The New York herald., 1922-06-04
CITY of New York
Leads in Femi-
nine Defiance of
Law and Order,
but Wave Sweeps
Entire Country.

q MAZING Is the growth Of crime
"A among women. With great ease
4 and far less noise than the sex
accomplished It's entrance into the po-
litical field women of recent years
have so enlarged their circle of de-
linquencies that to-day they are car
rying on what used to be essentially
the tasks of men in the crooked under
world.
Their violations of the, law now are
no longer confined to the few offenses
for which women ten or twenty years
ago ordinarily were made to answer in
a court room. The women OF vicious
tendencies have progressed" just as
we'll as the women Of high ideals. They
have progressed at an alarming pace.
1t seems odd that 1t has not been
noted before. Whereas, a decade or so
ago the average woman prisoner be-
fore the bar was arraigned upon some
allied charge growing out of forbid
den profession--picking the pockets of
q drunken man, shoplifting, receiving
stolen goods and street brawling, for
example--to-day she Is standing trial
as highway robber, a burglar. forger,
hotel swindler, a runner OF contraband
rum. a check raiser and. using the
police term, a "guntoter."
Within the last five months score
of women have answered to these
charges in the New York courts alone.
Several have appeared as defendants
in higher grade crimes-nail rob-
berries and bond thefts, automobile lar
cenies and bank frauds.
Women Crooks Country Over
More Numerous Than Ever
What is true of New York Is true,
so 1t has been ascertained, of four
other populous States. From authen-
tic though unofficial statistics on the
situation it is learned that more
women are being committed to the
prisons, reform schools and houses Of
correction In Massachusetts,, New Jer-
scy, Pennsylvania and Illinois than at
any time before. The percentage OF
increased crime in these States is
varying, and there are yet no tables
from which an average can be struck.
but enough is known to place the five
States in the order Of their tcontribu-
tions to the social unrest which seems
to have been national In its character.
AS is to be expected, New York, with
Its greatest population, is in the lead.
Illinois and Pennsylvania, each con-
tanning two huge cities, come next
Massachusetts is fourth, but New
Jersey. for all it's paucity of area, is
crowding, the Bay State in feminine
defiance of law and order. There are
obvious reasons why the quota of
women criminals might be large In
the congested States, but New Jersey
requires study. rs it because she lies
between two wicked neighbors? Is it
that crime Is infectious? May it not
be that the Broadway White Lights Of
evil legend dazzle and tempt even
across the river?
This question suggests another. de-
spite the explanation that in all thickly
settled communities one must expect
a certain proportion Of evildoers,
women among the men. What are
the causes for the increased activities
of women in TIE exploitation of crime?
What has turned woman from petty
criminal into a desperate and bold
breaker of the law? What has sent
women of quick wit and force OF will
into the ranks of professional crimi-
nails? Only women born with unusual
shrewdness, with more than the con-
ceded share of intuition and cunning,
are qualified to dare crime in magni-
tude. The pitiful little moron Of is
who is taken up" for running on the
streets at night can never hope, am
bilious as she may be for an adven-
turous career of warfare against So
ciety's conventions. to become check
raiser or a purveyor of stolen Liberty
bonds.
1t Requires Brains to Be
IU 4