Note 1 — Chapter VI · SIBERIAN PRISONS.

Some statistics with which we were favoured from Kansk for the previous year, 1878, give interesting facts, showing the ages of criminals when they committed their crimes, their education, condition as to marriage, religion, place of birth, and also their repetition of crimes. It should be borne in mind, however, that the figures refer only to a small district of Eastern Siberia, an okrug or circle, 200 miles in diameter, and with a population of 40,000. They are therefore primarily of local value, though in their general aspects they are highly suggestive. The number of criminals was 121 male and 61 female: in all, 182. Of these there were 31 from 17 to 21 years of age; 83 from 21 to 33; 45 from 38 to 45; and 33 from 45 to 70. The figures, too, show curiously enough that up to the age of 33 the proportion of male criminals is largely in excess of the females, but that after that age this order is reversed, and the proportion of female prisoners preponderates over that of the males. Of the entire number, 182, not one is marked “well educated,” only 46 could read and write, and 136 could do neither; 129 out of 182 were married, leaving 53 widows, bachelors, and spinsters. With respect to religious profession, they were classified thus: 112 were orthodox Russians, and 19 of other Christian denominations; 34 were Jews, and 17 of other non-Christian religions: 180 were born in the province; 22 had offended twice, and 3 had done so thrice.