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IV. INDICTMENTS AND INFORMATIONS IN THE SUPERIOR COURTS.
INCLUDING Courts analogous to the Courts of Quarter Sessions in England-i.e., District Courts, &c.
State how the Cues tried i
in the Superior Courts i
ended.
(Each prisoner triedshould
be counted as a separate i case; but where any large batch of prisoners have been convicted vi gether, the fact might; be mentioned in a note
below.)
Judgment for the Crown Judgment for the prisoner Prisoner found insane Case fell through for want of prosecution, includ- ing cases where a Bill Was thrown out by Grand Jury..
Total
Inclu-le in the Returns below the Indictments for Attempts and Conspiracies to commit the several Offences.
::.
:::
Total.
Murder, other than Wife and Child Murder. Manslaughter.
Attempt at Murder.
Murder of Wife, Reputed Wife,
or Concubine.
| Child Murder.
Concealment of Birth.
Abortion.
Rape.
Unnatural Crimes.
Other Offences against the Person.
Malicious Injuries to Property.
Robbery with Violence.
::Predial Larceny.
Other Offences against Property.
Miscellaneous Offences.
95
-------
::
21
+
125
5
:::
:::
:::
V-COMPARATIVE TABLE.
92
17
1
8 6
1
4
2
4
1
16 21
4
19
37 22
COMPARATIVE TABLE showing the Number of Offences, Apprehensions, Convictions, and Acquittals, for the last Four Years.
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capital charge; and even manslaughter is more often the result of careless driving, or carelessness of some kind, than of wilful violence. And I may further remark, that with regard to some offences of grave character, the perpetrators are not with us necessarily the dangerous characters which the perpetrators of siinilar offences are properly considered to be in England. Tuke, for instance, the crime of housebreaking. In a country in which, as in this, the houses of the labouring classes, forming the mass of the population, are for the most part of a fragile character, and the fastenings even of houses of a better description often very slight and insecure, this offence does not imply the same amount of hardihood and audacity in the offender as is associated in people's minds with the commission of the same offence in countries where, as in England, the buildings are substantial and well-secured. Indeed, the great majority of the offences which are brought before, and tried by, our highest Criminal Court, are cases which in England would be disposed of by the Courts of Quarter Sessions. That petty thefts, and espe- cially what are termed prædial larcenies, should be numerous among such a population as ours, is not very surprising. The juice of the sugar-cane is luscious and satisfying, and from the time when the canes approach maturity until the crop is reaped, the people almost live upon it,—old and young, male and female, equally delighting in it; and as the island is literally covered with canes, and there are no fences of any kind to the fields, the result is such as one would expect when temptation is strong and ever present and the moral sense weak, viz., that thefts are constantly occurring, and our prisous some- times filled to overflowing. There are numbers of people in this island, who, while they would not think of entering your house to steal your money or your goods, see no great harm in going into your field and cutting a few canes to suck, or a bundle of green fodder to feed their stock, and who would deem it no disgrace to be detected in the act, however anxious they might be to escape detection on account of the penal consequences likely to follow.
"These, and other defects of character such as we should expect to find in a race long subjected to the debasing effects of slavery, and among whom its taint still lingers, will, it is to be hoped, be gradually removed by the spread of education, and when the good leaven which is at work among them has had more time to take effect; and it is gratifying to observe that the magistrate's Returns show a considerable diminution in the number of convictions for prædial larceny in the years 1871 and 1872, and, in the latter year, in the number of minor offences against property and persons generally.
(Signed) JOHN SEALY, Attorney-General.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TLC.O.8
885
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
1869.
1870..
1871.
1872.
(A.) The number of offences reported to the police The number of persons apprehended by the police or sum-
7,002
moned before the Magistrates
6,500
6,236
7,300
7,963
The number of summary convictions-
1. For offences against the person
2,214
1,914
1,083
1,506
2. For prædial larceny
1,440
1,247
856
974
3. For offences against property other than predial
Jarceny
607
470
498
179
4. For other offences
2,470
3,185
3,250
2,793
The number of convictions in the Superior Courts—
1. For offences against the person ..
16
3-1
28
19
2. For prædial larceny
15
17
1
15
3. For offences against property other than prædial
larceny
54
61
35
44
4. For other offences
14
17
5
17
The number of persons acquitted——
(B.). In the Inferior Courts
2. In the Superior Courts
1,130 21
713
10
1,313 7
2,376
I 1
NOTE.
(A., The number of offences reported to the police cannot be given correctly for 1889, 1870, and 1871, as they were entered at several Courts on luose su etsi which have not been preserved.
(1.) The number of Persons acquitted in the luferior Courts" does not agree with the "number of cases dismissed on the merits," owing no doubt to the different wording of Table 11 und Table V, viz: "Cases" and "Persons.'
Inclosure 2 in No. 13.
Report of the Attorney-General.
CRIME in this island is not, generally speaking, of an alarming or very aggravating character. Several years have elapsed since there was an execution or a conviction on a
Inclosure 3 in No. 13.
Prison Discipline.
AT Glendairy Prison 17 male prisoners were sentenced to be flogged during the year, 9 to solitary confinement, and 6 to punishment on the tread-mill, and 3 females to solitary confinement. At the Town Hall Prison 36 males were sentenced to be flogged, and 25 to solitary confinement. At District A. Prison 1 female was sentenced to solitary confinement. At District B. Prison 4 juveniles were sentenced to be whipped with rods. At District C. Prison 6 males were sentenced to be flogged, and 9 to solitary confine- ment. At District D. Prison 4 males were sentenced to be flogged, and 4 to solitary confinement, making a total of 67 punished by flogging, 62 to solitary confinement, and 6 to punishment on the tread-mill; or a grand total of 135 persons punished in all the prisons of the island during the year by order of the Visiting Justices. As regards the working of this system and its effect upon prisoners, it is very difficult to arrive at any correct conclusion, as it is generally admitted that our penal system, as a whole, is defective, owing mainly to the want of proper classification of prisoners committed for minor crimes, to which may be attributed many offences that are now perpetrated which could not take place if prisoners were separately confined. The punishment of flogging, on the total number of prisoners during the year, appears to be large, and to meet this I think recourse may be had more fully, especially with old offenders, to the extreme punishment of solitary confinement, that is 28 days as directed under the Act of the 24th of August, 1872, intitled "Au Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the punishment of prisoners for disorderly conduct and breaches of prison discipline."
The minor punishments in all the prisons of the island, 3,319 in number, appear large, but those punishments are of a slight nature, namely, stopping a prisoner's molasses and water, or placing him in a separate cell during night. Here again is shown the want
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