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REGISTER CM? PUBtitiC DobtTMENTSL
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Report on ike Criminal Laws * [ Concluded from j > . 124 . ] Mr . Holder * clerk to the Lord Mayor , and to the sitting magistrates in London for thirty years , stated » the anxiety of prosecutors to lower the value of goods stolen ; and has observed many cases of forgery , in which , after the clearest evidence before the magistrate , the grand jury has thrown out , the bill for some reason or other , where the magistrate had no doubt . The san ^ e solitude to reduce the value of articles jjrivately stolen in shops and dwelling-housea , has
been remarked by . Mr * Payn 4 , clerk ; to the sitting magistrate at Guildhall ; fey Mr . Yardiey * clerk at the office in Worship Street , who has observed a disinclination to prosecute in all capital cases , except murder ; and who says , that , in larcenies he has often heard prosecutors ,
especially females , say , <* I hope it is not a hanging matter ; " and by J / r . Thomson * clerk at the qf ^ ce in Whkechapel , who represents it as common for prosecutors in larcenies to ask , « Cannot this be put under forty shillings ?" Mr . Alderman Wood * a member of the
House , an active magistrate , and two successive years Lord Mayor of London , has strongly stated the unwillingness of shopkeepers and others to prosecute ; the number of offenders who , during his mayoralty , owed their escape to this cause ; and his decided conviction , that
if the capital punishment was taken away , the reluctance to prosecute would be greatly abated . Mr . Wilkinson , a merchant in London , stated a case of property , to the valme of
one thousand pounds stolen from him , where he was ' deterred from prosecution by the capital punishment ; and expressed to belief that a similar disposition prevailed among persons of the like condition and occupation with himself ?
Mr . Josiah Gmder , bookseller , Mr . Joseph Curtis , currier , fofr . JFendover Fr type-founder , and Mr . John Gaun , a merchant an # « boe joaanufaeturer , stated instances in which they were prevented vj the capital jtii ^^^ t ^*| pm presenting offenders , whom th ^ y would have brought topustice if , | fc punishment had jn their opinion been mdf ^ proportioned ™ the crime . They also declared , that here is * genera * declination to prosecute among uhe ts ^ W pf the dty of tjonoon , or to convict in theftfl without vio lence , and 4 n fovfcttes . w Richard Phillips , a bookseller' lit
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London , and once Sheriff , as well as often a juror , has in these several capacities observed the mo * £ act £ , 4 f * % Richard Taylor * a common-council « maji , prosecuted " some men for breaking into Jais printing-office and stealing some , property
out of it , for which they were transported ^ but whom he would not Jbaye prosecuted if he had not previously ascertained that the connexion of the printing-office with the dwelling-house was not « ueh as to make ithe act a capital offence , ¦* , ^ .
Mr . Riohard Martm r a Member © f the House , inforined the Committee , that the punishment of death prevented , prosecutions in Ireland for horse * cattle , and sheep stealing , for privately stealing in dwellinghouses and shops , and in general for all larcenies without violence . Though the
extensive estate , of which he is proprietor , be almost laid waste by sheep stealing , he has been prevented from prosecuting by t < he punishment of death * If the punishment were reduced to transportation , he would certainly prosecute the . offenders to conviction . He has no doubt that his estate
would be better protected if the law were more lenient ; and that the reduction of the penalties of the ^ law would promote tlife security of property throughout the province of Connaught . Mr . James Soap $ r > oi St . Helen ' s Place , Mr . Ebenezer Johnston , of
Bishopsgatestreet , ironmonger , Mr ., Baker , of the Tower , Mr . Lewie , a retired merchant , and Mr . Garrett , an insurance broker , bore testimony to the general repugnance to prosecution whicji arose from capital punishment ; some of them , mentioned instances in which they had been deterred
by that consideration from bringing offenders to justice . Mr * Garrett said , that as far as his observation , there was not one in twenty who did not shudder at the i 4 ea of inflicting the capital punishment in casejv of forgery . Messrs . Frederic and Willmn ThorHtrill ,
hardwarernen , mentioned capes of theft in which they had forbornfe to prosecute on account pf Jfee punishment of death . The former added ,, tl * at he found , ii to be an almost upiiversal senttiment among his neighbour and acquaintance , thajt excessive punishment tends very greatly to the production of crime ; that he knows mauyi 4 > erB 0 hs whp b » ye feeea great , suffererslby thefts
in shops and dwelli » g-housea > and who dectore , th » t if fche puniahmentrof such offences had been , any vtlwg fcss than death , they would : have regarded <> it m highly criminal in themselves to have forborne prosecution , which they had
Register Cm? Pubtitic Dobttmentsl
REGISTER CM ? PUBtitiC DobtTMENTSL
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 181, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/53/
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