Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-25
CRIMES OF JAPANESE
People Well Behaved Com
pared With Americans.
THE COURT RECORDS
SIXTY THOUSAND PROFESSIONAL
CRIMINALS IN THE COUNTRY.
In Communication With the Police
Prevalence of Suicide-Effect of
the Present War
BY WILLIAM +. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
TOKYO. July -, 1901
In the Chicago Record Herald the other
day l noticed that Chief of Police O'Neiu
gave some remarkable murder statistics for
that city, which suggest a comparison
with those of Japan. He shows that fifty
persons We're arrested in Chicago for muir
der during the year 1903. seven for man
slaughter. eighty-two as accessories to
murder and 5G7 for assault with intent to
kill. The total for 1902 was even greater.
l have not been able to get the statistics
for the different cities of Japan. but those
for the empire given in detail and in a
most intelligent manner. showing 591 homi-
cides for the last year, l64 being committed
by women and 421 by men. This is the
smallest number for several years, except
in 1899 when the total was 5S2. During the
last ten years the average has been about
COO for a population of 45.D0WO.
The motives of the crimes are given in all
but forty-eight cases The largest number
Of murders-247-are attributed In the can
did japanese way to domestic discussions
and discussions involving the interests of
the family in other words. to family
uuarrels; 1G2 homicides are attributed TO
vengeance, 1o6 to jealousy, II to debauch-
cry TO ambition" and 2iS were com
mitted while the assailamt was under the
influence of liquor.
A Well-Behaved People.
The records of the police department in
Japan show a striking contrast to those OF
American and European cities. Last year
out of a total of 1929 convictions in the
criminal courts, only 1922 were for what
are called "crimes'-that is, penal offenses-
while 1+O12S were for what would call
misdemeanors. and what the japanese term
"offenses against property, including peit
larceny, grand larceny, burglary, obtaining
money under false pretenses forgery and
embezzlement. The offenses against the
public peace. what would call dis
orderly conduct were comparatively few,
furnishing little more than 10 per cent of
the entire number of cases In the criminal
court. If you will compare this win TIE
statistics of the courts of New York, Chi
cago and Philadelphia and other cities, you
will see that the japanese are remarkably
we'll behaved people. for only 1888 persons
were convicted of disturbing the public
peace This is, of course, accounted Tor by
the temperate habits of the people Ihere
is comparatively little drunkenness In
Japan. 1t was almost unknown - mlraplle
dictu,-before the foreigners came TO In
troduce Christianity and modern civiliza.
ton, but 1t is increasing year by year, until
now temperance societies, whlch were uh-
known and unnecessary, are peiHs ois"h
lied in Japan.
At one time early In the modernlza-
ton of Japan, her statesmen seriously
contemplated making Christianity the
state religion and organizing a national
church like the established Church or
England That was thirty years ago, ana
perhaps something might have come OF
the proposition had not the embassy OF
wise men who went around the world
STUDYING foreign affairs and customs ad-
yised against 1t on the ground that there
was so much more crime, wee ana pow
erty in London. Paris, Rome. Vienna.
New York and other great Christian cities
than in Tokyo and other heather cities of
japan. And the contrast still continues in
the most striking manner.
The heather in their blindness may bow
down to wood and stone, but they do not
behave as badly corresponding classes
of society in Christian cities. This is not
only true in Japan, but 1t is equally true
in India, China and other countries of the,
east. There is no lynching, for example.
Such a thing is unheard of. There is abso-
lutte respect for law and official authority.
and much more confidence in the police
and the courts in pagan lands than in
those which boast of possessing the high
est degree of Christian civilization.
Compare. ii you please. the number of
convictions in the criminal courts of
Japan-14S,233 for a population of 40
O0,00o-and those in India and other
countries of the east with similar sta
tistics of England France, Germany, the
United States and other Christian coun-
tries.
convictions in the criminal courts of ia
pan since 1895. when the number
1S4, 062. 1t has been gradual, but regular,
and while it may not mean that the Jap
aneSe are growing any better as people
it must have some significance.
The total number of persons convicted
last year of criminal offenses was 10, 1S7,
of whom IS. 1O6 were women, 106559 were
illiterate. 1854 could read and write and
1854 could read only. Regarding ages,
4407 were under sixteen, 1874 were be-
tween sixteen and twenty, 69.373 were be-
tween twenty and thirty, 39S54 were be-
tween thirty and forty. and the remainder
were distributed among the different ages.
Two-thirds of them were old offenders
Professional Criminal Class
There said to be GO,O0O professional
criminals in Japan, who are responsible
for 80 per cent of the offenses against prop
erty, and those who are engaged in the
work of reforming and taking care OF pris-
oners, like Kosuke Tomeoka, for many
years chaplain of the imperial penitentiary,
agree that the criminal classes are recruit
ed almost exclusively from street gamins
who have neglected parents or none at all.
Reform schools are now being provided
throughout Japan for homeless urchins who
begin with mischief and gradually grow into
crime. Japan has been weak in such In
situations Mr.. Tomeoka has recently start
ed a home for boys similar to the Junior
Republics of the United States and now has
about seventy precocious youngsters under
his charge teaching them trades and trying
to convert them into good citizens.
OF the g., 449 inmates of the penitentiaries
of Japan 80 per cent are old Offenders,
serving their second or third terms. On
the day of the funeral of his mother in 1897
the emperor pardoned 10000 convicts, and
within twelve months 7.772 of them were
back behind the bars.
Crime in Japan seems almost incurable.
but these habitual offenders are mostly
thieves and swindlers who are engaged in
the hazardous occupation of getting their
living by their wits. The term surf is
..zeIl aarnriho IarofaSsional Snaak fbieueS