Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-17
|W|CKERSHAM BODY
| STUMPED BY CAUSE
Crime Study Fails to Clear
Doubt-Henry Anderson
Scores Report.

The Wickersham Commission today
reported to President Hoover It's inabil-
ity to reach definite conclusions on the
cause Of crime-one Of the major ques-
tons assigned it for investigation By
the President.
The report, twelfth Of series sub
mitted to the White House recently
was criticized severity by Henry w. An
derson of Virginia, who presented an in
dividual report urging creation Of ar
Institute Of Human Research" TO study
effects of environment on crime.
Col Anderson held that the commits
sion. by falling to ascertain the cause
Of lawleSsness. had fallen short OF the
goal set for 1t by President Hoover, I'm
less the members Of the commission un.
derstsnd the causes, he said, they were
not qualified to suggest remedies.
Kenyon Refuses 10 Sign.
Federal Judge william s. Kenyon o.
Iowa failed to sign the report, but gave
no reason.
The report, constituting two volumes
totaling $50 pages, included detailed
findings of various experts employed tC
study various phases of the problem oi
curing crime One volume alone treat
ed Of Juvenile delinquency and suggest
ed a crusade against slums as breeding
spots" of crime.
Reports by the other experts named
as causes for the uprush of crime in
the United States factors ranging from
unpopular laws. unemployment and
economic depression to political corrup-
ton and police graft and dishonesty
Prohibition and the drug trafflc were
mentioned indirectly. but were not
dwelt upon.
Morris Ploscowe, commission con-
sultant, in an analysis of published lit
erature on the causes of crime, asserted
the activities of bootlegging gangs
"woulo not be possible without the de-
mand for intoxicating liquors and the
tremendous profits to be made in sup
plying it,
In a report upon the relation between
economic conditions and the volume OF
crime In Massachusetts,. DR.. Emma A.
Winslow concluded there was a posi-
tive link between the two. She asserted
the assurance Of economic security
would bring AN appreciate reduction
in crime"
Employment Is Factor.
Miss Mary Van Kleeck of the Russell
Sage Foundation reported that study
Of the Sing Sing Prison records over
10 years showed the ranks Of the un-
employed produce more criminals than
the ranks of the employed.
In another phase of the study OF
Sing Sing, Ira De A. Reid, director OF
research of the National Urban League
found there were more Negroes among
the prisoners than was warranted by
their proportion of the total population
The main study submitted by the
commission, however. was that prepared
by Clifford r. Shaw and Henry D
Mckay of the Behavior Research Func
of Chicago, dealing with juvenile de-
linquercy.
Here are some Of the conclusions
they reported:
That specific areas, usually fringine
the business sections. produce by fal
the greatest number of delinquents.
That once a section becomes so char.
acterized. ii continues to turn out large
numbers of criminals each year
That OF 8,141 boys before the Chicago
court, 43 per cent more became recidiv-
lists trapeaters) from the stun area,
than from other sections.
That these areas contribute directly
to crime through organized gangs
fences" who induce boys to steal fol
them. and the widespread knowledge
Of political corruption and the allianct
between crime and politics"