The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-23 00:00:00

STATISTICAL SOCitTY.

The seventh ordinary meeting of the present
session was held on Tuesday last—Mr. Samuel
Brown, vice-president, in the chair.

The following gentlemen were elected fellows of
the society, viz., Mr. Robert Giffen, Mr. Isaac

Holden, M.P., Mr. Lousdale Bradley, and Mr,
Richard Lee.

A paper was then read by Mr, J. T. Hammick,
barrister, on " The Judicial Statistics of England

and Wales, with special reference to the recent re

turns relating to crime." After tracing the progress
of the statistics of law and justice in England, and
pointing out some deficiency in the Home-office re-
turns, Mr. Hammick stated that the question of
greatest interest in connection with criminal statis-
tics was whether the figures afforded evidence of an
increase or decrease of crime in the country; whether
they showed that the ciiminal class was maintaining
its ground in undiminished strength, or was giving
way to the repressive force and other influences
brought to bear against it. Such materials as the
police returns of the number of persons of the crimi-
nal class at large, and of the houses to which they
resort, of offences reported, and persons apprehended
and of committals for trial, with the further returns
of convictions and sentences, furnished sufficient
data for the solution of this important question.
The strength of the police force in England had
reached 23,250 in 1865 ; nearly one-third (7,433)
were stationed in the metropolis, 7,325 in the pro-
vincial boroughs and the dockyards, and the residue
formed the county constabulary. The total co,t of
the police was £1,749,000 for 1865 ; the average
,cost per man was £75 4s. 3d. According to the
police returns of the criminal classes at large, there
were 22,773 thieves and depredators, 3,024 receivers
of stolen goods, and 29,591 suspected persons known
; and registered in 1865, making, with an addition of
61,238 vagrants, tramps, and bad characters, a total
of 116,626 —a decre ►se upon previous returns. The
number of crimes reported to the police had also
decreased. The coLmnittals for trial in 1865 were
19,614, against 19,506 in the previous year. Look-
ing at the tables of committals it was impossible to
avoid being struck with the petty character of a large
proportion of the offences still sent for trial at sessions
and assizes. The successful operation of the sta-
tutes which had Of late years extended the summary
jurisdiction of the magistrates to cases of simple
larceny under the value of 55., and above that
value upon the prisoners pleading guilty, seemed to
justify : further extension of that principle whereby
an immense saving to the country in the cost o
prosecutions would be effected, and prompt justice
would be done without the necessity of a rehearing
of the case, or the confinement of the prisoner in
many instances for several weeks previous to his
trial. More than 50 per cent. of the offences tried
on indictment before juries at sessions are cases of
simple larceny, or larcency from the person without
violence, assaults on peace officers and common as-
saults. Were these offences to be determined sum-
marily by the justices under an extension of the
powers given by the Criminal Justice Act, the ave-
rage cost of prosecution per case would probably be
about £l, whereas the average expense of each case
tried at county quarter sessions is £7 17s. 11d., and
at borough sessions £6 ls. 2d., to be paid for by the
country, besides the loss of time to prosecutor, wit-
nesses, and jury. The sum paid by the Treasury
on account of criminal prosecutions in 1865 was
£150,328. Having discussed the statistics of pri-
sons and referred to the labours of the late Sir
Joshua Jebb, who, as the first chairman of the di-
rectors of convict prisons, exercised the chief influ-
ence in the organisation in the present system of
prison discipline, Mr. Hammick stated the following
to be the conclusions at which he had arrived from a
consideration of the whole subject ; —l, That the