Prevention of Crimes Act 1871
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1871 c. 112 |
| Year | 1871 |
Prevention of Crimes Act, 1871
(34 & 35 Vict.) CHAP. 112.
An Act for the more effectual Prevention of Crime.
[21st August 1871]
W HEREAS it is expedient to make farther provision for the effectual prevention of crime:
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Preliminary.
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as ‘ThePrevention of Crimes Act, 1871.’
2 Commencement of Act.
2. This Act shall not come into operation until the second day of November one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Amendment of Penal Servitude Acts.
3 Penalty on holders of licenses getting their livelihood by dishonest means.
3. Any constable in any police district may, if authorised so to do in writing by the chief officer of police of that district, without warrant fake into custody any convict who is the holder of a license granted under the Penal Servitude Acts, if it appears to such constable that such convict is getting his livelihood by dishonest means, and may bring him before a court of summary jurisdiction for adjudication.
If it appears from the facts proved before such court that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the convict so brought before it is getting his livelihood by dishonest means, such convict shall be deemed to be guilty of an offence against this Act, and his license shall be forfeited.
4 Penalty on breach of conditions of license.
4. Where in any license granted under the Penal Servitude Acts, any conditions different from or in addition to those contained in Schedule A. of The Penal Servitude Act, 1864, are inserted, the holder of such license, if he breaks any such conditions by an act that is not of itself punishable, either upon indictment or upon summary conviction, shall be deemed guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be liable to imprisonment for any period not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour.
A copy of any conditions annexed to any license granted under the Penal Servitude Acts, other than the conditions contained in Schedule A. of The Penal Servitude Act, 1864, shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within twenty-one days after the making thereof, if Parliament be then sitting, or if not, then within fourteen days after the commencement of the next session of Parliament.
5 Convict holding license to notify residence to police.
5. Every holder of a license granted under the Penal Servitude Acts who is at large in Great Britain or Ireland shall notify the place of his residence to the chief officer of police of the district in which his residence is situated, and shall, whenever he changes such residence within the same police district, notify such change to the chief officer of police of that district, and whenever he changes his residence from one police district to another shall notify such change of residence to the chief officer of police of the police district which he is leaving, and to the chief officer of police of the police district into which he goes to reside; moreover, every male holder of such a license as aforesaid shall, once in each month, report himself at such time as may be prescribed by the chief officer of police of the district in which such holder may be, either to such chief officer himself or to such other person as that officer may direct, and such report may, according as such chief officer directs, be required to be made personally or by letter.
If any holder of a license who is at large in Great Britain or Ireland, remains in any place for forty-eight hours without notifying the place of his residence to the chief officer of police of the district in which such place is situated, or fails to comply with the requisitions of this section on the occasion of any change of residence, or with the requisitions of this section as to reporting himself once in each mouth, he shall in every such case, unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court before whom he is tried that he did his best to act in conformity with the law be guilty of an offence against this Act, and upon conviction thereof his license may in the discretion of the court be forfeited; or, if the term of penal servitude in respect of which his license was granted has expired at the date of his conviction, it shall be lawful for the court to sentence him to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding one year, or if the said term of penal servitude has not expired, but the remainder unexpired thereof is a lesser period than one year, then to sentence him to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, to commence at the expiration of the said term of penal servitude, for such a term as, together with the remainder unexpired of his said term of penal servitude, will not exceed one year.
Register of Criminals.
6 Register and photographing of criminals.
6. The following enactments shall be made with a view to facilitate the identification of criminals:
(1) (1.) Registers of all persons convicted of crime in the United Kingdom shall be kept in such form and containing such particulars as may from time to time be prescribed, in Great Britain by one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and in Ireland by the Lord Lieutenant:
(2) (2.) The register for England shall be kept in London under the management of the commissioner of police of the metropolis, or such other person as the Secretary of State may appoint:
(3) (3.) The register for Scotland shall be kept in Edinburgh under the management of the secretary to the managers of the General Prison at Perth, or such other person as the Secretary of State may appoint:
(4) (4.) The register for Ireland shall be kept in Dublin under the management of the commissioners of police for the police district of Dublin metropolis, or such other person as the Lord Lieutenant may from time to time appoint:
(5) (5.) In every prison, the gaoler or other governor of the prison shall make returns of the persons convicted of crime and coming within his custody; and such returns shall be in such form or forms and contain such particulars, in Great Britain as the Secretary of State, and in Ireland as the said Lord Lieutenant, may require; and every gaoler or other governor of a prison who refuses or neglects to transmit such returns, or wilfully transmits a return containing any false or imperfect statement, shall for every such offence forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty pounds, to be recovered summarily:
(6) (6.) In Great Britain the Secretary of State, and in Ireland the said Lord Lieutenant, may make regulations as to the photographing of all prisoners convicted of crime who may for the time being be confined in any prison in Great Britain or Ireland, and may in such regulations prescribe the time or times at which and the manner and dress in which such prisoners are to be taken, and the number of photographs of each prisoner to be printed, and the persons to whom such photographs are to be sent:
(7) (7.) Any regulations made by the Secretary of State as to the photographing of prisoners in any prison in England shall be deemed to be regulations for the government of that prison, and binding on all persons, in the same manner as if they were contained in the first schedule annexed to The Prison Act, 1865:
(8) (8.) Any regulations made by the Secretary of State as to the photographing of prisoners in any prison in Scotland shall be deemed to be rules for prisons in Scotland, and as such shall be binding on all whom they may concern, in the same manner as if the same were made under and in virtue of the powers contained in ‘The Prisons (Scotland) Administration Act, 1860:’
(9) (9.) Any regulations made by the Lord Lieutenant as to the photographing of prisoners in any prison in Ireland shall be deemed to be byelaws duly made by the Lord Lieutenant, and shall be binding on all persons, in the same manner as if the same were made under the authority of the Act passed in the session holden in the nineteenth and twentieth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter sixty-eight:
(10) (10.) Any prisoner refusing to obey any regulation made in pursuance of this section shall be deemed guilty of an offence against prison discipline, in England within the meaning of the fifty-seventh regulation in the first schedule annexed to the said Prison Act, 1865, in Scotland within the meaning of the rules for prisons in Scotland, certified under the hand of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, under and by virtue of ‘The Prisons (Scotland) Administration Act, 1860,’ and in Ireland within the meaning of the fifteenth regulation contained in section one hundred and nine of the Act passed in the seventh year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, chapter seventy-four:
(11) (11.) Any authority having power to make regulations in pursuance of this section may from time to time modify, repeal, or add to any regulations so made:
(12) (12.) Any expenses incurred in pursuance of this section shall be defrayed as follows; (that is to say,)
The...
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