Art. III.—CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF ENGLAND AND WALES FOR 1858.

To the statesman and political economist, not less than to the Christian philanthropist, an inquiry into the sources and extent of crime, and the number, condition and previous history of criminals cannot be without interest. Scarcely a day passes in our chief cities, without the occurrence of some startling outrage upon the public peace, or on the person or property of the citizen. Scarcely a newspaper can be taken up, which does not contain a record more or less in detail of acts of violence and fraud. Why are they not prevented? What provokes their perpetration? How are the guilty parties punished, and what is the effect of their punishment on themselves or others?

In the absence (to our shame be it said) of reliable statistics on such subjects in our own country, we are compelled to resort to the elaborate and authentic reports made to the British government. And as the vicious dispositions and passions of men are the same there as here, and the temptations to crime, as well as crimes themselves and the methods of perpetrating them, do not materially differ in the two countries, we find great satisfaction and instruction in the information they furnish.

In our last number we gave an abstract of the criminal statistics of England and Wales for 1857. Since that time we have received the more full and complete returns for 1858. We do not propose to notice the same class of items to which our former article adverted, but to cull a few facts and results of general and universal interest, which were not then ascertained. The following table exhibits a significant class of facts.

CITIES AND TOWNS.Population.Criminal Classes, including Prostitutes.Per Cent. of Population.Prostitutes separately.Per Cent. of Population.
1. Metropolis of London and fifteen miles round,2,545,00014,2941 in 1787,1041 in 354
2. Pleasure towns, as Bath, Brighton, Ramsgate, &c.198,0002,0851 in 958391 in 236
3. Eight towns depending on agricultural districts,160,5572,0561 in 786901 in 232
4. Ten commercial ports, including Liverpool,905,8209,6741 in 935,3461 in 169
5. Ten cotton and linen manufacturing towns, including Manchester and Stockport,758,1634,9101 in 1641,4291 in 530
6. Six woolen and worsted manufacturing towns,380,8602,1681 in 1754901 in 777
7. Small and mixed textile manufacturing towns,263,9842,3291 in 1136111 in 432
8. Three hardware manufacturing towns, including Birmingham and Sheffield,418,1308,7201 in 478601 in 486

The reader cannot fail to be impressed by the singular disproportion in the number belonging to the criminal ranks, observed on comparing these different groups of towns, classed according to the predominant occupation or business of the inhabitants. There is no doubt that the incentives to a lawless life are much more numerous and powerful at certain times and places than at others. It would be easy to indicate probable causes for such discrepancies, and to trace their connection with particular phases of crime, but that is not relevant to our present purpose.

From the tabular view, it would seem that the criminal class is highest in the great seats of hardware manufacture; next in towns in rural districts; then in commercial ports; next in pleasure towns; then in towns employed in small textile manufactures; then in cotton manufacturing towns; next in woolen manufacturing towns; and last in the metropolis. But in the number of prostitutes the order is materially changed, the largest proportion being in the commercial ports, and the smallest in the woolen and worsted manufacturing towns,—the metropolis being considerably below the average.

There is a remarkable variation both in the general criminal classes, and in the specific crime of prostitution in different agricultural districts.

In the eastern agriculturing district the criminal per centage is1 in 113—Prostitutes1 in 1122
In the south and south-western1 in 104„1 in 1829
In the midland district1 in 103„1 in 1307

The present returns show that only the very small proportion of about one-fifth of the known criminal classes are in prison at any one time.

Of the parties proceeded against by indictment, nearly one-fourth were of “previous good character;” and of those proceeded against summarily, full one-half were of “previous good character,” and of both classes fourteen per cent. of both sexes were under sixteen!

Considering that until very recently, at least 4000 of the worst criminals were annually removed from the country by transportation, and that though a much more efficient police system has been in force, yet the number of commitments has not been sensibly increased, the inference is drawn that a better system of prevention prevails, and that better prison management has led to the absorption of a large number of discharged prisoners in honest employments.

There are in the country—

Houses for receiving stolen goods 3,122
Houses to which thieves and prostitutes resort, viz.:
Public houses 2,402
Beer shops 2,151
Coffee shops 386
Other suspected houses 2,157 7,096
Brothels and houses of ill fame 7,915
Tramps’ lodging houses 6,987
Total houses of bad character 25,120

A curious comparison is given of crimes and arrests. The number of known crimes of a grave character against the person, and all violent offences against property (excluding offences dealt with summarily by magistrates) were 57,868.

Crimes.Arrests.
January, February and March15,7857,950
April, May and June12,8956,982
July, August and September12,5926,698
October, November and December16,5968,828
Total57,86830,458

The greater prevalence of crime in the winter months is accounted for on the ground that employment is more scarce, and the prolonged hours of darkness afford greater opportunities to commit it. It is obvious that the return of crimes committed embraces but an inconsiderable portion of the overt criminal acts in the community. During the period covered by it, there were upwards of 40,000 known thieves and depredators, and 40,000 suspected persons at large. The former living by thieving must thieve to live, and it is “clear that a large amount of petty depredations occur, which, with every allowance for the large summary jurisdiction exercised in cases of theft, is not represented in the return, as well as many continued domestic thefts and frauds which are never detected, or never brought within the cognizance of the police.”

There is an item in the present report which suggests some inquiries that we should be inclined to pursue if we had space and time. The common impression is, that men do not suddenly leave the path of honesty and become rogues as it were by a leap. There may be no overt act attracting the notice or exciting the suspicion of the most intimate associates, as a partner in business, a colleague in office, or a fellow workman or clerk; but nevertheless subsequent revelations usually show that the crooked path was entered cautiously, by reluctant and hesitating steps, and some distance trod before there was boldness enough to take the fatal step. We apprehend this impression is warranted,—perhaps it is confirmed, rather than weakened,—by the facts here disclosed. It is undoubtedly true that delinquencies of a positive and unequivocal character are often kept private, and the offending parties, after a brief interval, betake themselves again to evil courses; and when some act of gross turpitude is exposed, it is regarded as the first development of a depraved character, whereas in fact it is only the last of a long series of criminal acts. How far such concealment is justifiable, or to what extent it is the means of saving persons from an abandonment to a criminal life, we are not prepared to say. But cases are not rare in which a desire to save an individual from infamy, and perhaps a circle of friends from mortification, has induced confidence to be reposed where it was undeserved, and so has been the means of much deeper injury to much higher interests. Very few instances occur in which a grave offence is committed, especially against property, by parties who had never before been known to swerve from honesty.

The present report shows, that of 30,458 persons, 5,398 were of previous good character, and 7,886 were known to be of bad character. Out of 404,034 proceeded against summarily, 148,178 were of “previous good character,” and of 130,502 it was not known to be bad.

The Report of Coroner’s inquests for the year gives a total of 19,846, against 20,167 in 1857, and 22,221 in 1856. The diminution is ascribed to the fact that in 1856 the rule was established not to allow the expenses of inquests when it turned out that the death ensued from natural causes, and without any ground to suspect a criminal act or culpable neglect; and it is also alleged, that police officers are not disposed to give notice of cases that might properly fall under the Coroner’s investigation. There is, certainly, a singular uniformity in the operation of the causes that result in death by violence and accident. When we think of the changes in the condition of society—the fluctuations of business—and the excitements of passion, it seems scarcely credible that so comparatively slight a variation should occur in a succession of years; for example:—

1858.1857.1856.
Murder183184205
Manslaughter197187271
Justifiable Homicide466
Suicide, or Self-murder1,2751,3491,314
Accidental Death8,9478,9309,716
Injuries from causes unknown764237424
Found dead2,6112,9493,183

Only 1 difference in the murders of 1857 and 1858, only 10 in manslaughter, and only 17 in accidental deaths; and in suicides, only 35 difference between 1856 and 1857.

It is worthy of remark that, of the 19,846 inquests held, 5,517 were children seven years old or under, and 3,318 were aged or infirm persons over sixty; showing that 44½ per cent. were persons least able to protect themselves from accident or injury. The average cost of each inquest was $15 dollars.

The total number of convicts in custody during the year was 11,292, of whom 1,326 were women. Of the whole number, 110 died, 3 escaped, and only 36 were pardoned! The daily average, for the year, was 7,859, and the annual cost of each prisoner was $157.50, or about 42 cents per day. This sum is subject to a reduction to the extent of the value of their labor.

The Reformatory Schools have risen from 1 in 1854, to 47 in 1858; and the number of inmates, from 21 to 700. To these schools, the government allows $1.75 per week, for each inmate; and the Managers have authority to require a contribution from the parents, when able. From the former source $127,844 were received, and from parents $3,738; showing the cost of each inmate, under these items alone, to be $187 per annum; and the Report has no allusion to their labor as of any value. The average cost in any House of Refuge in the United States, with which we are acquainted, does not much exceed $100.

There is now an extension of the system of Reformatory Schools, which will doubtless prove of much value. The law authorizes a provisional commitment, to certified industrial schools, of children taken into custody on a charge of vagrancy,—after due inquiry into the condition of their parents, and of the circumstances of their arrest,—to be detained till fifteen years of age, unless suitable provision is made for their care and employment elsewhere. The present (1859) is the first year of its operation.

It is not easy even to approximate an estimate, in money, of the cost to which crime subjects a community. Sixty years ago, Colquhoun, in his work on the “Police of the Metropolis,” estimated the loss by depredation, in London alone, at ten millions of dollars; and the Watch-Committee of Liverpool, in an elaborate report in 1836, stated the loss in that borough, by depredation, at not less than three million five hundred thousand dollars, declaring that this was not exaggerated, but, on the contrary, much less than the actual amount. We suppose that in such an estimate are included, not only the property abstracted by theft and robbery, but also the fruits of the various species of frauds on the government and on public institutions, fraudulent bankruptcies, losses by incendiary fires, and various kinds of malicious mischief.

To the value of property sacrificed to crime, must be added the expenses of police, prosecutions and prisons, amounting to not less than twelve millions of dollars; and to these we must add a large sum for a proportion of the salaries of judges and justices, and their clerks; the maintenance of court-houses; costs of coroners’ inquests; expenses of sheriffs; costs of prosecution by public bodies, and costs paid by private prosecutors over and above the costs allowed; charges for convicts and colonies, &c.

We have a sound basis for an estimate sufficiently impressive. There is a standing army of one hundred and thirty-five thousand men and women, at war with the community, and living on plunder and vice,—yesterday, engaged in depredations upon property—to-day, rioting in reckless extravagance,—to-morrow, reduced to pinching want. Supposing each of them to spend one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year,—say two and a half dollars a week, we have a sum total of nearly seventeen millions—and this cannot be levied upon the public at less than double that sum. This would amount to but a fraction less than thirty-five millions of dollars, and, with the costs already enumerated, would swell the grand total to very nearly fifty millions, as the annual expense which the criminal classes of England and Wales entail upon the community.

It is to be regretted that we have no reliable data from which to form even a probable estimate of either the number of criminals or the cost of crime in any one of our States or cities, so far as our information extends. If there were such, even in one State or city, an inference, of more or less value, might be drawn from a comparison of population, police force, &c. We can scarcely suppose that the incentives to crime are much more numerous and powerful here than in England. It is not found that crime abounds most in seasons of depression in business or of reduction of wages or employment, but the contrary; and therefore, the facilities with which people in our country obtain a living may, perhaps, rather promote than prevent crime. That we make much less of all crime here than is made in the older countries, is very obvious; and that escape or impunity is much more common here than there, will not be denied: so that, on the whole, we may reasonably conclude that if the tax imposed on the public, as the direct consequence of crime, could be ascertained, its enormous amount would awaken an interest in the means of preventing or suppressing it, which the considerations of humanity and religion seem inadequate to excite.