The Problem of the Old Offender
| Author | C. M. Knowles |
| Published date | 01 October 1931 |
| Date | 01 October 1931 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X3100400404 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Problem
of
the Old
Offender
BY
C.
M.
KNOWLES,
LL.B.,
HOSE public nuisances who are variously described as
T
habitual criminals, hardened offenders, confirmed crimi-
rials,
or recidivists are, like the poor, ever with us
;
and, like
poverty, they present a problem which seems insoluble. From
time to time attention has been concentrated on this type of
offender, and then books have been written about him, Parlia-
ment and the appropriate public department have taken him
into consideration, while the newspaper press has published
correspondence discussing him.
One such manifestation of interest in the culprit with
confirmed criminal tendencies was recently seen.
It
began with
a letter to
The
Times
from the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
who expressed the view that the habitual criminal ought to be
eliminated from society altogether.
‘
From the time that his
true character is established, the prison doors should never
open again.’ Soon afterwards came the expression
of
opinion
by Mr. Justice Horridge to the Grand Jury at Lewes Assizes
that the aim should be
‘
to try
to
save the young offender and
leave the law
as
regards the hardened criminal
as
it was.’ Then
came the resolution adopted by the Visiting Justices’ Con-
ference, asking the Secretary of State to appoint
a
Committee
of Inquiry with wide terms of reference,
to
investigate the
whole question of the treatment of habitual offenders.
The daily average population of prisons and Borstal
institutions in England and Wales was
11,109
in
1928.
What
proportion of these belonged to the stage army of old offenders
who swell the statistics of
‘
receptions
’
into prison
is
not
known, but such figures as are available suggest that it is pos-
sible to get an exaggerated idea
of
the size of the recidivist
506
Barrister-at-Law
THE PROBLEM OF THE
OLD
OFFENDER
507
problem.
‘
It
is
not possible,’ according to the Report in
1895
of the Departmental Committee on Prisons,
‘
to make
an
estimate of any value of the number of habitual criminals in
the country,’ but the Committee assumed that the number of
re-committed persons averaged
7000.
What
is
ascertainable
is
the number of habitual criminals in prison on a particular
day. On this point Mr. Herbert Gladstone, Home Secretary,
when discussing the Prevention of Crime Bill of
1908,
told the
House of Commons that, on
31st
March,
1908,
the total male
convict population undergoing penal servitude was
2897,
of
whom
2376
or
82
per cent. had been previously convicted,
while
1073
had undergone previous sentences
of
penal servi-
tude. The Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for
1928
records that in the year
‘
there were discharged from the
convict prisons
434
men, of whom
308
were recidivists, and
134
of them had served previous sentences of penal servitude.’
It
is true that the number of
‘
receptions
’
into prison is
accurately ascertained, but
this
figure is a poor guide to the.
number of individuals
so
received, because many are received
into prison more than once during the same year. Thus from
records kept in
1927
of
a
group of the recidivist class the Prison
Commissioners found that
2899
men accounted for
7153
re-
ceptions into prison, and
1203
women for
4659
receptions.
Difficult as it is to determine its exact size, nevertheless
the impression conveyed by such information as is available
is
that the problem is not staggering in its magnitude.
In the first place, of the
28,990
receptions into prison
in
1928
of persons known to have previous offences recorded
against them, the small proportion whose offences were
suffi-
ciently serious to result in penal servitude is apparent from
figures already quoted. The records kept in
1927
of persons
admitted to prison more than once during the year show that
of those there for indictable offences the vast majority were
there for offences against property without violence. Of those
there for non-indictable offences, nearly one-third of the whole
were in prison for
‘
offences against the intoxicating liquor
laws.’ The next most frequent offences were begging and
sleeping-out, being found on enclosed premises, etc., and
offences against the poor law and the police regulations.
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