HC Deb 16 April 1931 vol 251 c332
11. Mr. FREEMAN

asked the Home Secretary whether he will have a record kept, to be included in his annual report, of all crimes committed in this country, and summarised according to the degree of the penalty or punishment inflicted?

Mr. CLYNES

I would refer my hon. Friend to the Annual Volumes of Criminal Statistics presented to Parliament which always include tables showing the numbers of indictable offences known to the police and of sentences passed, with totals, and usually include also summaries, with comments, in the introductory note.

Mr. FREEMAN

Is there not a considerable variation, of the amount of punishment inflicted for the same crime, and is there not also evidence that the more lenient the punishment the better the chance of retrieving the delinquent?

Mr. CLYNES

I can only say that on both parts of the supplementary questions there is a variety of opinion, and neither of them is included in the original question on the Paper.