The Van Buren press., 1897-03-06
IS CRIME pEcREAsfNe2
EaxIIsh Observers say There "a ehangs
for shs Better.

/
for she Better
There prevails a comforting belief
that the standing army of crime S stead
Nv diminishing. and that, with the a.d
of school boards and reformatorIess We
ere making sure If slow progress IN
combating the enemies Of society who
fill our fafIs. Mr.. Douglass Morrison
in a paper read the other day before
the Statistical society, tells us that TINS
belief rests on no solid foundation and
that when the facts are analyZed i be
comes highly doubtful whether there
has been more than nominal decrease.
of crime. There is no doubt that the
figures generally quoted IN support OF
the view which everyone would fam De-
Feve do not substantiate It. The expla-
ration of many of the facts which seem
at first sight to justify optimism and
seIf-eDnrra tuIation lies n a movement
which Influences, consciously or nneoR-
sciousIy, all persons administering the
criminal Iaw-the growth Of a feeEng
Of distrust of the efficacy Of severe sen
fences and Of a conviction as to their
nisehfevousness in many cases. and pity
and tenderness toward large class Of
criminals Of the victims OF cireum-
stances.
Tt has been said that Victor HHgo's
picture of Jean Vatican, the outca@'
with noble instincts, who tries again
and again to extricate himself from
coil Of nisfortunes, and who again and
again sqccumbs in the struggle pro-
foundly influenced the administration
Of the French criminal law, and for
many years that spirit of pity and tol-
Grafton which the French poet depict
ed in Les Miserables" has been every
where in the ahr. and now here more
than here. It is therefore right to eau
ton the public against confouRdirg
the diminution in the number OF Of
tenders detained in prison in eonse-
quenee of a wise mitigation of the Sc
verify OF the criminal law with eorre-
spouding decrease in the amount of
crime It is Just possible however, that
in avoiding one extreme Mr.. Morrison
has pushed his point too far, and has
given countenance to despondent view
as little justified as the optimism which
he condemns In interpreting the only
available figures the increased vigilance
Of the police is an element scarcely to
lie overrated. a scarcely less impor-
tant element is that OF publicity. Esery
offense is noted. The chances Of detec-
ton are probably greatly increased in
these days, when every household be
comes aware of the person wanted
for any crime Of magnitude. To know
that crime generally is increasing is 10
know very little. 1t may mean no more
than that certain offenses against police
regulations have increased or dimiH-
ished. The morality of the country
4TIay be steadily rising though the con-
victions for breaches OF the education
acts are increasing.
There ia a sensible diminution OF cer-
tain offenses most indicative Of a IL
centious spirit. Property is respected
more than it was: and some crimes con-
nected Herewith and productive Of
others-for example, receiving stolen
pear. On the other hand, there is no
sign Of reduction in certain other
crimes which appear to come in the
train Of material prosperity. The re-
port we get is both Of good and OF evil.
OF the real causes of crime and of the
extent to which It can be prevented by
practicable measures Mr.. Morrison's
figures tell one little that is posi-
tive. More than 1900 years ago Eurip-
ides expounded the theory of the Grim
incline under which Lombroso, Mario
and Ferri have lately labored. The
Greek writer puts into the mouth of one
OF his characters the reflection that,
whereas land naturally barren may
yield q good harvest If the season be
good, and fertile land be sterile If the
season be unkindly, men are always
what they are; the good always good,
even in the pinch of hard circgm
stances, the bad always bad-the Grim
incline certain to be in the dock, how
ever carefully the chaplain and the
philanthropist look after him. What
truth there is in this view, how far the
standing army Of crime consists of this
element, how far of people not much
worse disposed but less lucky than 9TH
ers, statisticians do not tell us-per-
haps they never will. Butin that direc-
tion lies the interest of the present and,
still more, that of the future.-London
Times.