The numbers of the Parliamentary Papers containing the previous volumes of the Criminal Statistics since the revision in 1892 are as follows:

The volume for 1893 contains the Principal Report of the Criminal Statistics Committee, and that for 1898 a Supplementary Report.

From 1805 to 1856 Tables of Trials at Assizes and Quarter Sessions were printed annually as Parliamentary Papers. From 1857 to 1892 the Criminal Statistics formed part of the annual volume of "Judicial Statistics."

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

CRIMES AND OFFENCES.

INDICTABLE OFFENCES.

The number of crimes, i.e., indictable offences, of various descriptions actually committed in each year is necessarily unknown and, in framing from such statistics as are available opinions as to the amount and progress of crime, very full allowance must be made for a variety of circumstances which may seriously detract from their usefulness for this purpose. The figures of crimes known to the police, with whatever defects such figures may possess, constitute the only information available concerning the number of crimes actually committed and the figures of persons tried for indictable offences are usually considered to be the best index to the annual fluctuations of crime. The expression "persons tried for indictable offences" includes not only the persons for trial at assizes and quarter sessions but also the persons tried summarily for indictable offences. The figures for crimes known to the police are, however, in close agreement with and substantially confirm the conclusions which may be drawn from the figures for persons tried. Owing to changes in procedure and practice, trustworthy conclusions as to the increase or decrease of crime cannot be based upon the figures of persons convicted or of persons imprisoned.

The number of persons tried for indictable offences in the year 1924 was 57,374. During the preceding four years the figures were successively 60,617, 61,355, 58,177 and 56,764. The figures for the years of the war are valuable for certain purposes, but not for forming conclusions as to the increase or decrease of crime in subsequent years. On the other hand the post-war period up to the end of 1924 is too brief to furnish a reliable indication and is to be regarded rather as a period of gradual return to normal conditions. In 1913, the last complete year before the outbreak of war, the number of persons tried was 63,269, and the quinquennial averages for the preceding twenty years were successively 53,174, 53,833, 60,065 and 66,301. Measured by these figures, crime was increasing before the war, was less after the return of peace, and now does not yet

On the other hand the number of crimes which came to the knowledge of the police in 1924 was 112,574, the highest figures recorded in the sixty-eight years for which returns have been collected. During the four years 1920 to 1923 the numbers were respectively 100,827, 103,258, 107,320 and 110,206. In 1913 the number was 97,933, and the quinquennial averages for the period from 1893 to 1912 were successively 82,258, 80,121, 92,844 and 102,573. These figures suggest a considerable growth of crime during the last thirty years. There may be a difference of view as to the particular circumstances which constitute a crime, and it is believed that the efforts which have been made to secure uniformity of practice in this respect have led to the recording nowadays of a number of cases classed as crimes known to the police which formerly would have been omitted from the returns. But the fullest allowance which can be made for this influence is insufficient to account for the whole increase. This increase is not common to all crimes, but is confined to a limited number of headings, as mentioned below, and indicates a growth of certain forms of crimes committed, which, for various reasons, is not reflected in the figures for persons tried.

The above remarks relate to the absolute figures for crimes and trials. If the increase of population during the period under review is taken into account there is a marked falling off in the number of persons tried, while the crimes known to the police are a little above the level they attained before the war. Taking the four quinquennial averages for the twenty years from 1893 to 1912, the proportion per 100,000 of the population who were tried for indictable offences was (to the nearest whole numbers) 175, 167, 177 and 185. In 1913 and in the five years. 1920 to 1924, the proportions were respectively 171, 161, 162, 152, 148 and 148.

The corresponding proportions to population for crimes known to the police were respectively 270, 248, 273, 287; and 265, 268, 273, 281, 287 and 291.

Crimes of Violence.

As stated above, the increase of crimes known to the police is confined to certain descriptions of offences. Crimes of violence against the person (including for this purpose headings 1 to 15 of the classified list of indictable offences-see page 182) are fewer than formerly. The average number of such crimes which became known to the police during each of the five years 1909 to 1913 was 2,062; the annual average for the period 1919 to 1923 was 1,389; in 1923 the number was 1,269; and in 1924 it was 1,259. There is a corresponding falling off in the minor offences of violence which are tried summarily as assaults. The annual averages for the four quinquennial periods 1899-1903, 1904-8, 1909-13, and 1919-23 were respectively 64,186, 51,495, 43,320 and 37,908. The figures for 1924 were 34,897. So far as such crimes are concerned experience of warfare has not led to any increase of crime.

Murder.

Figures as to murder always attract interest. For the past fifty years, during which the population has increased from twenty-four millions to thirty-nine millions, the number of murders in each year coming to the knowledge of the police has remained almost stationary at about one hundred and fifty cases per annum, of which for many years past about fifty have been murders of infants aged one year and under. In each of the last two years, 1923 and 1924, the total number of murders has been exactly 150, which is equivalent to 3.9 per million of the population. The number of verdicts of wilful murder returned at coroners' inquests is slightly higher, but this number includes some verdicts of murder by persons unknown, and for this and other reasons includes some cases in which later information has established that the deceased person was not murdered.

In 1924, 14 persons were sentenced to death for murder and in the cases of ten persons, the sentences were executed. For an explanation of the disparity between the large number of murders reported as known to the police and the small number of persons who are actually convicted of that particular crime, reference may be made to the following summary of an investigation of the results of the proceedings in the 390 cases of supposed murder (exclusive of cases of infanticide of children under one year by the mother and deaths from illegal operations) which came to the knowledge of the police in the years 1912, 1913, 1920 and 1921.*

In 83 of these 390 cases the murderer committed suicide (multiple murders are frequently followed by the suicide of the murderer); in 288 cases arrests were made involving 313 persons; and in the remaining 19 cases no arrest was made. Of the 313 persons arrested and charged with murder, 64 were discharged or acquitted in respect of 51 cases (other persons being convicted in respect of three of these cases). In consequence of the strong proofs of guilt necessary for conviction of crimes punishable by death the proportion of acquittals for murder is higher than for most other crimes, and an acquittal in such a case does not necessarily imply failure to detect the perpetrator of the crime. Ninety-four persons in the four years under review were convicted of murder and sentenced to death; 74 persons were convicted of lesser offences (manslaughter, wounding, &c.); and 70 were ordered to be detained during His Majesty's Pleasure (i.e., were found insane upon arraignment or "guilty but insane, or were under 16 years of age). Six of the 313 persons were found insane before trial, one died, one was shot whilst resisting arrest, and three were dealt with in foreign countries.

Appeals in Murder Cases from 1908 to 1924.

During the seventeen years the Court of Criminal Appeal has been in existence, 412 persons have been convicted of murder. In 182 of these

cases the person convicted of murder applied to the Court for leave to appeal against the conviction. In a great many cases the hearing of the application for leave to appeal by the full Court was in effect the hearing of the appeal. Formal leave to appeal was granted in eight cases. In addition, there were 46 appeals on grounds involving questions of law and two upon the certificate of the Judge at the trial that it was a fit case for an appeal, making a total of 56 appeals formally heard and disposed of. In these 56 appeals the conviction was affirmed in 48 cases, in 4 cases the conviction was quashed but conviction for some other offence was substituted, in two cases the verdict was quashed and a special verdict of insanity entered, and in two cases the conviction was quashed and the appeal allowed. In other words, in the seventeen years there were 412 convictions of murder and only eight convictions were upset.

During the same period, 165 (or 41 per cent.) of the sentences of death for murder were commuted to penal servitude for life by the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. In the preceding ten years the percentage was 44.

Homicides in Foreign Countries.

The figures of murders committed in England and Wales are not comparable with the figures for foreign countries because of differences in the definitions of murder. If, however, the total numbers of all homicides in certain countries are taken, approximately accurate comparisons can be made. In 1924 the number of homicides in England. and Wales (including murder, manslaughter, and infanticide) was 274 and the annual average for the five years from 1920 to 1924 was 268. The estimated total population of England and Wales in 1924 was 38,746,020. In the United States, in the registration area inhabited by ninety-three millions of people out of the total of one hundred and ten million population of the whole continental area of the United States, there were 7,788 homicides in 1922, of which 5,714 were committed with firearms. In Germany in 1921 there were 167 persons sentenced to death for murder; in Italy in 1918, with a population of 36,557,615, there were 1,983 homicides (including attempts) actually denounced to the Courts (in England and Wales the corresponding figures for 1918 for such crimes known to the police were 267); and in France in 1913 there were 855 persons tried for homicide.

Sexual Crimes.

In recent years there has been a slight increase in the figures of sexual crimes in England and Wales. The annual average of the total of this group (headings 16 to 26 of the list of indictable offences) during the five years 1919 to 1923 was 2,937; the actual total for 1923 was 3,030 and for