CO129-501-6 Sweepstakes and Lotteries 3-1-1927 - 3-1-1927 — Page 22

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SECTION VII.

SUPERVISION OF PENAL SERVITUDE LICENCE-HOLDERS.

1. Convicts released on penal servitude licences are assisted, unless they refuse aid on discharge, by the Central Association for the Aid of Discharged Convicts, and the money payable from Prison funds is expended by the Association's agents in helping licence-holders to find work and earn an honest living.

2. Ordinarily licence-holders are required to report to the Police periodically and to notify their place of residence to the Police; but If the Central Associa- this requirement is not imposed in all cases. tion considers that without injury to the community the convict may be relieved of reporting to the Police, and will be thereby better able to gain an honest living. it submits a recommendation to this effect, and if after inquiry the Secretary of State thinks fit, the obliga- tion to report is remitted. In this case the convict is required to keep in touch with the Association's agents and is not liable to super- vision or interference by the Police unless he behaves suspiciously or commits some breach of law.

3. If the Police find that a licence-holder who has been relieved of the obligation to report is consorting with bad characters or otherwise conducting himself badly, though he has not made himself liable to any criminal charge, the Police should bring the fact to the notice of the Central Association. On sufficient occasion, the Secretary of State does not hesitate to re-impose the requirement to report to the Police.

4. As regards licence-holders who have to report, the Police should bear in mind the provisions of section 5 of the Prevention of Crimes. Act. 1871, which authorizes the Police to allow the convict to report to them periodically by letter instead of in person. Licence-holders whose conduct shows a genuine desire to earn an honest living and abstain from crime should be allowed the benefit of this provision. If ground for suspicion arises subsequently, the licence-holder may again be required by the Police to report personally.

The

5. The address of the Central Association for the Aid of Discharged Convicts is 15, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C. 2. telephone number is "Central 2058.”

SECTION VIII.

HABITUAL CRIMINALS: PREVENTION OF CRIME ACT, 1908.

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1. Preventive Detention is intended only for " professional criminals or criminals who definitely give themselves up to a career of crime and pursue it as their ordinary mode of life and are convicted on indictment of a crime within the Schedule of the Act, which defines crime as in the definition given by the Prevention of Crimes Act, 1871. Section 10 (2) (a) of the Prevention of Crime Act, 1908, accordingly requires, in addition to the proof of three previous convictions of erime," proof that the person charged is leading persistently a dishonest or criminal life. A labourer, therefore, who when out of work is guilty of occasional minor larcenies, but works when he can and does not look to crime for a living, ought not to be charged as an habitual criminal in respect of such minor offences, even though the habit of petty dishonesty is persistent and has led to frequent convictions. The crimes must be of a serious character, such as burglary, housebreaking, coining, larceny from the person, robbery with violence and the like. There must be evidence that the dishonesty is persistent, and good reason to believe that such dishonesty is part of the prisoner's ordinary mode of life and not due to drunken- ness, destitution or mere aberration of intellect.

2. A charge of being an habitual criminal cannot be preferred before the examining justices, and no evidence in support of such a charge should be given before them. The consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions is required before a charge of being an habitual criminal is inserted in an indictment. [Section 10 (4) (a).]

3. Any application to the Director of Public Prosecutions for his consent should be made through the Chief Constable, but if time is of importance it may be made by officers of rank not lower than Superin- tendent. It is convenient that the application should be made as soon as possible after the prisoner's committal for trial, but should it appear earlier that committal for trial is probable and that the interval between committal and trial will be short, a provisional application for consent should be made before committal.

4. In considering whether a case is a suitable one for presentation. to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the following points should be borne in mind :—

The Act requires----

(i) That the offender must, since attaining the age of 16, have been at least three times convicted (either on indictment

or summarily) of crime as defined in the schedule to the Act; and

(ii) That he must be "persistently" leading a dishonest of

criminal life;

(B 3 858)

B 2

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