Williams news., 1907-11-30
The Breaking Down of Our System of
 Criminal Justice

in blackness until it has made us conspirunus!y alone among the civilized nations of the world.
 Only a penal colony 10 which all the rest of the world transported i,s worst criminals could show such an appalling list of crimes IS are committed in this enligh,en- ad nation. which has been looked upon in some respects at least a leader in civilization From time to time attention is called to the matter by editurial comment or bi in earnest utterance of some ot our more thoughtful attorneys and judges; hut in the multitude of other questions that absorb the pub'ic attention, mparalivel> little is said or thought bout tn. fact that this nation, standing well nigh if not quite. at the head If all ihe nations in the world in most of the elements of civiliza
 ion, stands far below them ali n it's horrible record of crime. The Ala ba ma State Bar Associa ton. through it's Committee on Cores pondence has recently sent to the other bar associa tions of this coun- try communica ton on this sub- ject in which it gives statistics to show the number of hnmieides committed in various parts of the United States annually as com parel with those in the city of London. It shows that in pro- portion to population, homicides in New England are twelve times as numerous as they are in Lon lon; in California they are 75 times as numerous a they are in London; they are about 245 times as numerous as they are in Lon lon: That is to say, New England with nearly a million less inha bi- tants than London, has 254 homi- cides annually, while London has only 24; California, with less than one fourth the population of Lon don has 422 homicides against 24 in London. No amplicatioD of the facts, no comment upon them, cal
 10 more than weaken their appal- ing force.
 In stating the. causes and the remedies. many different opinions nay be developed. As to the causes 'ne common theory is that thu vast influx of foreigners is respon- :ible for great share of the'crime.. i No doubt this is in some degree true; but London has many foreign gre, vet in spite of their presence | 'iih ithlil9 l'S oiutI anu us loN percentage of crimes The loosen ing of the restraints and sanctions rf r+ +ligion among many classes of people is doubtless a large factor n the increase of crime. Ever ma ny of those who are irreligious md atheisfic concede that religion, Ia DO ent restraint against crime. But, however strong the argument in itself, there is proha bly no more basis for 1t in this country than in other countries. Yet, our ap- paling increase of crime goes oI
 beyond all comparison with thai in other lands, so that the chief reason must lie in something else. Proha hly the chief cause of our ex- traordinarv multiplication of crimes is in the insufficiencv of our criminal procedure. coupled with the widespread lack of re- Spect for the law and it's enforce nent. In the words of the com
 nittee of the Ala hama State Bar Associations: "It is believed that the certainty and swiflness of justice in England and the lack of it in the United States account in a large measure for the wide difference in the numh her of crimes in the two countries" The situa- ton is further stated as follows: 'The individual criminal is not in peril. He is overprotected But what shal we say of society? Its