IRELAND.
1864-6. 1886-8.
Tried summarily … … … Ioo 95 )
Crimes against the person … .. Ioo 57 1 in 25 years.
'' property, and false money loo 52}
PRUSSIA.
1854-6. 1376-8.
Contraventions and ``vols de bois'' —. IOO l34 ~ in 25 years.
Crimes and offences … … 100 134
GERMANY.
1882-4. 1885-7.
Crimes and offences against public order 100 110
'' '' the person 100 116 in 6 years.
'' '' property 100 95
AUSTRIA.
1867-9. 1884-6.
Prisoners condemned for crimes —. 100 122 1 in 20 years.
'' '' offences … 100 495
SPAIN.
1883-4. 1886-7.
Tried for crimes and offences — 100 3 t in 5 years.
'' contraventions …… 100 113)
The most constant general fact shown by these data is in all cases the very remarkable increase of slighter delinquencies, side by side with constancy or <p 70>slight diminution in crimes against the person, and a large diminution in crime against property. This is seen in France, England, Belgium, whilst there is an increase both of crimes and offences in Austria.
Behind the general fact, however, we must distinguish between the actual and the apparent.
On the one hand, the decrease of more serious crime against property is simply due to prisoners electing to be sentenced by the inferior court, which is at the discretion of the Tribunals in France, but legally established in Belgium, by the laws of 1838 and 1848, and in England by the Acts of 1856 and 1878—an election of the slighter but more certain punishment of the magistrates in preference to going before a jury. Indeed, crimes against the person, in which there is less power of election, do not exhibit so marked a decrease; and accordingly we see that in Belgium the increase of ``correctionalised'' crimes is due far more to crimes against property (62 per cent in 36 years) than to those against the person (9 per cent.).
On the other hand, the growth of slighter delinquency is partly the effect of special enactments, which are constantly creating new infractions, offences or contraventions. For France may be mentioned the law of 1832 on eluding supervision, that of 1844 on the game laws, that of 1857 on the false description of goods for sale, of 1845 on railway offences, of 1849 on the expulsion of refugees, of 1873 on drunkenness, and of 1874 on requisition of horses. I dealt with the statistical results of these laws, and with the influence of the increasing number of police <p 71>agents, in my ``Studies on Criminality in France'' (Rome, 1881); and I will here add only a single observation. If it is true, as M. Joly says, that other laws, passed since 1826, have extinguished a few offences, or at least have diminished their frequency under less severe regulations, yet it is also true that the new infractions created in the past half-century show far higher numbers than those of the infractions which have been extinguished or rendered less easy. So that amongst the 297 per cent. of increase on the offences tried in France between 1826 and 1887, the element due to legal creation of new infractions must not be ignored.
It cannot, however, be denied that for certain more frequent offences we have a real and very noteworthy increase, apart from any legislative or statistical cause of disturbance.