CHECK ON CRIME

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 747, 21 August 1929, Page 7

CHECK ON CRIME

FEWER YOUNG OFFENDERS HOPEFUL SIGN FOR FUTURE PROBATION WORKING SATISFACTORILY >THE SL'X'S Parliamentary Reporter) PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Today. The problem of the future criminal is. in the eyes of the authorities, distinctly hopeful. According to the annual report of the Prisons Department, presented, to Parliament today, a satisfactory feature of figures dealing with criminal offenders under age groups shows that there has been a falling off i»t the number of young offenders inr New Zealand during the past year. The number of persons received info institutions under the ago of 20 years was 168 for 1928, as compared with 225 for the previous year. The number of committals to prison between the ages of 20 and 25 have also shown a pronounced reduction. These are distinctly hopeful signs so far as the future criminal problem is concerned. The wisdom of concentrating effort in directing youthful energies along social lines and redirecting criminal tendencies when they are first made manifest is now recognised by all authorities dealing with the delinquency problem of recidivist and the habitual criminal can only be effectively dealt with in the formative period before his anti-social habits become ingrained. Of the total of 2,549 distinct persons received into custody, 3,538 or 60 per cent, were New Zealand born, compared with 1,370 for the previous year. It is satisfactory to note, therefore,

that relative to increase in general population, and having regard to the percentage* of New Zealand born to the total population, crime among the New Zealand born is slightly lower than among the rest of the population. It is pleasing to be able to record again that sentence of capital punishment was not required to be given effect to during the year, although in one case the extreme penalty of the law was commuted to imprisonment for life. No floggings were administered at any institution during the year. FEWER WOMEN GAOLED A noteworthy feature of prison statistics is the decline in the number of commitments of women to prison. The total number of women offenders ordered to detentiem in penal institutions was 117, as compared with 131 for last year and 150 for the previous year. Of the 117 women, 85 were New Zealand born, while the preponderant offence came under the heading of vagrancy, and in this connection it is to be noted that 52 per cent, of the total number of women offenders were between the ages of 40 and 60 years. The total number of commitments of women to prison for drunkenness was only 16.” The prison statistics include commitments to Borstal institutions, but separation of the figures shows that 138 lads and 16 girls, -a total of 154, were committed by the courts, while 24 youths and four young women were transferred to Borstal from industrial schools and penal institutions for the purpose of training and discipline. Regarding probation, the Chief Probation Officer, Mr. B. L. Dallard, reports that the reports from district probation officers show that in the majority of cases those admitted to probation have satisfactorily responded to this method of treatment. The number of failures represents only 8 per cent., of the total number dealt with during the year. This does not include 23 persons who left the Dominion and whose subsequent conduct is not known. This splendid result is due in a measure to the sympathetic oversight maintained and also to the discretion exercised by the courts in the admission of suitable cases to probation. DEALING WITH ADOLESCENTS The statistics show that 769 persons were admitted to probation during the year, and came under the supervision of probation officers in terms of the Offenders* Probation Act. This was 49 cases in excess of the previous year. Of the total number placed under the department’s care, 615 were by direct admission, and 154 came under the provisions of the Act. Under the *cheme of deferred sentence during the .'car there were 181 offenders between the ages of 15 and 20. as compared with 200 for the previous year, as mentioned in last year’s report. In an effort to suppress delinquency among adolescents who appear to be heading for a career of crime, the courts have had recourse to more deterrent and salutary methods, and in quite a number of cases Borstal detention has been prescribed. A considerable percentage of those appearing before the courts ancl receiving a term of discipline and training at Borstal have already been tried out on probation, or otherwise dealt with by the juvenile courts. There were 192 persons between the ages of 20 and 25, and 224 between the ages of 25 and 50, showing that probation is by no means confined to youthful offenders. The test of suitability for probation is not one of age, although with young offenders the responsibility resting on the courts is more grave than with older offenders?, for even it institutional treatment does have some reforming influence, a young person emerges with a social stigma which is a severe handicap throughout lus whole career.. The real test is to distinguish between the unfortunate who, in some weak moment, has broken the law, and those who, with deliberation, embark upon a criminal career. INDUSTRY IN PRISONS New Zealand prisons are rapidly becoming self-contained communities, according to the annual report of the Prisons Department. An important feature of the administration has been development, says the report, of internal production of the department’s own needs, instead of purchasing its requirements outside. This applied to clothing and equipment, and within the last few years, by adopting a system of inter-institutional transfers, the department is now practically wholly .self-sustained in the matter of its requirements of vegetables and farm produce. Bakeries have been established in nearly all the institutions, so that the department is baking Practically the whole of is bread requirements, thereby providing an advantage not only in the way of cheaper bread, but also by way of affording a further avenue of employment. and thus teaching a number of prisoners a useful means of livelihood which will assist them when they are released. For dietetic reasons an arrangement was made for the issue on alternative days of wholemeal bread. By means of these internal economies, a considerable saving has been effected on bread *lone. An estimated saving of £2,300 a year has been brought about altofitther.