Metropolitan Police Register of Habitual Criminals, 1881-1925

The dataset has been created from registers of "habitual" criminals recorded on their release from prisons in England and Wales between 1881 and 1925. The information given includes the name of the prisoner, year and place of birth, height, physical appearance, occupation, conviction and sentence details, previous convictions, prison and intended destination on liberation.

The Habitual Criminal Registers were created expressly for the purpose of enabling future detection of repeat offenders. As such, they contain valuable information for the project's research exploring long-term recidivism, especially after the Old Bailey Proceedings ceased publication in 1913. Information about previous offending facilitates direct linkage to Old Bailey offenders, and detailed personal information aids more probabilistic linkage methods.