SERIOUS CRIME
INCREASE IN GREAT BRITAIN. A JUDGE’S COMMENT. LONDON, July 21. “I think it my duty to state clearly Cor the knowledge of all that the serious crime of the country is greater today than at any .time during the last sixty years.” This comment was made' by Sir Justice McCardie, in opening the Birmingham Assizes. He said he realised more and more that drink had very little to do with the serious crime of this country, and the causes were to be found elsewhere. Though the. calendar was light, they must be under no delusions as to the country as a whole. It was quite true that the number of prisoners grew steadily less and that the number of prisoners convicted seemed to diminish, but the number of crimes actually connnitteed grew steadily greater. It was vital to remember, not only the indictable offences wince were’ tected and prosecuted, but also those which, though detected, were not prosecuted, because the offender was either unknown or could not he arrested. TNDI CTA BEE OF FENCES.
“I think the statistics of crime are grave,” he said. . “For example, in 1929 the number of indictable offences known to th e police was 134.581 an increase of more than 4000 a.s with the year 1928. “There has beeir no increase in crimes of violence, but there has been a, steady increase in housebreaking, shopbreaking, larceny, false pretences embezzlement, blackmail, and. above all, many cases of fraud. “In niy view, very many criminals, whether they be persistent criminals o ordinary criminals, are more ingen toils and more astute than those of a generation ago. , “Perhaps the greatest feature of lucent years is that the number of boys under the age of 16 found guilty of indicta Me offences was very much' greater jn 1929 than in 1970.
“There lias also been a regrettable 'increase of crime by boys of between 16 and 21 years of age, and also by those between 21 and 30. Thus,-. I'erK must; cause deep concern to every citizen who wishes to face the realities o' national life.”
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19310904.2.74
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Hokitika Guardian, 4 September 1931, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
349SERIOUS CRIME Hokitika Guardian, 4 September 1931, Page 8
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
The Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd is the copyright owner for the Hokitika Guardian. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in