These figures show that in proportion to the population, crime is, as we should expect, at its lowest level from infancy till the age of sixteen. From that age it goes on steadily increasing in volume till it reaches a maximum between thirty and forty. After forty has been passed the criminal population begins rapidly to descend, but never touches the same low point in old age as in early youth. Females do not enter upon a criminal career so early in life as males;[29] in the year 1888, while 20 per cent. of the _male_ population of our local prisons in England and Wales were under 21, only 12 per cent. of the _female_ prison population were under that age. On the other hand, women between 21 and 50, form a larger proportion of the female prison population, than men between the same ages do of the male prison population. The criminal age among women is later in its commencement, and earlier in coming to a close than in the case of men. It is later in commencing because of the greater care and watchfulness exercised over girls than boys; but it is more persistent while it lasts, because a plunge into crime is a more irreparable thing in a woman than in a man. A woman's past has a far worse effect on her future than a man's. She incurs a far graver degree of odium from her own sex; it is much more difficult for her to get into the way of earning an honest livelihood, and a woman who has once been shut up within bolts and bars is much more likely to be irretrievably lost than a man. If it is important to keep men as much as possible out of prison, it is doubly necessary to keep out women; but it is, at the same time, a much harder thing to accomplish. This arises from the fact that the great bulk of female offenders enter the criminal arena after the age of twenty-one, and can only be dealt with by a sentence of imprisonment. If females began crime at an earlier period of life, it would be possible to send them to Reformatories or Industrial Schools, and a fair hope of ultimately saving them would still remain; but as this is impossible with grown-up persons, prison is the only alternative, and it is after imprisonment is over that a woman begins to recognise the terrible social penalties it has involved. [29] Ages and proportion per cent. of males and females committed in 1889-90. Ages Males Females Under 12 years 0.2 0.0 12 years and under 16 3.1 1.1 16 years and under 21 17.5 10.7 21 years and under 30 28.4 31.4 30 years and under 40 23.9 28.6 40 years and under 50 14.2 17.5 50 years and under 60 6.4 6.8 60 years and above 6.2 3.8 Age not ascertained 0.1 0.1