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and while the facts are still fresh in the minds of the witnesses. If, however, the sentence which the man is serving will shortly expire, or the Police will be unable to proceed to trial until shortly before the expiration of the sentence, the prisoner should be re-arrested on his discharge. In either case the Police should endeavour to ascertain whether other Police forces have any "outstanding charges" against the prisoner, in order that arrangements may be made for all the charges to be taken into consideration at one time if the prisoner assents to such a course.
23. The Secretary of State does not, however, suggest that further proceedings should be taken against a convicted prisoner upon an "outstanding charge" if it is unlikely that, had the charge been brought to the notice of the Court, it would have made any material difference in the sentence. Thus, if a man has been sentenced to a long term of imprisonment or penal servitude, the Secretary of State will hesitate to order his production unless special grounds for doing so exist. But the fact that a prisoner has been leniently treated as for an isolated offence may make it desirable that he should be tried upon a charge or charges which have subsequently come to light.
24. Whenever the Police propose to arrest a prisoner at the prison gate, they should inform the Governor. Prison Governors have, of course, no responsibility in the matter of arrest of prisoners at the expiration of their sentences, but they are always ready to assist the Police by intimating the time when the prisoner is likely to be discharged. Further, Prison Governors are instructed that, when they have received an intimation that one police force intends to arrest a prisoner on his discharge and are subsequently informed by a different force of another warrant which it is proposed to execute against the same prisoner, they should send notice to the first-mentioned force in order that the two forces may arrange which warrant should be executed. This course avoids any unseemly dispute that may arise if officers of different forces are sent to execute different warrants against the same man at the prison gate. Where several forces hold warrants of arrest, the question which warrant should be executed depends upon a variety of considerations, such as the character and gravity of the offences, the number of offences alleged to have beer committed by the prisoner in one police district, the practical convenience of executing the warrant, etc. Where such considera- tions do not indicate the force by which the warrant should be executed, or in the absence of agreement between the forces, the warrant which was issued first should, as a general rule, be executed first.
Inclusion in Judicial Statistics.
25. When for ore of the above-mentioned reasons, a charge has not been tried, the Police cannot be regarded as having failed to detect the crime or to have been negligent in discharging their duty. Such cases are therefore included in the column inserted in the Police returns published annually in the Judicial Statistics for "crimes of which the perpetrators were detected but no proceedings are shown."
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SECTION V.
ARREST OF EX-INMATES OF REFORMATORY AND INDUSTRIAL
SCHOOLS.
1. Ex-inmates of Industrial Schools under the age of 18 and ex-inmates of Reformatory Schools under the age of 19 remain by law under the supervision of the Managers of the School, who have power to recall them to the School under the provisions of section 67 (3) or 68 (3) of the Children Act, 1908. When such a person is charged with an offence, recall to the school may often be the most appropriate method of dealing with the case, and even when an ex-inmate is no longer under the supervision of the School Authorities they may often be able and willing to help him or her, as, for example, by finding some new and suitable employment.
2. Whenever an ex-inmate under the age of 22 is arrested or charged with an offence (however trivial), the Superintendent of the School should accordingly be informed without delay (if necessary by telegram or telephone), so as to give him an opportunity of being present at the hearing, or of sending information that can be put before the Magistrates regarding the character and previous history of the accused and the willingness of the School Authorities to receive him back (if sufficiently young) or otherwise to look after him.
3. Notice need not, however, be sent to the School if the person arrested or charged with an offence is an ex-inmate of a Borstal Institution as well as of a Reformatory or Industrial School.
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