The Prisons Department has furnished the following return of sexual offenders serving sentences in New Zealand prisons in 1924: The total number of sexual offenders, 192; the total number of sexual offenders born in New Zealand, 126; the total number of sexual offenders born out of New Zealand, 66; the total number of persons in the prisons serving sentences exceeding three months, 980; the total number of New-Zealand-born prisoners, 673; proportion of sexual offenders—New-Zealand-born to total number of New-Zealand-born criminals, 18.722; total number of prisoners born outside New Zealand, 307; proportion of sexual offenders born outside New Zealand to prisoners born outside New Zealand, 21.498.

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS SENTENCED UNDER THE RESPECTIVE HEADINGS IN NEW ZEALAND PRISONS AS ON 31ST AUGUST, 1924.

Number of sentenced prisoners (exceeding three months) in custody on the 31st August, 1924, was 980, therefore sexual offenders (192 individuals) represent 19.592 per cent. of the sentenced prison population serving periods exceeding three months.

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE AND ATTEMPTED CARNAL KNOWLEDGE.

SOME ILLUSTRATIVE HISTORIES.

Case No. 1.

Note.—Offender was born at Auckland and is the third eldest of a family of eight. He was evidently dull at school, as he passed the Third Standard only at the age of 13. At the age of 16 he was charged with the offence of vagrancy, convicted and discharged. The victims in all his offences were children varying in age from 6 to 13 years.

Case No. 2.

Note.—Offender is a native of New Zealand. The most serious of his offences (No. 3) was committed on a girl 8½ years of age. After serving six years of his term of life imprisonment the prisoner showed signs of being mentally unsound, and in March, 1910, he was transferred to a mental hospital. He remained a patient in a mental hospital until March, 1915, when he escaped. It was afterwards ascertained that he was aware of the fact that he was about to be returned to prison as being no longer an insane person—hence his escape. After his escape he married, and subsequently served two years with the Expeditionary Force. He was returned to New Zealand as medically unfit and was arrested at Auckland and returned to prison in August, 1917. Two members of his family—a sister and a brother—have been convicted of theft and "conducting a house of ill fame."

This man was released on probation, on the certificate of an expert in mental diseases, after serving the full life term of twenty years, but soon after release gave clear indications of return to former criminal perversions, and his rearrest was ordered.

Case No. 3.

Note.—C. is a single man, aged 40 years, and a native of New Zealand. He is a cabinetmaker by trade and said to be an excellent tradesman. He appears to have been in trouble since he was 25 years of age, and has constantly been in prison, the majority of his offences being of a sexual nature. He is described as a highly dangerous criminal and a menace to society.

Case No. 4.

Note.—D. is a native of New Zealand, aged 38 years and married. His second offence, a very serious one, was committed on a female child of 9 years, the child being subjected to great violence and raped. He was released from prison on license on 20th February, 1922, when he married a respectable woman who knew nothing of his past history. She states that he was a good husband. There is one child of the marriage, a female of 11 months. He is addicted to drink, and is said to have been under the influence of liquor when he committed his last offence. He is not a fit subject to be at liberty, as it was the merest accident that his last offence did not become as serious as that he committed in 1912. Offender has two brothers, both criminals.

Case No. 5.

Note.—E. is a native of New Zealand, aged 39 years and married, with one child. He is reported to suffer from injuries to the head caused by a fall from a tree when eleven years of age, and to be subject to uncontrollable fits of temper and loss of mental balance since that age. Offender was educated in Auckland, and passed the Third Standard only at the age of 13. He was committed to Burnham at the age of 10 for two years, from which institution he absconded on several occasions. According to his own statement, during his term at Burnham the practice of sodomy was fairly common, and the boys often talked about it, but in his opinion did not regard it as a serious offence. He states they were flogged for it, but did not think much of that either, because they were flogged for many other things which he knew were not serious. He says he also met boys from another industrial school who were sent to Burnham, who also did and talked about the same practice. Altogether, therefore, he knew he was doing wrong, but he will not admit that he regarded it in any way as a serious offence. In 1903 he went to sea, and states that his chief companion was a member of the Salvation Army, also a seaman. He affirms that during all the time he was at sea he never heard the offence referred to. The men talked of women but never of sodomy. From 1903 to 1905 he apparently lived a reasonably good life. In 1905 he was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released on license on the 20th June, 1921, and followed the occupation of gardener around Auckland. He married in June, 1923, and is at present serving a long sentence. Offender alleges having made arrangements to be sterilized, but states doctor refused to perform operation. Drink appears to have had some effect upon his life.

Case No. 6.

Note.—F. is a native of New Zealand, born in Napier, February, 1880, and is a labourer by occupation. He was convicted of theft at Napier when a boy and sent to the Burnham Industrial School, from which place he escaped on several occasions. He was discharged from the school on the 30th April, 1898, and since then has continued his criminal career, his further offences being of a sexual nature. He is given to tampering with little girls, and has on four occasions committed indecent assault of a more or less serious nature. He is undoubtedly a menace to society and not fit to be at large. Offender is a temperate man, and when out of gaol appears to have wandered about the country doing an odd day's work here and there. His parents are dead.

Approximate Cost of Paper.—Preparation, not given; printing (575 copies), £42

By Authority: W. A. G. Skinner, Government Printer, Wellington.—1925.

Price 1s.