The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-08-23

New YORK POLICE AND CRIMINAL STATISTICS
Wehave before us the last quarterly report made
by the Deputy Superintendent of the Metropoli-
contains good deal of curious information, and
is in many respects interesting. 1t appears that
the total strength of the police Of the Metropo-
Titan dist1ict-officers and mems ABS, and
that the whole number of arrests made by them
during the quarter ending 3lst of July was
for larceny, or attempts at larceny; l52 for rob.
berry, or attempts at robbery; 10l for swindling;
III for passing counterfeit money, or forging; 81
for receiving stolen goods; $50 for violations Of
corporation ordinances, and 217 for offences not
specified We are not informed, however, nor is it,
of course, the province of the Deputy Superin-
tendent to state, what disposition has been made
of the offenders.
We could wish very much to have, side by side
with this report, statement from the District
Attorney showing what proportion of them
were proceeded against, and what proportion
punished. 1t is pity that some arrangement is
not made by which we could have the police
officers report and the law officers report made
simultaneously, so that we might see at glance
the course Of our public administration of jus.
tice. Without any definite information on the
subject, We would not incur much risk in ex-
pressing our conviction that not one in ten
of the persons arrested for offences more
serious than drunkenness has been punished
We have our doubts whether, of the 101 individu-
ais arrested for swindling, the odd unit has met
his deserts; and as to the violations Of corpora
ton ordinances we would not expect to find that
any further notice whatever was taken of them
At all events, we would like very much to have all
uncertainties on these various points cleared up
We also remark in Mr.. Carpenters report that
besides the arrests, 1874 complaints were made to
the Corporation Attorney for violations Of cor
poIation ordinances, and sol to the District At
torney for violations Of the Sunday liquor law
What was done about particularly the lat
ter? Why are not these complaints prosecuted,
so that we may have the constitutonality of the
law and resolutions On the subject fairly and fully
tested? Mr.. Waterbury will please make note
of this
Nseems that offenders Of the masculine gender
are twice as numerous as those of the feminine
They stand in the proportion Of 1887 to S,265.
There is an equilibrium between the married aud
unmarried (9,53O married, 1882 single). The
totally iterate classes were not 80 largely repre-
sented as were the classes skilled in the accom-.
plishments Of reading and writing. There were
1874 of the former to 1883 Of the latter; but it
ia not to be thence inferred that our criminal sta
ristics give any force to the poetical dictum
that
A little learning Ia q dangerous thing
We do not think it will operate much as an ar.
gument against our common school system, al
though Mr. Carpenter has deduced from his
statistics the sage piece of Bunsbyism that "the
marriage relation tends in slight degree to
diminish crime but the mere ability to read
and write has no perceptible effect" Our citi
zens will find much matter for reflection in this
report; but they would be much more enlight-
ened if they could compare with it the statistics
Of our criminal courts for the same period.