The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-08-03 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

CRIMINAL RETURNS.

The annual tables showing, for 1846, the number of
criminal offenders in England and Wales, compiled from
the registers kept in the Home-office, were laid before
parliament on the 19th of June, and were subsequently
delivered to the members. From these documents much
interesting information may be gleaned upon the state of
crime. The total commitments in 1846 were 25,107, or
an increase of 3.3 per cent. over the numbers in the pre-
ceding three years. which increase is spread over a consi-
derable part of England, and appears attributable to
causes of a general, not a local nature. In the first class
of offences, (against the person,) the increase over the
preceding year was no less than 14.4 per cent., which was
most conspicuous in rape and attempts to ravish. In the
second class, (offences against property with violence,)
the increase was 2.4 per cent. In the third class, (of-
fences against property without violence,) an increase of
2.7 per cent. appears to have spread over the chief offences
of this large class. In the fourth class, (malicious of-
fences against property,) the increase was no less than 40
per cent. on 1845 ; the commitments, however, being still
greatly below the numbers in 1843 or 1844. In the fifth
class, (forgery and offences against the currency,) the
forgeries have increased, but there is a decrease of 7 per
cent. in the commitments for uttering counterfeit coin.
In the sixth class, (miscellaneous offences,) there is a de-
crease of 9.3 per cent., chiefly in breaches of the peace ;
but the offences against the game-laws, which are inclu-
ded in this class, have increased. The following are the
numbers, falling under each class, committed for the last
three years :

1844. 1845. 1846.
First class
Second class
Third class 20,425 .. 19,506 .. 20.035
Fourth class
Fifth class .
Sixth class 1,157 .. 773 .. 701

Total 26,542 .. 24,303 . 25,107
Of these 25,107 committals, 6,935 were acquitted and
discharged ; 28 were detained for insanity ; and 18,144
were convicted. Of the 18,144 convictions, 56 were sen-
tenced to death ; 2,805 to transportation ; 14,902 to im-
prisonment; 372 to whipping and fine; and 9 were par-
doned. Of the capital convictions (56), 13 were for
murder; 9 for attempts to murder, attended by bodily
,injury ; 5 for turglary, with violence ; S for robbery, with
'wounds ; 4 for arson of dwelling-houses, with persons
therein; and 17 for other capital offences. Of the 13
sentenced to execution for murder, six underwent the
penalty ; one in Berks, one in Leicester, one in Middle-
sex, one in Northumberland, one in York, and one in
Norfolk : they were all males,—one for murdering his
wife, one for murdering his father, two for murdering
their children, one for murdering his employer, and one
for murder with burglary. The numbers sentenced to
death in the last seven years are 20 per cent. less than the
numbers executed in the sane period only 20 years pre-
ceding—a striking proof of the extensive abolition of ca-
pital punishments. With regard to the instruction of
criminals, which is restricted to the simplest particulars,
the criminal records now extend over a period of ten
years, and during the whole of that time there is conclu-
sive proof of the increase of primary instruction. The
proportion of those entirely uninstructed, shows a yearly
decrease ; and of those who have received only the first
elements of instruction, a corresponding increase; the-
one class being absorbed in the other. The proportion
and degrees of instruction in 1837, when these records
were first kept, and 1846, are as follows

Unable to read and write

Able to read and write imperfectly
Read and write well

Instruction superior to reading and 1 0.43
_ writing well

Not aseirtained

A comparison of the relative state of instruction of the
two sexes, proves that the proportion of the females
without instruction is much larger than of the males ;
and of those able to read and write well the proportion is
considerably under 4 per cent., while in the males it
reaches nearly 9 per cent

Males. Females
29.32 35.73

Unable to read and write

Able to read and write imperfectly
Read and write well .

59.61 59.14
8.79 3.65

Instruction superior to reading and l 0.42
writing well
Not ascertained

The return concludes by observing, that although much
stress cannot be laid upon the moral restraints to be ex-
pected from the small amount of instruction shown in
these tables, yet they are evidence of the increased pro-
portion, not only of criminals, but of the classes from
which criminals spring, who by the spread of knowledge
become subjected to those improved habits which attend
early control ; and are at the same time proof of a pro-
gress in the lowest grades of society, which must tend to
the diminution of crime.