No More Learning

}

ITALY--1866. FRANCE--1886
ASSIZE COURTS Under 14--18. 28--21. Under j l6--2

Homicide . . . . . . . . . . . . p. c. p. c. p. c. p. c. p. c.
Murder(and robbery with homicide) 14 1 i 10 3 7 6
Parricide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -- 5 --8 7 5 9
Infanticide . . . . . . . . . . . . -- 1 --4 -- 6
Imprisonment . . . . . . . . . . . . -- -- --
Wilful wounding (followed by death) -- 19 24 -- 3 S
Abortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -- -- -- 1-1
Rape and indecent assault on adults}-- 1'2
'' '' children}-- 10 7 t 3 7 11
Resistance to and attacks on public
functionaries . . . . . . . . . -- 5 --6 -- 3
Incendiarism -- -- --2 3-7 3 1
False money . . . . . . . 14 -- 1 3-7 2 5
Forgery in public and private docu-
ments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -- 5 --2 -- 2 --1
Extortion, highway robbery with
violence . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 9 7 -- 3w 6
Specified and simple theft . . . 14 19 16 41 51
Unintentional wounding . . . 28 5 2 -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total of condemned and accused 7 179 475 27 641



The French statistics for the tribunals--no complete Italian
statistics being available, are as follows:--


FRANCE--1886. CORRECTIONAL TRIBUNALS.

le. Female. Offences. Under 16. 16--21 Under 16. 1 16--21
per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.

Resistance to authorities . . . . . . 2 2 2 '1 1 1
Assaults on public functionaries --8 5 --7 4 1
Vagrancy . . . . . . . -- 4 4 11 2 3 2 S'S
Mendacity . . . . . . . . . 4 8 4 12'- 3 6
Wilful wounding . . . . . . . . . 5 1 18-5 300 11
Unintentional wounding . . . 8 7 1
Offences against public decency . . 1 6 1 8 3 1 3
Defamation and abuse - 1 '2 1 1 1 0
Theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 5 a--4 63 54 3
Frauds on refreshment-house keepers --1 2 1 --1 6
Swindling 5 1 2 2. 4 3 +2
Breach of confidence . . . . . . 9 1 3 7 1 2
Injury to crops and plants . . .
5 --3 --3 5
Game-law offences . . . . . . -- 15 1 14 2 1 l --2
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total of accused



Here we have a statistical demonstration of a more frequent
precocity, amongst various forms of criminality, in respect of
inborn tendencies (murder and homicide, rape, incendiarism,
specific thefts), or in respect of tendencies contracted by habit
(simple theft, mendacity, vagrancy).

Also this characteristic of precocity is accompanied by that of
relapse, which accordingly we have seen to be more frequent in the
same forms of natural criminality, and which we can now tabulate
in respect of its persistency in these born and habitual
criminals.

It has been well said that the large number of relapsed persons
who are brought to trial year after year proves that thieves ply
their trade as a regular calling; the thief who has once tasted
prison life is sure to return to it. [8] And again, there are very
few cases in which a man or a woman who has turned thief ceases to
be one. Whatever the reason may be, as a matter of fact the thief
is rarely or never reformed. When you can turn an old thief into
an honest worker, you may turn an old fox into a house dog. [9]


[8] Quarterly Review, 1871, ``The London Police. ''
[9] Thomson, ``The Psychology of Criminals,'' Journal of Mental
Science, 1870.



We must, however, read these testimonies of practical men, which
could easily be multiplied, in the light of our distinction
between incorrigible criminals, who are so from their birth, and
such as are made incorrigible by the effect of their prison and
social environment. The former could scarcely be reduced in
number, whilst the latter could be considerably diminished
by the penal alternatives of which I will speak later.

The following statistics of relapse are quoted from Yvernes,
``La Recidive en Europe'' (Paris, 1874):--

FRANCE--1826-74.
ITALY--1870.
Relapses ENGLAND--1871. SWEDEN--1871. Accused Accused
Prisoners. Thieves. and brought and brought
to trial. to trial.
Once . . . . . . 38 per cent. 54 per cent. 45 per cent. 60 per cent.
Twice . . . 18 '' 28 '' 20 '' 30 ''
Three times. . . 44 '' 18 '' 35 '' 10 ''



In Prussia (1878-82), 17 per cent. had relapsed once, 16 per cent.
twice, 16 per cent. three times, 13 per cent. four times, 10 per
cent five times, and 28 per cent. six times or oftener. [10]


[10] Starke, ``Verbrechen und Verbrecher,'' Berlin, 1884, p. 229.



At the Prisons Congress of Stockholm the following figures were
given for Scotland. Out of a total of forty-nine relapsed
prisoners, 16 per cent. had relapsed once, 13 per cent. twice or
three times, 6 per cent. four or five times, 6 per cent. from six
to ten times, 5 per cent. from ten to twenty times, 4 per cent.
from twenty to fifty times, and 1 per cent. more than fifty times.

At the meeting of the Social Science Congress, held at Liverpool,
in 1876, Mr. Nugent stated that upwards of 4,107 women had
relapsed four times or oftener, and that many of them were classed
as incorrigible, having been convicted twenty; forty, or fifty
times, whilst one had been convicted 130 times.

The judicial statistics of Italy for 1887 give the following
results:--

ITALY--Convicted, per cent. Relapses.
Justices of Tribunals. Assizes.
Peace.
Once . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 42 50
Two to five times . . . 34 40 40
More than five times . . . 9 18 10
--------------------------------------------------------
Actual totals of relapses 27,068 16,240 1,870



I have found from my inquiries amongst 346 condemned to penal
servitude and 353 prisoners from the correctional tribunals the
following percentages:--


Relapsed. Convicts Imprisoned.
Once . . . . . . 83. 2 . . . . . . 26
Twice . . . . . . 12. 5 . . . . . . 16. 5
3 times . . . . . . 3. 1 . . . . . . . . . 14. 6
4 '' . . . . . . -- . . . . . . . . . 10. 8
5 '' . . . . . . 6. 8 . . . . . . . . . 6. 6
6 '' . . . . . . -- . . . . . . . . . 5. 2
7 '' . . . . . . 1. 6 . . . . . . . . . 7. 1
8 '' . . . . . . -- .