Litchfield enquirer., 1869-10-14

Forgery. 1l3 "A s9
 Larceny grand, 2,4l3 BAY 2,O66
 Larceny, petit, 4,927 2,S24 2,O93
 Picking pocket, 3O3 AS 254
 Rec'ng stol'n goods 256 3 252
 Robbery, 13O Il 119
 These figures afford accumulative evil dence that comparisons are odious; but they are also suggestive, and when closely examined show, either that the police an- nually make hundreds of arrests without the slightest cause, or that the judges are continually unloosing the bonds of crimi nals. It is an unpleasant dilemma for ei- ther side, but it may be further said that two of the four police 'courts-the only ones where such data were obt ainable- sent to the District Attorney during the year, 473 cases of grand larceny, 163 of burglary, and 46 of highway robbery. By reference to the table it will be seen that these two committing tribunals supplied that official with more of these felonies that the police justice, must hold for trial when prima facie case Is presented, and that the grand jury may fail to indict, or having found bills. that the District Attor ney may deem the proof insufficient, and dis miss the charge. But when all these al- lowances are made they fail on account for
 the grand total of $, ,423 cases of crime
 which. during 8 single year, evaporated in . to utter nothingness between the police statlon-houses and the bars of the courts. The Police Commissioners report that they have had them, but the magistrates and the District Attorney do not appear ever to have been informed of. much less to have encountered this avalanche of crime.
 A portion of the vast discrepancy be- tween the arrests and the cases brought to conclusion in the courts may be ex plain ed by the fact that the table of the Com. missloners is not so compiled as to aeon rate authority. Year after year the Com. missioners have published their table of tue number of persons arrested as $ offen ces during the year" and have thus sought to ignore the very palpable difference be- tween the number of crimes and the pum- Der of persons arrested for crime. They report grand total of 78, 45l offences dur ing the past year, when little scrutiny makes 1t apparent that they mean only that so many persons have been dragged to the station houses on various charges. frivolous or serious, as the case may be. The mode by which the totaIity of wick edEess IS reached IS very simple but ef- fectlve method of evadiug the truth; for if dozen footpads waylay q citizen in tn. street, and tue dozen are arrested, the one highway robbery Is increased a dozen times wnen It gets into the report. Nor is thls singular method of gathering statistics tn. ouly wrong the Commissioners iuflict up- on the city. Not day passes that patrol. men do not take prisoners iuto nearly eve
 ry one of tue thirty station houses of tl,e city, the charges against whom dissolve | uuder tho first exaniuatlon, and the accus- ed are dlscnarg-d by the officer iu cI,arge
 bdt all tnese Cases go upou tue record, and do duty lu the annual report as so III .n, offences. When III fact they may be notu
 lbg more than prools of the malice of ac- cusers or tue stupidity of patroimen. There aie. Indeed. many more such felonies as burglary aud larceny committed annuall, | than appear lii tue reports; but tue Com missloners aie not thereby justified au reportlng false charges as tiue,, aud, b, l counting both false aud true over and oye
 agaln,ulAking table of hap-hazz .rd guess
 es when they should submit record of undeniable facts.
 1 But while this official method of dealing with figures IS accountable for a part of tle discrepancies between arrests and dis. 1 positions, 1t is not justly chargeable with the whole sin. The police do undoubtedly arrest many criminals who are committed by the magistrates for trial, but who are never heard of again any where in the la- byrinthic realms of justice. There are mauy cases where thieves have bet arrest ed with the most convincing proofs of their crime at hand, and yet have never been tried. On many occasions, the police ma- gistrates, in the bright heyday ofsuddenly developed virtue, have committed notori- ous thieves without bail, and the same thieves have been upon the streets next day and every day since, so far as that par ticular charge is concerned. It is we'll known that the four police courts commit for trial number of persons sufficient to keep the courts of last resort constantly busy; and yet, although these mills of jus tlce grind exceeding slow, their hoppers, in the shape of prisons, rarely overflow. 1t IS known that there are score or more of tirst-class rascals in the city, who fre- quently fall into the hands of the law they daily outrage, and yet have never been confronted with jury to pass upon their crimes. It is known that while the >shad. owed army of roguery is ea route from the committing magistrate to the worshipful judge, nearly fifth are lost; but the gen eral public have not been able, even with the help of some research, to learn what becomes of them. They may find a safe refuge in the office of the District Attor- ney; they may succeed in compromising with the complainant, or they may even ith1p tie justice in the short journey from;the grand jury room to the box of the petit jury. The District Attorney, however, can proD- ably explain how it is that so many com I plaints for felonies, that are seemingly de- tended by impregnable proofs, are aban-