The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-12-18
AUSTRALIA IMPROVING.
Reasons Assigned for the Decrease
in Crime.

l. rom lllG ran MAIL GdEeltc.
Among the more encouraging feat
ures of social life in Australia is tha
increasing diminution of crime of every
description. Statistics show that in
New South Wales convictions for serl-
Gus otfenSeS are scarcely so numerous
as they were twenty years ago, ,notwith-
standing the fact that the population
has nearly doubled during the interval.
The change. according to Mr.. COGh-
Ian, New South Wales government
statistician, has come about owing to
n general Improvement in the com"
munity itself, and not to the reform
of individuals by reason of the deter
rent effect of punishment inflicted. Ac-
cordng to Captain Neitensteir, comp
troller of New South Wales prisons.
the number of prisoners in the mother
colony on December 81. 1897, was 2.23O.
while on December 81. 1888, it was 2Oji,
a decrease of 179, although the popu-
lation of the colony had during that
period increased by %, 80. To go back
to 1884; At that period one out of 373
of the general population was in Jail.
Now only one out of every 6i6 is so
situated-an improvement in public
morality of nearly 30 per cent. Allow
ing 10 per cent. for the operation Of
the first offenders act, whereby con-
victed persons are released under GER
tain conditions, there remains an ac-
tual improvement of nearly 10 per cent.
AT the same time, however the num-
Der Of convictions in the higher courts
of New South Wales is larger than
any of the other colonies, with the eX-
ception of Western Australia. This Is
due to a number of causes. First
among these may be mentioned the
differences in the jurisdiction of the
courts of the various colonies. For
instance, South Australia and Tas-
mania have no intermediate courts
like the quarter sessions of New South
Wales and the district courts with
criminal jurisdiction of some of the
other colonies, and many persons who
would be committed to higher courts
in New South Wales are convicted in
the magisterial courts of South Aus
/ tralia and Tasmania. Further. in Vic
/ tOria magistrates have a much wider
| jurisdiction than i'm New South Wales.
| and many offenders who are summar-
! lily convicted in the former colony
| would have to be committed to Il
! higher tribunal in the latter province.
! This question Of the jurisdiction of the
! magstracy of the colonies Is, conse-
! quently, one which considerably af-
| fects the criminal returns of the SUI
| peTiOr courts
Then, again, there is a great num-
ber of persons who drift from one part
! of the country to another in search of
work. For many years there has been
in New South Wales a large popula-
tiOn whose abode in any district is de-
| termined by the existence of a demand
for unskilled labor, and it is from the
ranks of this floating population that a
| large proportion of these persons con-
victed of crime is derived. All the col
onies have, to a greater or less ex-
tent, this class Of population, but in
! New South Wales it is numerically the
largest AS these people settle down
to regular employment in fixed abode
to acquire interests apart from the eX-
elements of unsettled lives, crime is
found to diminish. The neighbornG
colony of Victoria. where the decrease
of convictions has steadily kept pace
with the settlement Of its population
may be cited as an example of this
truth, the proportions of conviction in
1897 being 35 per 100000, as compared
| with 10l in 1866
The laws relating to crime are some
what similar throughout Australasia
although there are one or two impur-
tant points of difference, such as tn,
provision of the crimes act in 1890, W.
der which justice in Victoria may, IN
certain circumstances, discharge a per-
son accused of simple larceny without
proceeding to a conviction. which might
be found on investigation considerably