ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comprehensive study of the statistical material on recidivism available in this country, supplemented by individual case histories, in order to show any changes in type which may have come about during the period under investigation. The most conspicuous example is that of a man of 58 with twenty-six convictions spread over thirty-six years: nineteen convictions for fraud and false pretences, six for unlawfully wearing uniform, which probably were nothing but preparations for frauds, and an isolated case of stealing. An important problem is the distribution of the various types of crime among the different age groups. It has sometimes been maintained that most criminals begin their careers in youth with petty larcenies in order to embark later on upon the more serious types of crime against property, as breakings and robbery—a stage where they may remain for some decades forced by the approach of old age to resort to the quieter types, such as forgery, perjury.
