The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1921-07-01
LESS CRIME WITH
A BAN ON DRINK
PROHIBITION SEEMS TO HAVE A
DECIDED EFFECT.

Milwaukee, July Evidence has
been found which seems to indicate
that prohibition, even with the diff
Guilty of perfect enforcement, seems
TO have a decided effect upon Grim
inality, Prof. J L. Glllin, of the Uni
versity of Wisconsin, told the ma
tional conference of social work
The study Of the situation in
Grand Rapids, Mich" Prof. Gillin
stated showed that during the first
year of prohibition there, there was
a reduction of 54 per cent in court
cases and of A per cent the second
year. 1t is a well known fact that
the excessive use of alcohol is con-
nected with certain crimes more di-
rectly than with others. Grimes of
violence are more in fluenced than
crimes of cunning.
"Dr. Elwood told us that alcoholic
psychosis had decreased in the New
York state hospital since prohibition
went into effect The percentage of
first admissions decreased from So
per cent to per cent in 1919.
I'm Indiana, in 1920, the average
daily number in the state prison was
only 909 as compared with 1903 in
1917. In the reformatory the num-
Der had decreased from 1876 in
1917 to 709 in 1920; in the woman s
prison, from SO to As. The number
of women misdemeanants in the
department of the wo-
mems prison had decreased from Ill
to 81; the misdemeanants at the
state farms had decreased from 693
to 293 There was a slight decrease
in the number IN the boys school,
and a slight increase in the number
in the girls school for those years.
The commitments TO the state farm
dropped from 1922 in 1916 to 993
i'm 1920; to the correctional depart
ment of the woman's prison, from
342 to 91; the number sentenced TO
jails from 1886 to 2,100.
"A study reported by Mrs. Tyson
in Pennsylvania, shows the number
Of non-support cases in Pittsburgh
dropped from 1866 in 1919 to 1856
in 1920. The Jail population of the
state was decreased by half during
last year.
I'm spite of the increase in arrests
and commitments due to the enforce
ment of the prohibitory law, which
tends to increase the number or
crimes and prisoners, in Ohio the
secretary of the board of charities
writes me that he is convinced that
has resulted thus far in
a decrease of at least 20 per cent in
petty and major offenses which were
crimes prior to the enactment of the
prohibition law.
George S. Wilson, secretary of
the board of charities of the District
of Columbia, writes me that the
short experience of the district since
national prohibition has gone into
effect, shows a very marked decrease
in the number of petty offenders.
Illinois, in the three penal insti-
tutions of cliet, Chester and Pontiac,
the number of inmates showed de-
cided increase from 1913 to 1917,
then a decrease in 1918 and 1913.
With another increase in 1920, at
tributed by the fiscal supervisor of
the department of public welfare to
the return of paroled men to the in
stitutions and the more rigid en-
forcement of the law in the cities
where the newspapers have been de-
voting considerable space to the
crime wave.
Whether prohibition accounts for
the difference, of course, is still an
open question. That it has had some
influence is less doubtful.
"In the face of these facts it is
not too much to say that there is
close negative correlation between
the enactment of the prohibition law
and the commitments to prison, re-
formatory and jails."