Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-14

NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 1O-Now that
VI the crime wave shows every indica-
ton of becoming permanent, many
remedies are being advanced for it's control.
1t is no longer believed that the late war is
entirely to blame for present conditions.
There must be, our authorities on criminol-
ogy say, other reasons for such an enduring
freign Of violence.
Some believe that the wave would shrink
perceptibly in size if only our metropolitan
police forces were larger and equipped with
all the latest devices of war, such as air.
planes and gas bombs and instructions to
kill the enemy at sight. Others believe that
the repeal of the eighteenth amendment
would have soothing effect upon our crimi-
nails The New York police declare that
quicker trials and denial of bail to crimi-
nails of desperate character would greatly
ameliorate their problems. Still others as
sert that what is chiefly needed is a COM
plete change of attitude on the part of the
public, which is not sufficiently stern to-
ward crime. While we do not openly give
our moral support to robberies and murders,
they say, we are by no means as antipathet-
ic to crime as we should be.
In support of this last contention, it is
pointed out that the temper of this country
has always been unusually violent Stats
tics show that more murders are committed
annually in the United States than in any
other part of the civilized world, with the
possible exception Of Mexico. When George
Bernard Shaw recently declared that he was
afraid to come to America, he had just re-
ceived our latest annual figures on homi-
cides, with special mention in regard to
lynchings.
This reputation for unique and unparal-
eed crime is by no means recent either. 1t
has long flourished in Europe. Years ago,
celebrated English writer, when tainted
by an American concerning the great Brit
ish losses in the Boer war, replied that his
country had not lost as many men in the
war with the Beers as were murdered every
two years in the United States.
Wholesale American Murderers
mot only is murder more prevalent In
this country than in foreign countries" de-
clares one criminologist, "but we have here
whole classes of offenses which these coun-
tries do not have to contend with at all. we
have, for instance, men who make 1t bust
mess to commit train robberies armed with
dynamite and other weapons. Why is it that
lin Canada, our nearest neighbor, train rob-
berries seldom occur?
GIN our southern states we have had muir
derous family feuds, lynchings, and, re-
Gently, the unique activities of the Ku Klux
Khan. These crimes are peculiar to this
country Yet why should this be SOP"
This student of the question believes that
! it is largely because Americans unconscious
lily possess a rather sympathetic attitude to-
ward most crimes. Robbery, for instance,
unless committed by g professional burglar,
is not frowned upon half as vigorously as
| it should be. When bank clerk absconds
with the contents of the bank safe he is
seldom harshly censured, unless by reason
of his act the bank is forced to close its
doors and money is lost by his friends and
neighbors. This indulgent attitude on the
part of the public, moreover, is usually re-
Elected in the light sentences delivered by
Judges for crimes of this kind. In recent
case, man who stole 900 from bank
was given only seven years.
Murder is another crime which does not
inspire as much horror in the public as one
might think. This is clearly shown by the
numerous acquittals handed down by juries
in murder cases.. It is extremely difficult to
convict man for wife murder, for instance,
declares a prominent criminal lawyer, and
women scarcely ever convicted for kill
ing their husbands.
Legal Killings Make Heroes
Curiously enough this lawyer who be-
| lieves that too much leniency is shown to-
ward criminals, does not believe in capital
punishment for murder, because, he says, it
simply makes a hero of the defendant and
| is responsible for more acquittals than any
other one thing.
trocution," he declares, 'a sentimental at
titude is created from the beginning. The
state seems to be seeking life, and every
body has sympathy for what may have been
done merely in the heat of passion. 1t is
an old and well-known fact in criminal
| Jurisprudence that acquittals increase when
| penalties appear too severe, and that a
| crime can often be made less frequent by
reducing the punishment. In other words,
whenever there is a steady increase in &C