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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), January 1820, Edition 1 of 1, Page 56

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      themselves within the limits prescribed to them by the terms of their appointment , la sosae &ase& they have laid down restrictions / or themselves * which the letter of the resolutSoa of the House did » ot impose * They have abstained from All consideration of those capital felonies

      which- may toe 02 M to ,, pe of & poUfrieal nature , being directed against the authority of Government and the ge&etal peace of society . To the ; nature and efficacy of the secondary punishments of transportation and imprisonment , they have directed no part of their inquiries , because another

      committee had been appointed to investigate them , and . because no part of the facts or arguments to be stated in this report will be found to depend either on the present state of these secondary punishments , or on the degree of improve- * ment of which they may be found

      capable . With many extensive and hn ** portant parts of the criminal law—such , for example , as that which regulates the trial of offenders — - they are entirely satisfied ; and they should not have suggested any changes in these departments , even if they had been within the appointed

      province of this committee . On other parts of the subject—as , for example , in the definition and arrangement of crimes —they have recommended a consolidation of the laws respecting only one class of offences , and have presumed only to express a general opinion of the utility of the like consolidation in some other cases .

      They wish expressly to disclaim all doubt of the right of the Legislature to inflict the punishment of death wherever that punishment , and that alone , seems capable of protecting the community from enormous and atrocious crimes . The

      object of the Committee has been to ascertain , as far as the nature of the case admitted by evidence , whether , in the present state of the sentiments of the people of England , capital punishment in most cases of offences unattended with violence , be a necessary , or even the most effectual security against the prevalence of crimes .

      1 . In the first place they endeavoured to collect official accounts of the state of crimes ; . and the admi&isttfation of * 5 * i minal law tltfwghout , the kingdom , from the earliest period to which authentic information reaves . The annual returns of commitments ' , edintffctionS , and executions , first -procured by addresses from

      this House , and since required by statute , go * H 19 farther back tfcafo ¥ 805 . Accounts , thbugh not perfectly satisfactory , of the same-particulars from London and Middlesex , from 1749 to the present time , have been already laid before Parliament , which , ! with' m official < Summary of the return * of England and Waffes ftotn 1805 > ,

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      will be inserted in the appendix of this report . A full and authentic account of convictions and executions for . London and Middlesex , from 16 ^ 9 to 1804 , obtained

      for the latter part of that time from the clerjk of , arraigns ¦ ^ at the Old JBalley , and for the IJppmer . partilroafiothie oiiicers of the city of Loiidon , j $ inserted in the appendix * The , Corporation of the city of London haver shewn on this occasion a

      liberality and public spirit worthy of acknowledgment ; and it is to be hoped that they will continue their researches as far back as their records extend , and thus complete returns , probably f unparalleled in the history of criminal law .

      The deputy clerk of assize for the home circuit has laid before your Committee a return of commitments , convictions , and executions on that circuit , which comprehends the counties of Herts , Essex , Kent , Sussex and Surrey , from 1689 to 1718 , from 1755 to 1784 , and from 1784 to 1814 . The returns of the

      intermediate period , from 1718 to 1755 , he will doubtless furnish very soon . From this important return it appears that , for the first 30 years which followed the Revolution , the average proportion of convictions to executions was 38 to 20 ; that from 1755 to 1784 , it was 46 to 13 ; and that from 1784 to 1814 , it was 74 to 19 . It is worthy of remark , that the whole number of convictions for murder 011 the

      home circuit ,, in the first period , was 123 ; that the executions for the same period were 87 ; that in the second , the convictions for the same offence were 67 , and the executions 57 ; and that in the third , the convictions were 54 , and the executions 44- * If the increase of the population , during a prosperous period of 130 years , be taken into the account , and if we bear in mind that within that time a

      considerable city has grown up on the southern bank of the Thames , we shall be disposed to consider it as no exaggeration to affirm , that in this district ( not one of the most favourably situated in tjhis tfespeqt ) murder has abated in the remarkable proportion of 3 , if not 4 , to L , 1 ¦ ¦ •¦; .

      In the thirty years from 1755 to 1784 , the whole conviction ^ for murder in London and Middlesex were 71 ; and in the thirty years from 1784 to&BM they were 66 . In ^ the years 1815 , 18 l 6 and 1817 , the whole convictipns for murder in London were ^ ^ hile in the ^ three preceding

      , yeatrs they were * 14 ; MoSt of ~ the dther returns relate to * too- short & period , or too Harrow a dfetrictf , to afford material for tsafe conelutton with resect to the comparative frequency of crimes at different periods . In general , however ^ it appears that

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      56 Register of Public Documents .

  • Citation
    • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1820, page 56, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2484/page/56/