These rewards apply to ten different offences, and ought, no doubt, to be a considerable spur to Officers to do their duty; but it may be doubted whether this measure has not, in some degree, tended to the increase of a multitude of smaller crimes which are pregnant with the greatest mischiefs to Society.—It is by deterring men from the commission of smaller crimes (says the Marquis Beccaria) that greater ones are prevented.
If small rewards were given in cases of Grand Larceny, (now very numerous,) as well as of several other felonies, frauds, and misdemeanors, a species of activity would enter into the system of detection, which has not heretofore been experienced.
While rewards are limited to higher offences, and conviction is the indispensable condition upon which they are granted, it is much to be feared that lesser crimes are overlooked; and the Public subjected, in many instances, to the intermediate depredations of a rogue, from his first starting upon the town until he shall be worth 40l.
This system of giving high rewards only on conviction, also tends to weaken evidence: since it is obvious that the Counsel for all Prisoners, whose offences entitle the Prosecutors and Officers to a reward, generally endeavour to impress upon the minds of the Jury an idea, that witnesses, who have a pecuniary interest in the conviction of any offender standing upon trial, are not, on all occasions, deserving of full credit, unless strongly corroborated by other evidence; and thus many notorious offenders often escape justice.
By altering the system entirely, and leaving it in the breast of the Judge who tries the offence, to determine what reward shall be allowed, with a power to grant or withhold, or to limit and increase the same, according to circumstances connected with the trouble and risk of the parties, whether there is a conviction or not, a fairer measure of recompence would be dealt out;—the public money would be more beneficially distributed,[114] so as to excite general activity in checking every species of criminality;—and the objections, now urged against Officers and Prosecutors as interested witnesses, would, by this arrangement, be completely obviated.
For the purpose of elucidating these suggestions, it may be useful to examine the different offences which constitute the aggregate of the charges made against criminals arraigned at the Old Bailey, in the course of a year.
With this view the following statement is offered to the consideration of the Reader.—It refers to a period of profound peace (as most likely to exhibit a true average) and contains a register of the trials, published by authority, including eight sessions from September 1790 to 1791. From this it appears that 1088 prisoners were tried for different offences in that year, and that 711 were discharged! and yet, striking as this may appear, it may be asserted on good grounds, that the following melancholy Catalogue (extensive as it seems to be) does not probably contain even one-tenth part of the offences which are actually committed!
| 10 | for Murders | |
| 4 | Arson | |
| 10 | Forgeries | |
| 2 | Piracies | |
| 4 | Rapes | |
| 642 | Grand Larcenies[115] | |
| 32 | Stealing privately from persons | |
| 13 | Shop-lifting under 5s. | |
| 16 | Ripping and stealing Lead | |
| 12 | Stealing Pewter Pots | |
| 22 | Stealing from furnished Lodgings | |
| 1 | Stealing Letters | |
| 1 | Stealing a Child | |
| 22 | Receiving Stolen Goods | |
| 9 | for Dealing in and uttering base Money | |
| 1 | Sodomy | |
| 7 | Bigamy | |
| 6 | Perjuries | |
| 6 | Conspiracies | |
| 3 | Fraudulent Bankrupts | |
| 15 | Frauds | |
| 9 | Misdemeanors | |
| 1 | Assaulting, and cutting Clothes | |
| 1 | Smuggling | |
| 7 | Obstructing Revenue Officers | |
| 1 | Wounding a Horse maliciously | |
| 38 | Assaults | |
| 89, | Total. | |
| 193 | For which rewards were paid. | |
| 445 | Prisoners from the late Sheriffs. | |
| Aggregate number | 1533 |