The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1929-11-15
NEED BETTER ORGANIZATION
TO FIGHT ORGANIZED CRIME
EDITOR SAYS PEOPLE NEED
TO GET BEHIND THEIR
OFFICIALS
From the Harlowton Times)

With the dockets of our courts
overburdened, the prisons over
flowing and the congestion an in
element to mutiny among prison
ers, a problem is presented in the
control of crime more acute in this
country than we have heretofore
faced
Statistics show that ~disrespect
of law is more rampant than ever
before. There is an average of
n gang murder a week in Chica-
go alone. Twelve thousand people
were murdered last year in the
United States. Ten out of 100, 900
people is the homicide death rate.
Why should crime be more prev
alent now than formerly. Has
society, in general, been seized
with a crime complex? Is 1t the
people who are to blame? Or is
there something wrong with our
present system of dealing with
crime? These are the questions to
be answered, and the president of
the United States did not take
cognizance Of the situation pre-
maturely when he appointed a
crime commission to try to get at
the bottom of the whole business.
There are those who think the
fault lies with our judicial proceed
ure, that we need less technical
Jurisprudence and more common
say some, are lop-sided, with the
advantage all on the side of the
accused, especially if he has mon
ey and can hire a high power at
torney. Our great lawyers, they
say, are not wasting their talents
for a nominal recompense on the
prosecution end, when they can
command their own fees defend
ing men of wealth.
Pampering the Criminal
1t is maintained that through
the multiplicity of new laws on
stantly being incorporated into
statutes, liberty is becoming more
abridged, the tendency to break
over the barriers more pronounc-
ed. and evasion of the consequent
ces made easier. There is too
much effort employed in trying to
restrict the law-abiding citizen
and too little in restraining the
habitual law violator. There is
too much pampering of the Grim
inal, There are too many blue
laws. The indeterminate sentence
is a mistake. There is o. much
crime publicity and concomitant
sob-sister stuff.
There are those who think the
great increase in crime is trace
able to he innovations in ou'
present method of living, the elm
ination of the old home fi%resides,
the lack of character develop {
in our young people, the raz- s
zle-dazzle age, the dearth of true
detectives and the wrong slant
youth is getting on lift. To sup
port this point of view it is point
ed out that most crimes are com
mitted by young men and wom-
en-, that more than so percent of
the inmates of our largest prisons
are under % years Of age.
In Oklahoma the maximum pen !.
atty for robbery under arms is
death. For a holdup offense Judge
Yeager sentenced Ted Cole in Tul-
sa the other day to the electric t
chair. Emmett Kelly was given
a life sentence by the same judge k
for stealing S1.55 worth of gaso-
line while armed. While we do
not believe public sentiment in
would endorse a law
quite so drastic as the Oklahoma =
law, it would uphold more official :.
energy in the prosecution and pun
lshment of criminals.
We have a state crime commits
sion in Montana composed of men a
the highest type who are max d
ng a survey with the idea of rec
,mmending remedial procedure. If,
is one school of thought runs, W
civilization, itself, is going to the
,ad, and is responsible, the COM
has set itself an impos-
ible task. But if the increase of d,
rhine is due, as most of us be-
ieve, to the laxity in present pu- pl
tive methods, the commission, m
nth proper support, can accomp- to
ssh a great deal to curb crime. ga
Chief Justice Taft thinks there
hould be more coordination of
he enforcement departments of nc
ne several states and that a cent
allied state police system is ad- r.,
isible in each state. To fight or
anized crime with organized pros
cution and enforcement is not a
ad idea and may be the ultimate IL
evolved by the commits.
on.
49, uWuu 1@nDrD