ince the
introduction of Truant and Industrial Schools in this country for
homeless and neglected girls, it is certain that the proportion of
those who fall from sheer destitution must be extremely small. On the
Continent, where such institutions do not exist on such an extensive
scale, the proportion may be somewhat larger, but in the United
Kingdom it cannot, according to the most liberal computation, exceed
ten per cent. of the cases brought before the magistrates. Many
experienced observers will not allow that it reaches such a high
percentage.

We are now in a position to tabulate the results of our inquiries as
to the part played by destitution in producing prostitution and
vagrancy. The following table represents the proportion of persons
charged under the provisions of the Vagrancy Acts in the year 1888:--

Percentage of beggars, 45 per cent.
Percentage of prostitutes, 12 "
Percentage of other offenders, 43 "
---
100 per cent.

Percentage of beggars destitute from misadventure, 2 per cent.
Percentage of prostitutes, do. do. 10 "
Percentage of other offenders, do. do. 2 "
---
14 per cent.

It has already been pointed out that persons charged with offences
against the Vagrancy Acts constitute on an average 7 per cent. of the
total annual criminal population. According to the statistics we have
just tabulated, 5 per cent. of these offences are not due to the
pressure of destitution, and only 2 per cent. are to be attributed
to that cause.

Let us now collect the whole of the figures set forth in this chapter,
so that we may be in a position to give an answer to the question with
which we set out, namely, to what extent are theft and vagrancy the
product of destitution?

Proportion of offences against Property and the Vagrancy Acts
to total number of offences tried in 1888, 15 per cent.
Proportion of offenders against property destitute, 2 "
Proportion of offenders against Vagrancy Acts destitute, 2 "

Adding together the two classes of offenders against Property and the
Vagrancy Acts who, according to our calculations, are destitute when
arrested, we arrive at th