Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-06-27
Montana Crime Commission
Begins Its Laborss To Make
Exhaustive Survey of State
BY WARREN w. MOSES.

tons most serious economic waste.
Estimates place the amount of money
annually diverted from legitimate bust
ness either through crime itself or in
the effort to apprehend, prosecute and
punish offenders, at more than the cost
OF operating the federal government,
including the tremendous sums ex-
pended in maintaining the army and
navy and IN paying for past years.
Crime has been on the increase dur
ing the last decade. Law abiding citi-
zens everywhere have awakened to its
enormlty, not only because crime un-
checked is becoming a heavy financial
burden. Something has to be done.
1t is manifest that if the problem is
to be dealt with in practical and eff
fectual fashion, two things are essen
tial. First, the facts must be gathered
and, second, public opinion must be
aroused to support the action which
the facts indicate should be taken.
For the purpose of conducting a sur
vey of co~nditions-to get the facts, in
other words-a national crime commits
sion has Leen organized. This is a
voluntary organization and should not
be confused with President Hooveris
law enforcement commission recent
ly appointed.
The national crime commission, how
ever, had to approach the problem from
a national viewpoint. It's members
soon came to the realization that it
could achieve but little unless there
were state commissions to work on the
problem as it affected each m
wealth. The result wa the formation
of a crime commission in several of the
states, principal among these being
New York, Minnesota, Georgia, Mis-
souri, and California. Some of these
boards have been at work for three or
four years. Information and conclu-
sions have been exchanged, to the end
that each has the advantage of the re-
search Of all.
Last spring the Montana legislature
created a crime commission for this
state. The law provided for the APP
pointment of five men-three district
judges named by the governor. Three
thousand dollars was appropriated for
the commissions expenses, but each of
the commissioners must work without
pay. Though the law is SO Worded as
to permit Of a wide field of inveStiga-
ton, it stresses particularly the need
of inquiry into Montana laws govern
ing criminal procedure.
Chief Justice l.. l.. Galloway, named
George B. Winston judge of the third
district; S.. d. McKinnon, judge of the
sixteenth district, and John Hurley.
judge of the seventeenth district, while
Governor Erickson chose Alfred Atkin-
son, president of Montana State col
lege, Bohemian, and Herbert Peet, edi-
tor OF The Great Falls Tribune.
The first meeting of the crime COM
mission was held at Helena June 6. It
was organized with the election of
Judge Winston as chairman and Mr..
Peet as secretary. Work was assigned
by the chairman to the members, with
the view of holding a second meeting
in September when a definite program
of investigation and study will be de-
cided upon.
Judge Winston, a chairman, Is to get
in touch with the national crime COM
missions in order that the Montana
commission may have at its disposal
all the information on crime so far
compiled throughout the United States.
He is also to get expressions of opinion
from all the district judges Of the state,
from prominent members of the Mon
tana Bar association and from officials
of various state organizations interested
in checking crime, such as stockmen
and bankers, as to what direction the
Montana commissions investigations
should go.
Judges McKinnon and Hurley are to
apply themselves Immediately to an in
tensive study of the Montana laws gov
erning the administration of criminal
justice and to draft such legislation as.
in their opinion, will improve the STU
alton.
DR.. Atkinson and Mr.. Peet are to 90
more into the study of Statistics re-
lating to crime in Montana. First,
they are to ascertain whether crime
actually has increased in Montana and.
if SO, to what extent. They are to in
vestigate the parole and suspended SEN
tence practice and to check up on the
careers OF those who have served
time" to learn, If possible, to what
degree penal servitude reforms a man.
All five of the commissioners are to
TO state their individual opinions Is
the subsequent work of the commits
sion is to be directed.
1t is Judge McKinnon'S opinion
and this is %concurred In by the others
the Montana commission should
not try to cover too much ground in its
report 10 months hence. The reasons
for this are that the commissions
recommendations will be Of little ef-
feet unless they have the backing Of
public opinion, thus they should not
consist of more than the public can
easily comprehend, and that 1t would
be futile to attempt to get the legisla-
ture to rewrite the criminal laws on q
broad scale.
The probabilities are, then, that the
commission will concentrate on what 1t
finds to be two or three Of the most
obvious weaknesses in Montana'S GRIM
inal procedure and endeavor to educate
the ~public-and the legiSlature-to the
necessity of correcting those weaknesses
in 1881.
If that much progress can be made
in the next two years, it Is reasonable
to expect that this or a subsequent
commission can achieve even more dur
ing the biennium that will close with
the legislative session OF 1888.
Why, OF Course
What do you sell your bananas for.
49, rood t.,ava1N