The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-12 00:00:00

JUDICIAL. STATISTICS.

The third branch of the first part of the report
of Mr. Samuel Redgrave, the Criminal Registrar
(already noticed in The Sun of the 7th of Septem-
ber), refers to pl isons much interesting informa-
tion respecting them being also derived from the
reports of the official directors and inspectors of
those institutions, to which we shall refer in a

separate article.
The returns made by the keepers of prisons bear
out, in their results, the satisfactory conclusion that
the tendency of commitments to increase has at
length been arrested. 139,457 persons were com-
mitted in 1858—namely, 105,107 males and 34,282
females. The percentage was 13.5 for trial at
assizes, &c., 59.6 on summary conviction, 2.6 for
want of bail, 9 on remand and discharged, 11.9 for
debt and on civil process, and 3.4 under the Mutiny

Act..
The commitments, as compared with 1857, ex-
hibit a decrease of 11 per cent. on the total com-
mitted, but if the criminal class is separated, the
decrease is more considerable ; it is balanced by an
increase of 15.8 on the debtors and others com-
mitted, not for crime, but on civil process, and a
large increase of the military prisoners. The num-
ber of debtors committed to gaol has largely in-
creased-viz., from 9,677 in 1854, to 16,620 last
year. The grand total of the debtors committed
in the quinquennium from 1854 to 1858 was 63,287,
against 42,139 only in the preceding five years,
from 1849 to 1853. This increase of debtors im-
mured in gaols is doubtless due to the County Court
system of commitments, already modified by legsi-
lative interference last session. The military crimi-
nals have risen from 1,777 to 4,6/5.
The proportion of the recommittals varies but
little ; it was 29.8 per cent. last year, 29.7 in 1857,
and 27.5 in 1856 • last year 41,580 criminals re-
lapsed, or, like faulty bills in Parliament, were " re- I
committed ;" of these 18,268 had been previously
committed once, 7,909 twice, 4,345 three times, 2,883
four times, 1,639 five times ; 2,217 between five and
seven times ; 1,313 between seven and ten times, and
3,006 more than ten times.
The ages of those convicted (debtors and military
prisoners excepted) were as follows :-1,553 males
and females under 12 years, 8,776 under 16, 26,800
under 21, 38,413 under 30, 21,632 between 30 and
40, 12,088 between 40 and 50, 5,297 between 50 and
60, and 2,798 above 60 years of age. The propor-
tion of the younger criminals had for many years
continued to increase ; it attained its maximum in
1856, since which time, thanks to the reformatories,
a progressive decline has been visible. There was a
decrease last year in the usually large proportion
' of Irish criminals committed, particularly of the
females. The Irish were in the ratio of 13.4 per
cent., the English 79.0, the Welsh 2.4, the Scotch
1.9, and foreigners 1.6 per cent.
No new facts ore presented by the state of in-
struction. Education is si.owly but generally ad-
vancing ; 41,826 of those .committed could neither
read nor write ; 68,227 could read, or do both im-
perfectly ; 6,813 could do both well, and 397 were
of superior instruction.
It is not easy to ascertain with accuracy the
antecedents of the criminal class, but the
118,162 persons committed (debtors and mili-
tary prisoners excepted) are thus classified :
-namely, 24,789 (8,012 men and 16,777 women),
" of no occupation" at all, 4,487 household servants;
49,127 labourers, charwomen, and seamstresses ;
5,703 factory operatives, 22,490 mechanics and
skilled workers, 162 foremen and overlookers, 1,297
shopmen, shopwomen, and clerks; 3,336 shopkeepers
and dealers, 312 " professional" men, 5,214 sailors,
marines, and soldiers (the last, we presume, " unat-
tached"), and 1,263 whose occupations were not
known. It will be seen that the ranks of crime
are most largely recruited from labourers, mechanics,_
skilled workers, and what the French would call
Bens d'industrie, or persons of no lawful vocation.
"The tables give evidence," says Mr. Redgrave,
" of a large neglected class, trained not to labour,
but to plunder." Again, among the unskilled, un-
taught " labourers, charwomen, and needlewomen,"
numbers are classed who assume these occupations
only to conceal their nefarious pursuits. "It is
from the neglected, uncared-for masses which these
classes include that the habitual criminals spring,
and to them may be added those who lapse into
crime from drunkenness, idleness, and vicious in-
dulgence." " Poverty and distress, the common
excuses for crime, degrade but few, and, probably,
add little to the mass."
There was a decrease of 8.8 per cent. in the pri-
soners in gaol at the end of the year, as compared
with the number at the beginning; this is due to the
shorter term of sentences, and the greater numbers
removed to the Government prisons. 17,948 pri-
soners remained in gaol on the last day of the year
1858-viz., 13,802 men and 4,146 women; 10,105
were removed from the local to Government and
other prisons, 967 to reformatories, and 130 to mad-
houses ; 7 were let out (from the local prisons) on
tickets of leave, 11 escaped, 12 committed suicide,
219 died, and 10 were hanged. The cases of in-
sanity are marked by a continuous increase,
amounting to 25.2 per cent. on a comparison of the
last two quinquennial periods.
There were 57,514 punishments inflicted for
prison offences, 171 prisoners were whipped, 13,593
" dark celled," and 41,642 had the supplies stopped.
The total cost of the prisons last year was £560,012
-viz., £217,394 for building atd establishment
charges, £191,350 for salaries of officers, &c., and
£151,367 for the keep, &e., of the prisoners them-
selves. Each prisoner cost the country at least.
£23 10s. ld. per annum, or, taking in certain ex-
traordinary charges of last year, £29 16s. Bd. In
some large prisons the cost is far above the average.
In Lincoln County Gaol, for example, it is as high
as £56 19s. 10d. a-year ;in Newgate, £52 2s. ld. ;
and in Chester County Gaol, £47 9s. Bd. In Kent
County Gaol the cost is only £2l ss. 4d. ; in
Durham, £l6 ls. 7d. ; and in Stafford, £l7 ls. 6d.
During the last decenium the maximum general
average cost of each prisoner was £29 Is. 2d.
(1856), and the minimum £22 ss. 6d. (1851).
Of the prison expenditure, X 29,726 was derived
from prison receipts (X 23,194 from the profits of
prisoners' labour), £420,619 from local rates and
funds, and £109,666 from the public revenue.
The Government convict prisons, which have
entirely superseded the hulks, will be noticed in
detail in our review of the report of the directors
of those establishments. 'l'h® daily average num-
ber of prisoners there immured last year was 7,859,
and 7,628 remained on hand on the 31st of De-
' cember. About 1,300 were removed to the ccl )--
nies (Western Australia, Bermuda, and Gibraltar),
two were sent to school or reformatories, and 17 to
madhouses ; 312 were let out on tickets of leave, 21
on commutation of sentence, and 110 on pardon.
Three prisoners escaped. The number of convicts
diseharged on tickets of leave has been reduced
from 2,892. in 1856, and 922 in 1857, to the num-