Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Charge, Delivered on the Sixth of January, 1862, at the Quarter Sessions, Held for the Borough of Birmingham: With an Appendix
The treatment of offenders is, even at the present day, in a condition far from satisfactory to those whose duties bring them acquainted with the actual working of our system in its various branches of the prevention of crime, and the detection, apprehension, trial, and subsequent disposal of criminals however much each of these branches has been improved. But while we must not slacken our exertions, we must, nevertheless, guard our minds from discouragement wherever it can be shown that what might be hastily assumed to disclose failures in our theory or practice really springs from causes beyond the reach of any conceivable system for dealing with crime. The inhabitants of Birmingham have during the last week been shocked with three executions in their immediate neighbourhood - two at Warwick and one at Stafiord. Nor does the recorded in?ic tion of capital punishment here end. In the two last months of November and December, during which the Winter Assizes have been held, together with the usual sessions at the Old Bailey, the number of convictions for murder has amounted to twenty at the least; passing by culprits who, by verdictsof manslaughter, have escaped the penalty of death in cases which my feeble perspicacity fails to distinguish from foul and detestable murders. This period, as there are three assizes in each twelve months, may be considered to furnish us with the criminal statistics of one-third of the year; and would therefore, if the growth of the crime he the same in all seasons, yield an annual total of sixty proved murders. And I know not why one semon should be more prolific in this particular crime than another.' It must be admitted that with regard to offences caused by the desire for plunder, winter, which diminishes the demand for labour, and at the same time offers facilities in the length of its night for deeds of darknm is found to be more favourable to attacks against property than summer; and winter, therefore, rouses into its greatest activity the class which pursues crime as a stated calling and means of livelihood.
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