The suburban citizen., 1901-06-22
TIE COST oE CRIME.
5000 900, 900 Per Year to the People Of
the United States.

the United States.
A paper on "The Cost Of Crime"
prepared by Eugene Smith, Of New
York City, for the National Prison AS
ISOLATION Of the United States, has
been printed by order Of the commit
tee on the judiciary Of the House OF
Representatives. In the paper MI
Smith seeks to show what share Of
public taxation is properly chargeaDle
to crime. He says:
This question is generally answered
in a most summary fashion. The cost
of maintaining the prison, the police
and the criminal courts is taken to be
the measure of crime taxation. No
greater mistake than this can be made
in economics. Besides these charges
due to crime exclusively, there is hard
ly any item Of public expenditure that
is not, directly or indirectly, enlarged
by reason of the existence of crime
or that would be diminished If crime
could be exterminated. The cost OF
crime is an element pervading the
whole budget Of taxation and entering
as component part into nearly every
department Of it. These composite
items must be analysed, and the share
of each attributable to crime is as
surely a part of the cost of crime as
are the expenses Of jails and peniten-
tiares.
After going over the cost Of main
tanning an army and the sums spent
for charity, Mr.. Smith says:
The cost of crime included in taxa.
tion in the city Of New York gives an
average charge of over SO for each in
dividual in its population; in San
Francisco, about So; in the other cities
named the per capital tax runs, with
slight variation, from SO to $3.50. The
striking excess of the rate in New
York and San Francisco above that
of the other cities is explained In part
by one very important fact: The rate
in New York and San Francisco in
cludes county taxation, while the rate
in the other cities does not
From such light as can be gained
from the reports Of those cities and
from other sources it would appear
that about 81 should be added to the
prevailing per capita of SO to $3.50 in
order to include county taxation.
This makes the total amount of both
city and county taxation caused by
crime paid by the dwellers in cities
average from 81 to $3.50 for each in.
10 ~ 1,tr{ 10 fAtt nj
to make the final result a conservative
one l should prefer to reduce the es-
innate as low as $3.50 per capita.
Mr.. Smith figures that there are in
the United States 25O.00O persons who
make their living by criminal prac-
tices. Each of these, he argues, has
an average income of $1,000 per year.
He continues:
Two hundred and fifty thousand
criminals, at $1,000 each, represent an
aggregate annual income Of S400, ,0OO,-
000 Add to this the yearly taxation
caused by crime Of $2OO,000,000, and it
gives the enormous total Of S600000,-
900. This vast sum, exceeding the
value of the entire cotton crop of the
United States, exceeding the value Of
the entire wheat crop of the United
States, is a part of the cost of crime.
1t is, all of it, sheer spoliation, without
any compensating consideration or
benefit, terrifying incubus upon the
Industry and prosperity of the people.
There can be no stronger proof of the
wonderful resources and vitality Of
American enterprise than the fact that
1t is able to survive and endur 20 =
desperate blood letting.