Mexico weekly ledger., 1907-12-19

Mexico, No, Dec. IL, 7oo7.-Deal
Sir: From the Introductory pages o.
the special report Of 1909 on Prisoners
and Juvenile Delinquents, issued DJ
the United States Census Bureau 10
1904, from which my esteemed FREUD
Mr.. Llewellyn, quoted his statistics
IN the IntellIgencer Of November 20
1907, we have the following;
"It must always be borne IN mind
however, that prison statistics, "a
matter how complete and how inteili-
gently arranged, can serve only as q
superficial means Of gaaging the crime
movement, since they do net account
for the many who, although adjudged
guilty Of crime. have escaped the PEN
atty 81 Imprisonment BY the payment
OF q fine, BY the suspension Of sen
tence, or by some other form Of ieni-
ency. The persons sentenced % pri-
son perhaps for the largest part u ahe
element entering into the general
crime movement, although this Is not
q clearly established fact. pp. 1918.
Again, .. Is, "a comparison Of the
ratio Of prisoners in the various states,
as shown for 1904, places 1t beyond
doubt that such ratios furnish the
most unreliable index OF the prevalence
OF crime. In the North Atlantic div
ieion. for instance, = ratio OF but e2.3
to 100000 population is shown for
Pennsylvania, Is compared with 1913
for the neighboring state Of New Jef-
sey, and 1872 for Massachusetts,,
Among the South Atlantic states the
proportion Of prisoners 70 population
was almost four times as large 10 Flos
rioa as in Eofth Carolina. In the
South Central Division similar con-
trasts are furnished by the ratio OF
TAT for Mississippi and 1888 for Texas;
aud In the Western division, by 1874
for Utah and SO4.7 for Nevada. As q
guide to the relative frequency OF In
frequency Of criminal otfenses these
ratios by themselves are Of doubtful
value. a community Nth a large NUM-
Der Of prisoners in proportion 10 its popa-
lation may be far more lasC-abidiag and
ordrely than one ieith a loo ratio. 1t Is
not merely a question Of how the laws
are enforced, but what standards the
courts follow in imposing penalties,
and what facilities the community
provides for combining a considerable
number Of prisoners"
On the topic OF the ratio Of homi-
cides to population, we quote the fol-
lowing; p. %, In which the reader will
observe the case Of Kansas is singled
out for special mention. 'iOf the seye-
raj states Massachusetts, reported the
lowest ratio Of homicides to popula-
tion t4) and Arizona the highest (59.1l.
Other states having high ratios were
Florida l52,) Nevada t4s.6). New Mex-
leo (42), Wyoming t3s.p, Louisiana
1868, Montana ia 81, and Georgia,
t33.4. The ratio for Kansas (29.el Is
much higher than that for any other
state lin the North Central group,
possibly because a United States prison Is
located there. States other than Massa-
chusetts having noticeablY low ratios
were Vermont i4.3l, Nebraska t4.8),
Iowa (4.9), Rhode Island t5.2). New
Hampshire Is A. and Ulah (59"
Now in order 10 make statistics APP
pear the most favorable for Mr.. Lew
ellyn we quite the folio wing: al
though IL Is not always true that the
commitments for homicide reflect &C
curately the number OF cases Of MUIR
der and manslaughter, there is pro-
badly greater uniformity In the pun
ishment Of crimes Of this Class than
in the punishment Of any Of the others
specified 10 the table, SO that the com
mitments may serve aas fairly reliabl
index OF the prevalence OF the crimes
included under the generic bead OF
p. 80.
Mr.. Llewellyn's statistics for prison
ers committed for homicide, 1904, were
taken from page %. Immediately OPP
on page 50, we find the follow
Ing: THAT the ratio for Kansas is
high rs compared with those OF the
,ther states of.the North CentraIdiyis-
on may have,been due to the fact that
United States prison Is located In
In line with the observations In
quotations made In the early part OF |
his article as to the unreliability Of pri
statistics and as to commitments
We have the following quotation as
further evidence as to this u1reliabi-
ity: "The lowest ratio OF commit
nents for homicide, OF (which means
one commitment for 500, 900 people, is
hown for fOklanoma." p. 80.
What well-informed individual be- |
ieves that Oklahoma has the lowest
'ercentage of the crime Of homicide
n the United States?
(The italics and parentheses are