Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-27
ANALYSIS OF CRIME
TO START SEPT. 4
Law Enforcement Commits
sion to Meet Then to Take
Up Specialists Work.
BY the Associated Press.


After laying its groundwork with the
accumulation Of a huge mass Of Stats
tics and information. the National
Law Enforcement Commission will meet
September to begin what probably
viii result in the most exhaustive
analysis ever undertaken of crime and
upholding of laws in the United States.
The commission recently divided its
study into IL phases of the problem
with It's members formed into COM
mittees to concentrate on the different
subjects relating to crime conditions
and law observance and enforcement.
1t is planned to facilitate the work
of each committee through employ
ment Of experts in its particular field Of
investigation.
Four experts already have been Sc
lected and Chicago University is to
cooperate with a study of one OF the
subjectS-criminal justice and the for
eign born. Commission officials ex-
pect that the organization of specialized
assistance will be completed before the
meeting next week.
Expect Years Work.
Commission officials still expect the
work to take year or more. The plan
to study the various phases of the prob
lem will constitute their principal eff
forts for some time. and they probably
Will not reach the stage of public hear
ings until late in the Winter. Chair
man Wickersham desires to obtain all
available facts before augmenting this
data with the views from witnesses.
The study of the IL phases of the
crime and law enforcement problems
Is regarded by the commissioners as
constituting an almost limitlesS task
each committee being charged with
survey of wide proportions and mani
fold subjects.
In the study of the causes of crime,
omcials explained today such factors as
nereolty, environment. motives for GRIM
mai acts and mental effectiveness of
criminals would be analyzed. The sur
vey OF the Nations police and judicial
machinery will have to 60 into two other
broad subjects, covering the varied
methods Of protection against and de-
tention OF criminals by the police and
the structure Of courts and methods of
eliminating delay in their procedure.
Will Study Prisons.
The study Of penal institutions will
be intensified by the recent outbreaks
Of convictS in Federal and State prisons
in different sections of the country. Be-
sides survey of means to alleviate con-
ditions likely to cause such disturb
ances, another Of the many topics I'M
der this committees consideration will
be whether the American penal system
cures crime" or breeds hardened crimi-
mails.
On the. subject Of criminal justice
and the foreign born. to be studied by
Chicago University, the commission will
have before it the question of strength
ening the law in connection with de-
porting alien criminals
The committee on lawlessness by Gov
eminent law enforcing officers is con-
fronting variety of subjects, including
probably the killings of prohibition vio-
lators as well as offenders against other
laws by pursuing officers. Other topics
will include the question whether the
third degree and other widely used
methods of drawing information from
criminals or suspects is justified.