Appendix L.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PRISONS FOR THE YEAR 1932.
The number of prisoners received into prison during the year and the corresponding number for 1931 were as follows:-
1931 1932 Convicted by Ordinary Courts 5,921 6,361 Debtors 44 53 On remand or in default of finding surety 802 1,379 Total............ 6,767 7,7932. Thirty-eight boys were admitted as Juveniles i.e. under sixteen years of age, during the year with sentences varying from two days detention to eight months hard labour. Of this number twenty only were treated as Juvenile Offenders; the others in the opinion of the Superintendent and Medical Officer being over sixteen years of age.
3. The percentage of convicted prisoners admitted to prison with previous convictions recorded against them was 19.9 as compared with 21.8 for 1931.
4. 269 prisoners were convicted by Police Courts in the New Territories against 266 for the previous year.
5. The following table shows the number of convicts in custody on the 31st December for the past ten years, and the percentage of the total number of prisoners in custody to the estimated population of Hong Kong.
Year Estimated population Convicts Total prisoners Percentage 1923 681,800 294 861 0.126 1924 799,550 345 1,066 0.133 1925 874,420 394 1,116 0.128 1926 786,920 409 1,054 0.134 1927 *890,400 392 1,189 0.136 1928 *1,075,690 352 1,071 0.100 1929 $1,075,690 331 1,075 0.100 1930 *1,143,510 256 1,175 0.103 1931 †849,751 202 1,102 0.130 1932 900,796 173 1,114 0.124*Probably overestimated.
†Census of 1931.