Description
Book SynopsisMagistrate Patrick Colquhoun (17451820) published his work on crime in London anonymously in 1796; this reissue is of the fourth edition of 1797. The book described the various categories of crime, and offered ideas on how to regulate the behaviour of the inhabitants to suppress it.
Table of ContentsTo the reader; Advertisement to the fourth edition; Introduction. Containing a general view of the evils arising from the imperfections of the criminal code, and the deficiencies in the general system of police, explained under nine different heads; 1. The prominent causes of the increase of crimes considered. Propositions for improving public houses. An estimate of the depredations on public and private property, committed in the metropolis and its vicinity, calculated to amount to two millions one hundred thousand pounds sterling in the course of a year; 2. The cause and progress of small thefts explained, and shewn to arise from the vast number of receivers in the metropolis. Their great increase of late years, and evil tendency. Remedies suggested; 3. The vast extent of property laden and unladen in the Port of London, in the course of a year. The pillage and plunder of merchandize and naval stores upon the wharfs and quays, and from ships and vessels in the River Thames explained. The facilities afforded by receivers of stolen goods, in connection with these plunderers. Remedies proposed; 4. Reflections on the causes of the prevailing abuses, frauds, plunder, and pillage, in the public arsenals, and in ships of war and transports. The means of improving the laws. The existing abuses analized. Remedies proposed and explained; 5. On the perpetration of the more atrocious offences of burglary and highway robbery. The different classes of delinquents engaged in these offences. The means used to accomplish their purposes. Remedies suggested for the purpose of detection and prevention; 6. On the coinage and circulation of base money. The process in coining each species of counterfeit money explained. The extensive trade in sending base coin to the country. Its universal circulation in the metropolis. Foreign money also counterfeited. The vast extent of the evil. The defects in the present laws explained. Remedies proposed; 7. On the subject of forgeries, frauds, and the offences of cheating, swindling, and gambling. The evils arising from these practices in the metropolis, and also from the lottery, &c. elucidated and explained, and various remedies suggested; 8. Relative to receivers of stolen goods in general. Their evil tendency as the nourishers and supporters of thieves. Their increase attributed to the imperfection of the laws. Their modes of dealing explained. Their profit immense. The laws relative to receivers reviewed. Amendments in them proposed, and remedies suggested; 9. On the means of detecting offenders. The utility of officers of justice as safeguards to the community. Their powers explained. Rewards granted in certain cases on the conviction of offenders. 1000 peace officers and 2044 watchmen and patroles in the metropolis. A general view of the magistracy. The great inconvenience of the present system. Remedies proposed; 10. Crimes and punishments in general. General reflection on the nature and effect of different degrees of punishment. The utility of rendering the laws perfect, so as to operate as a means of preventing crimes. General rules suggested for attaining this object, illustrated by various observations on the criminal code. A review of the various offences and punishments, exhibiting the unnecessary severity of the laws, and their imperfections with regard to punishments. The new code of the Emperor Joseph, shortly detailed. Concluding reflections; 11. On punishments. The mode authorised by the ancient and modern laws. A detail of the various crimes punished by the laws of England. The evil tendency of pardons explained. Death. The hulks. Transportation. Penitentiary houses. Various improvements suggested with regard to the mode of punishment, with an immediate view to the prevention of crimes; 12. The police of the metropolis considered and explained. The system of 1792, and that of the C
