor chance. It may be said
that these receivers are a very dangerous class,
and that if there were no receivers there would
. he fewer thieves. This is quite true, hut it is
, not exactly the question, for in each individual
, case the question really is whether the accused
is a receiver or not ; and this very question the
jury are to answer in the affirmative on no better
, evidence than that the man has previously been
convicted, and it remains for him to disprove the
second charge, or the mere charge will in itself
- convict him.
: We are afraid that on the whole the new law
will be found to be too severe, considering the
auspicious officiousness of some of the police—
we do not say as a class—and their notorious
anxiety for securing convictions ; considering
moreover the well-known difficulty that a once
convicted man has of gaining an honest living;
. and farther considering the natural prejudice
against the prisoner that will now be imported
Into the jury box by previous convictions being
announced at the outset end by the burden of
disproof being thrown on the aceused. The new

law ia eonfessedly hut an experiment, ena we sin-
cerely hope that it niay work well and tend to
diminish crime; but we have serious doubts
about it, and are quite prepared ere Ion::
of cases of gross abuse 111,....mr it. In the ease
of those whc: era really habitual criminals this
Were law will, we believe, tend to the
repression of crime by giving the police a better
hold" upon them and by rendering convictions
much easier ; but many eases can readily be im-
agined where power will be abused. There are
instances of a first conviction having been on.
just, and yet, if a s,,enii,l conviction follows,
pollen surveillance follows with it. These, of
course, are but exceptional, but they all tend to
increase the habitually criminal class, against
: whom war to the knife and no quarter is declared.
I We repeat that we lope the new law will work
1 well, but society may at least be prepared for
1 one result : if the new law is rigidly enforced we
shall soon have our prisons full to overflowing.

THE ORF,AT UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE,

This great international contest took place
yestcvday evening, and, after an exciting strug-
gle, the Oxford Crew non, amidst tremendous
cheering, by three lengthe

ANNUAL MEETING OF THF. BRITISH
AND FOREIGN RITILE SOCIETY.

On Thursday evening lost a meeting of the
strive aociety was held in the Corn Exchange.
There were about 50 present, amongst whom
were the Revs. T. Williams, H. Sherrard, J. J.
Welch, J. Richards, Memo, 3, Shepherd, H.
Caston (Bristol), &e., he.
The meeting wee opened by the Rev. J. Rich.
aide reeding a portion of the 14th chapter of
John, and prayer.
It was proposed by Mr. Richards, and seconded
by Mr. Williams, that Mr. J. Shepherd do take
the chair; which was earvird WI. 003,
The Chairnoin %poke at. some length as to the
proeperena state of the society, and earnestly
Indlnited those present to do all they could In
! aid of the society ; and urged upon them the
' necessity of sending ttbroad the Wide. lie also
spoke as to the use those young persons preeeut
could by to the iinekty, in ttlir itoicriptiong
to perches° bibles had to:aliments, to send
abroad,
Mr. James Riellards then road the following
report 1—
Reatierc—Ralanre In hand. £O4 II fa; Collection',
£0 164 8.1: Sale of hibw. fay ç, Cl; Subscriptions,
£52 Ils; onto, per Mn. Ott.a, £0 Its it I; ditto, for
hp On. £l7 Is ; Mr, Scott's Legacy, £47m 10.1—total,
4129 184 81,
Esesontreas —Per Addeo, 4911 19a 9(1 ; for Corn
Uxuliango. ft Is; Rent Dept, 43 ; Printing Circulars,
two ye,m' Reports, Carriage, Collecting. &o, £3 its lid ;
Free Contrillationg to PArerit Society, £2O: tor Spun.
ZIT Is 41; balancs In hand, £35 12s 11l—t128 189.1.
He said he hat been a member of the Associa-
tion for a number of year 4, and never sow so few
present as there were that evening. He supposed
It wee thrcitigh most of the members of the so-
ciety being away from town, and he thought it
would be better to hold their meetings in the
winter instead of in the summer. Ha was glad
to know that the society was in a prosperous
state. He thought they could get another room
to hold their meetings in, without giving a guinea
for the use of the Corn Exchange for the one
: evening,. .At the previous annual meeting he
waa glad to state there were 918 bibles circulated
in this town that year, hut he was sorry to say
that there WAS a slight decrease in the cii
as 9'21 only were sent out last year; but,
putting it at 1.000, as there are 10,000 persons
in this town, thot would be only ten in a hundred
who hod a bible in their possession. He was
pleased to hear that bibles were being demanded
and sent in 1 irge quantities to Spain, Portugal,
Italy, and other countries on the continent.
It Wits proposed, seconded, and carried rmani.
inonsly, that the report of the Society lie prin-
ted and circulated. _ _ _

The Rev. T. Williams then addressed those
present at some length, and offered to let the
Soeioty have the use of St. John's School-room
for their meetings. . .

The Rev. M. &skin (who was present as a de-
putation from the Bristol British and Foreign
Bible Society) said he was much pleased to see
those present. The receipts of the British and
Foreign Bible Society for the past year were
£187,952 99 9d, being an increase on the previ-
one year of £B,OOO. A great number of bibles I
had been sent to the Continent. In Austria
130,000 copies of %portion of the New Testa.
went—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—were
distributed. Three hundred thonsand were sent
ti Germany last year. fn France 111.000 prin-
ted bibles and testaments were sent. In India
a emit windier weri seat, and the speaker rela-
ted several anecdotes shout the natives, WA des.
erihing the huge quantities sent to the South
SOA Islands. Madagascar, Otaheite, and other
parts of tie 2.11.1)e. It gave him groat pleasure
I to announee that a new Meeting House of the
Seciety had been opened in London.
It was proposed, seconded, and carried unoni-
monsly, that the officers R d committee (Adding
to them the name of Mr. a Billinghaw) be re-
eleeted,
The meeting Wes einsed by sing,ing the Dox-
ology, and prayer by the Rev. M. Caslon.