§ CAPTAIN PIRIEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the statement in the Report on Judicial Statistics 1895, that, out of a total of 358 sentences of imprisonment to be followed by police supervision passed during the year, only 13 were passed by the Judges at Assizes, while no fewer than 345 were passed by Courts of Quarter Sessions; and whether, seeing that this form of sentence increases the difficulty of discharged prisoners obtaining employment, that it also increases the 761 class of habitual criminals, and that it is but sparingly made use of by the Judges, he will issue a circular to the Courts of Quarter Sessions, drawing their attention to the proportion of these sentences passed by them, and recommending a considerable reduction of their number in the future?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYYes, Sir, my attention has been called to the point, and also to the explanation given—namely, that the offences for which this sentence is appropriate—e.g., offences against property—are for the most part tried at Quarter Sessions. I do not think that any such circular as the Question suggests is necessary. The sentence of police supervision cannot increase the number of habitual criminals, since it can only be passed on persons who have already shown that they belong to that class, and no doubt it frequently enables a Judge to mitigate the severity of the sentence of penal servitude or imprisonment that he would otherwise pass.