[48] Farinaccius: ‘Potest pro tribus furtis, quamvis minimis, pœna mortis imponi.’ The philosophy of this was, that to do anything twice was the same as doing it frequently: ‘Quod bis fit, frequenter fieri dicitur.’
[49] The French have two words, récidive and récidiver, to signify a relapse into crime, the word being applied as a metaphor from medicine, where it means the recurrence of a disease. In English we might adopt the word reciduous to express renewed acts of crime after punishment.
[50] The figures for May 1878 are: Men, 8,983; of these only 2,064 had had no previous conviction of any kind, 4,672 had had sentences short of penal servitude, and 2,247 penal servitude sentences. Of the 1,226 women, 124 had never been convicted before, 635 had had sentences short of penal servitude, 567 penal servitude sentences.—(P.S. Report, iii. 1170. See also ii. 206, 296, 364.)
[51] Penal Servitude Acts Commission, 1879, vol. iii. 1195-6.
[52] Judicial Statistics, 1878, xvi. 45.
[53] The same seems to be also true of France. ‘Quoi de plus important que ce fait, qu’en moyenne annuelle 30,000 crimes ou délits restent impunis parce que les auteurs en sont inconnus, et 10,000 environ parce que les charges portées contre les accusés ou prévenus ont été jugées insuffisantes.’—Legoyt, La France et l’Étranger, i. 406.
[54] Hill, Crime, 28.
[55] Memorials of Millbank, ii. 274-5.
[56] The author of Five Years’ Penal Servitude. With this testimony agrees thoroughly that of the Chaplain of Parkhurst Prison (P.S. Rep. iii. 707-8), that of the Governor of Portland Prison (ii. 164-5), and that of the Governor of Spike Island (iii. 814-5).
[57] Penal Servitude Report, i. 43.