[7] SERIOUS CASES REPORTED TO THE POLICE IN PROPORTION TO THE
POPULATION.  ANNUAL AVERAGE FOR FIVE YEARS:—­

Murder.       Attempts to Murder.    Manslaughter
1870-74   1 to 196,946       1 to 441,158       1 to 92,756
1884-88   1 to 168,897       1 to 418,923       1 to 116,463

Shooting, Stabbing, &c.     Burglary.     Housebreaking.
1870-74      1 to 35,033           1 to 10,188     1 to 17,538
1884-88      1 to 38,007           1 to  7,892     1 to 11,911

Robbery.                Arson.
1870-74      1 to 43,247           1 to 54,075
1884-88      1 to 70,767           1 to 77,018

This table shows that since 1870-74 there has been an increase in murder, attempts to murder, burglary, and housebreaking, and a decrease in manslaughter, robbery, and arson.  The decrease in shooting, stabbing, wounding, &c., is very small. (Cf. Judicial Statistics for 1874 and 1888, p. xvi.)

We have now arrived at the conclusion that crime is just as serious in its character as it was twenty years ago, and that it is growing in dimensions year by year; the next point to be considered is, the relation in which crime stands to the population.  Crime may be increasing, but the population may be multiplying faster than the growth of crime.  Is this the condition of things in England at the present day?  We have seen that the criminal classes are increasing much faster than the growth of population in France and the United States.  Is England in a better position in this respect than these two countries?  At the present time there is one conviction to about every fifty inhabitants, and the proportion of convictions to the population was very much the same twenty years ago.  If we remember the immense development that has taken place in the industrial school system within the last twenty years—­a development that has undoubtedly had a great deal to do with keeping down crime—­we arrive at the conclusion that, notwithstanding the beneficent effects of Industrial Schools, the criminal classes in this country still keep pace with the annual growth of population.  If we had no Industrial and Reformatory institutions for the detention of criminal and quasi-criminal offenders among the young, there can be no doubt that England, as well as other countries, would have to make the lamentable admission that crime was not only increasing in her midst, but that it was increasing faster than the growth of population.  The number of juveniles in these institutions has more than trebled since 1868,[8] and it is unquestionable that if these youthful offenders were not confined there, a large proportion of them would immediately begin to swell the ranks of crime.  That crime in England is not making more rapid strides than the growth of population, is almost entirely to be attributed to the action of these schools.

    [8] See Appendix II.