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reducing the severity of the penal law of the 20th August, 1842,
which is still, in the main, in force. The entire penal legislation
is at present undergoing revision.

Of the entire number of crimes in the years 1891—1895,
about 52 per cent were thefts, while the corresponding number
in the years 1871—1875 was 61 per cent. There has thus been
a considerable decrease. The same is the case with offences
against public morals. On the other hand, the total number of
assaults and crimes against public authority, has risen from 11
per cent between 1871 and 1875 to 18 per cent of the total
number of crimes in the years 1891—1895. The total of the
more serious offences committed in Norway for the following
periods of five years is here given.

	1871—1875.			1881 — 1885.			1891—1895.
Murder and manslaughter ...		66			58			38
Infanticide ................		147			147			130
Rape ......................		22			34			22
Incest ....................		47			68			54
Robbery ..............		22			11			10
Incendiarism ......		25			25			7

The punishment most frequently inflicted in Norway is
imprisonment on bread and water, the sentence being from 4 to 30
days. Nearly half (48 per cent) of the total number of persons
condemned in the years 1891—1895 were sentenced to this
punishment, of women separately, as many as 62 per cent. During the
same period, 1809 men and 341 women (altogether about 14 per
cent of the total number) were sentenced to penal servitude, and
of these respectively 9 and 1 for life. Capital punishment still
exists in Norway, but no such sentence has been carried out since
the year 1876. About 20 per cent of the offences were expiated
by fines.

Unlike the offences against the ordinary penal law, breaches
of the police laws have increased steadily and greatly during the
last few decades, and in the years 1891—1895 amounted to an
average of 31,003 as against 16,546 for the years 1870—1874,
respectively 93 per cent and 94.8 per cent being committed by
the male sex.

It is not easy to determine the position that the Norwegian
nation occupies among the nations with regard to the relative
number of criminals, as the varied penal legislation in the various

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