The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-10-21
DECREASE OF CRIME.

With the crowded state of our prisons
and.the constant daily reports of crimes
from all parts of the world, the inference
would be natural that crime was on the In
crease, but such seems not to be the fact.
At recent meeting of the British social
science congress, Lord Aberdare read a
paper upon this subject, summary of
which is published in the Tribune, from
which the fact is made apparent that crime,
at least in Great Britain,'i is actually on the
decrease-and in the absence of statistics
we arc at liberty to infer that the came is
true of the United States. The present
year is an exceptional year and, though the
record of crime may show an alarming in
crease as compared with a given previous
year, no deduction could be correctly
drawn therefrem, as it is well established,
although the cause is not known, that
crime and grades of crime move in cycles,
appearing as it were, as an epidemic at diff
ferent and distant periods of time. We
know the fact, but cannot tell why 1t is 30,
any more than we can why there isa great
er mortality one year than another, or why
one type of disease appear now, and then
not again for a number of years. We de-
tefmne the rate of mortality and the
healthiness of country by the number of
deaths and the amount of sickness which
occur among gwen number of inhab-
itants, during series of years, not sin.
gle year-and SO we judge of the increase
or decrease of crime. not from al epidemic
year, but from series of years compared
with another similar number of years
But to the statistics. Lord Aberdare
finds that during the period of thirty-seven
years prior to 1912, the number of crimi-
nails had Increased by four hundred and
eighty-two per cent while the population
had only increased seventy-nine per cent !;
and in some parts of Great Britain the
ratio of increase was actually greater, the
number of criminals increasing fifteen
times as rapidly as the population. This
was very near those ''earlier and better
days." about which we Near SO much, but
when we come down to these degenerate
times, a change for the better appears.
From 1912 to 1866, there was no increase
in the number of criminals, but the popu-
lation increased by two and a half millions,
being proportionate decrease of crime,
while from 1866 to 1878, there was a de-
crease of nearly sixty-seven per cent in the
number of criminals and an increase of
forty-one and half per cent in the popu-
lation. These statistics include all degrees
and grades of crime, from murder down to
drunkenness, and they further show that
the greatest increase has been in minor Of
lenses, such as drunkenness, breachesI of
the peace and the like, An important fact
is brought out out in reference to murders,
and to the effect that while one year shows
a vast preponderance in numbers over
another, yet comparing decade with de-
cade, the average number for year is
about the same. This decrease of crime,
ri he attributes to the improved sanitary con-
dition of the poor and to the better means
afforded for education.
As Lord Aberdare acknowledges, ''of all
" countries in the world England is that
" where the conditions of life have been
" and are most conducive to the increase
" of crime,' and this being so, with the
facts as stated, we can sup on our daily
dish of horrors without feeling that the
world in general, and the United States in
particular, are fast going to the bad. If
cline Is diminishing, we can render it still
less and less frequent of occurrence. The
same causes which are operating in Eng
. land are also at work here, but we can in
crease these tenfold. Crime will continue
to exist, but we can remove the cause
which tende to its increase and spread.
Health, industry and intelligence are the
foes of crime. Ignorance, idleness and
disease are the parents of vice. Whatever
shall contribute to the removal of the lat
ter and the spread of the former will result
in decreasing crime and limiting the num-
Der of criminals. We know what to do
let us do it. ,..t..r
.