New Britain herald., 1921-09-01
SPEEDY TRIALS TO
 REDUCE CRIMINALS
Swift and Effective Punishment
 Gives Desired Fear Effect

Cincinnati. O., Sept. 1.-The his tory of organized government demon- Htrates that the speedy trial of crim- inal cases and the swift and Gertain punishment of criminals effects a re- duction in the volume of crime. Ed win w Sims, president of the Ch,- cago Crime Commission told the American Bar association at It's meeting here tonight.
 "On the other hand" Mir. Sims continued. increased crime follows closely on the heels of delayed trials and deferred punishment. Tn short. crime increases or decreases Tn the proportion that punishment IS swift and certain. The speed with whlch n crime Is punished has great deal more to do with the preservation of law and order than the severity of punishment.
 Criminal laws bear close analogy to natural laws, A child puts its hand in the fro but once. one ex- periencc is sufficient. IL is not neces- sary that the injury be severe.
 Existing criminal laws in Am erica are the evolution of centuries of practical experience. AS they have been developed they are inval- uable. There are those, howevCt who attack the theory of punishment and who. contending that crime is disease, recommend and urge that punishment be abolished and some other form of treatment substituted. It Ia a grave mistake to in any way interfere with. Impede or hamper the enforcement Of existing laws which have been centuries in de- velopment. at least until the ex- pertinent has been thoroughly tested and found to be practical.
 Three years ago the Chicago as- Hociation of commerce appointed and financed q crime commission. It does not of itself undertake the ap- prehension nor the prosecution of criminals. The commission limits it's activity to an investigation of crimes of violence. murder. burglary and robbry. It early reached the conclusion that crime fourished be- cause criminals escaped punishment and that the principal avenue of es- cape was tho delay in the trial of criminal cases.
 rho commission waa organized in tho year 1919. Data collected for that year showed there were t10 murders to ono million of population in Chi- cago as against nine to the million in Great Britain and thirteen to tho mill lion in Canada. This meant that dur ing tho year 1919. thero wera moro murders in Chicago. with q population Of 5000. .000 than in the British Isles with a population of 40.0O0.000.
 For years in Great Britain and Canada, murder cases have been gem orally disposed of within so or 90 days. In American cities there arc practically no murder cases being tried within 90 days.
 ''on Apri1 1. 1920, t35 persons pre- vioualy indicted for murder were awaiting trial in Chicago. In lo4 cases the accused were at liberty on bond The situation was brought to the attention of the courts and ofii- ciais by the crime commission with the result that four judges then in the civil courts. volunteered to sit in the criminal court and try cases until the murder docket was cleared. The trial of these cases resulted in the sentenc- ing of twelve to hang and twelve to tho penitentiary for from one year to life.
 "The effect on the number of mur- ders in Chicago was electrical Im- mediately tho murder rate dropped bf per cent, where 1t has since re- mained. The record for the first seven months of each of the last three years ia as follows:
 1912 1920 1921