The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1932-03-03
LEGAL SAFEGUARDS OF
LAWLESS ENCOURAGEMENT
TO COMMISSION OF CRIMES
Immunity Resulting from Trial
Technicalities Regarded By
New York Prosecutor as Main
Cause of Disregard of Law
By JOHN ]. BENNETT, Jr.,
Attorney General, State of New York
UNITED States Daily

It is almost superfiuous for anyone
living in Twentieth Century Amer
lea to call attention to the fact that
the most pressing social problem con-
fronting the people of the United
States generally is that of crime.
So accustomed to the crime situa-
ton have we become that I fear the
full significance of its menacing fea-
lures is oftentimes lost from our view.
Sometimes believe we have been all
together too Indifferent to the cine
wave that seems never to languish
with US. I often wonder whether, if
a determined people decided to seek
the solution or the solutions of this
problem, they might not reduce the
appalling social waste resulting there
from.
sincerely doubt that the popula-
tion at large is even remotely aware
of the extent to which crime has
grown in the United States, or of the
power that is welded by the invisi-
BILE government of the underworld.
In the teeming history of the United
States, lawlessness has always been
found in a greater or lesser degree.
suppose this is because of the cir
cumstances surrounding our growth
from the comparatively insignificant
nation of $50 years ago to our pres
emit exalted position among the coun-
tries of the world.
Llwlessness has existed on our
frontiers. Lawlessness has been found
in our great cities. Lawlessness has
been seen in our towns and country
side.
But not, it seems to me, the kind
of lawlessness that exists among US
today. Where once crime was indi-
vidualized and even to some extent
picturesque, as seen in the careers Of
the western bandits, today it is big
business, at once ruthless and cold.
The past 10 years have witnessed
the rise of the modern racketeer and
the gunman gangster. The era thru
which we have passed has been re-
plete with instances of criminal dar-
ing and insolence almost impossible
to conceive.
Into the very warp and wool of
our times has been woven the turbu-
lent story of the overlords of vice and
the army of desperadoes travelling in
their wake. Our times have produced
a Capone, an almost mythical figure,
concerning whom the newspapers
have written tales bordering on the
fantastic-in whose career the mo-
ton pictures have found a theme for
stories lurid beyond the last dream of
sensationalism.
And those who read even as they
run must have observed that this class
to whom I refer, the racketeer and
his henchman, the gunman, apparent
" have been and are immune from
punishment. Almost it seems as
though the law is impotent in the face
of the challenge that has been hurled
by the criminal class.
This is indeed a distressing situa-
ton. Here consider for moment the
toll that crime has exacted, the full
significance of the situation will be
apparent to all.
The statisticians tell us that the an
nual crime bill of the United States
ranges from $8,O00,0O0,O00 to $10,-
O00,0O0,000. If we place against this
estimate-which is, of course, conjec-
tural but nevertheless not far-fetched
the national income aggregating in
our best business years approximate
1y $4,000, 100000 we may readily con-
ceive the economic waste resulting
from crime.
In arriving at the cost of our an
nual. crime bill the statisticians take
into consideration not only direct
losses resulting from robberies, lar
cenies and other crimes, but the indi-
rect factors, such as costs of insur-
ance against thieving of every de-
scription, costs of maintenance of the
vast organization devoted to law en-
forcement and costs arising out of the
operation of prisons.
The picture presented by these sta
tistics is incomplete, however, in that
it furnishes no real perspective of the
immense social damage resulting from
crime; of the misery it brings to the
countless thousands who are affected
by it; of the degradation and suffer-
ing inevitably following in its wake.
Why is it that violent crime -four
ishes here on such magnitudinous
scale when elsewhere in civilized coun-
tries it is not a vexing problem? FIRE.
quently, we read that in Germany and
England, despite the fact that for 10
years these countries have been held
in the grip of sustained economic de-
x1--;sooe own haipnp o1oCad he