Glasgow Courier. — 1859-10-08 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

STATISTICS OF FRENCH CRIME.  The Moniteur lately contained a report to the Emperor from the Minister of Justice on the administration of criminal justice in 1857. The following are the principal points in it "The number of cases of crime tried by the Court of Assizes was 4,309, being 136 less than in 1856, 399 less than in 1855, and 1,126 less than in 1854. The 4,309 cases consisted of 184 for murder, 93 manslaughter, 36 poisoning, 12 parricide, 208 infanticide, 61 cutting and wounding followed by death, 104 simple cutting and wounding, 15 rebellion against public functionaries, 188 criminal assaults on adults, 6717 ditto on children, 51 false witness and subornation, 52 coining, 471 forgery, 1,822 burglary and robbery, 239 arson, 105 fraudulent bankruptcy, and 135 other crimes. During the last seven years crimes against the person have diminished, with the exception of criminal assaults on women, which have remained nearly stationary, and of infanticides, which have increased 26 per cent. As regards crimes against property, the only ones in which there has been a marked diminution during the same period are coining and burglary, while fraudulent bankruptcies have almost doubled. The number of persons accused of the 4,309 crimes in 1857 was 5,773; in 1856 the number of accused was 6,124. The proportion of accused to the population of all France was, in 1857, 1 to 6,242 souls; it 1856, it was Ito 5.885; and in 1855, Ito 5,522. The two departments in which the proportion of the accused was highest were the Bouches du Rhone and the Haute Garonne; those in which it was lowest the Ain and the Isere. In the Seine, which includes Paris, it was 1 in 3,235 souls. Of the 5,773 accused, 1,966 were for crimes against the person, 3,807 for crimes against property; 4,742 were men, 1,031 women; 841 were aged less than 21, 3,185 from 21 to 40, 1,477 from 40 to 60,270 upwards of 60; 2,238 were unmarried, 2,492 were married, 343 were widowers or widows; 2,034 were labourers, 1,975 workmen, 372 domestics, 583 traders, 433 of liberal professions, and 376 vagabonds; 2,529 could neither read nor write, 2,216 could read only, or could read and write imperfectly, 706 could read and write well, and 322 had received a superior instruction. Of the 5,773 accused, 1,401 were acquitted and 4,369 condemned-58 of them to death, 1 to transportation, 205 to hard labour for life, 1,965 to different periods of hard labour, 1 to civil degradation, 2,103 to imprisonment, 4 to fine, and 27, being children under 16, were sent to houses of correction. The daniber of prisoners acquitted last year WRS fewer than in any of the preceding six years. Of the 58 condemned to death, which num. ber was 12 more than in 1856, 39 were for murder, 5 for poisoning, 5 for arson, 5 for parricide, 2 for infanticide, and 2 for sequestration accompanied by acts of torture. Of the 58 only 6 were women; 32 of the condemned were executed; the rest had the condemnation commuted to hard labour for life. The report for the first time institutes a comparison between the criminality of England and that of France, and it appears that in England the number of accused of crimes against the person is scarcely one-half what it is in France, but that the miniber of accused of crimes against property is smaller in France, though her population is double that of England."