Evening star., 1936-03-15
BRITISH LAWS SEVERITY
REDUCES SERIOUS CRIME
Gang Crimes, Kidnapings and Use of
Weapons Are Kept at Minimum
by Heavy Penalties.

industrial cities Of the midlands and
north. But the smallest Of American
gangsters would think the biggest Of
British big shots q piker. It's q
small, tough living, ganging in Brit
ain. The only big money in crime is
made by master brains who use or
ganiZations but don't need body
guards and muscle men; they have
no competition problem which can
be settled only with the gun.
The small gangs scrape Q living
around rough neighborhoods. Shop
keepers and street-market traders
will come across with dollar or two
week to avoid trouble. The aris-
tocrats operate on the dog and horse
race tracks.
Occasional Clashes Occur.
Occasionally members of rival gangs
clash. One swings an iron-shot fist,
but is beaten to the punch by driving
boot-toe to the stomach. Another
takes the imprint of a broken bottle
on his face. A third falls out of the
fight clutching an ear half severed
by "slice"-a much-favored weapon
made Of several safety-razor blades
set in a wood lath. Then the police
arrive and it is all over.
Guns? Dear me, no. British gang
Sters don't use guns. No British DO
hceman goes armed. Even the motor
cops who chase automobile bandits
don't carry guns, but must outspeed
the flying crook and force him to the
curb. Guns are issued to the police
only when they are hunting an armed
and desperate criminal and then only
to a few picked men. It is a year
since the police actually exchanged
shots with an armed criminal on
such a hunt.
1t looks as II Britain would be a
soft spot for an armed alien criminal
or for native who thought Of adopt
ing American gang criminal methods.
But let us suppose that a trio of gun
men descended on Britain and went
to work in the manner to which they
had always been accustomed.
The first. proceeding to extremes
the first time out, would step on the
gas and seek a hide-away. But he
would find that Britain is a tran. a
little, compact country packed with
45.OOO,000 people. No great spaces.
Sparsely inhabited. Eyes everywhere,
people everywhere, radio and tele-
phone reaching every corner of the
little island in a flash, national news
papers delivered to the farthest limits
every "a hours. And, everywhere,
natives recognizing at a glance a
stranger in the neighborhood. Caught
ne would be quickly brought to trial.
down a dark well at the end of a
12-foot rope.
II Years for Gun Use.
NOS. and would thereupon de-
eide that they were fools to invite
a broken neck. No 2 would merely
point an empty gun. On trial. he
Woulo be convicted and sent up for II
years, under the law Of November
1884. which makes a criminal liable
10 that term for using or attempting
10 use a flrearm. or even ar irnita-
tlon' TO threaten or escape arrest.
NO. 3 now takes thought. oh.
oiously, it is almost as risky In
carry a gun as to use one. WHY in
crease the risks of an already risky
calling? He discards his gun and
holding up branch bank. merely
uses his flSt-not even a blackjack or
ooot, mind you, but just his fist,
up ne comes before the Judge, and
the judge says:
Inc serious crime Of this country
al the present time is found To be
committed by young men. very often
young men who have not been in
prison before. 1t may be that there
is thought that there is something
nne and exciting about this sort of
crime. do not know where the idea
comes from, but do know that in
the interests Of the public it must be
eradicated from the minds of those
who fall into temptation. Fifteen
months and is strokes Of the 'cat'!"
That. at least. is what a British
Judge said on February IL last to 10
Barratt, 80, waiter, pleading guilty
(Wlth Art McNally, who got u months
and IL strokes) to assaulting branch
bank manager with intent to rob
Nothing annoys the British so much
as violence being introduced into
crime. 1t is only when that happens
that they allow their judges to order
the "cat."
Criminals Get Rid of Guns.
All OF which explains why the GRIM
inal does not use a gun in Britain.
thereby relieving the police of the
necessity Of going armed. It Is esti-
mated that more than a hundred
known criminals habitually carried
guns up to the passage of that Mo-
vember, 1884, law. After the passage
Of the law they dumped them.
Britain's latest worry Is an old
story in America, and more than half
The tale Of American crime-the alien
rom the European underworld. Snug
Cling Of aliens into Britain and Amer.
lea is regular business among certain
skilled European criminals, who have
learned their way about the shipping
and port underworlds through white
Slaving, gun-running and dope traf-
licking. They are in touch, through
these same activities, with crooked
engravers and penmen, who
will forge anything from a passport
20 birth or marriage certificate.
Principles and motives stay, but tao
,ics change with the advent of new
technical resources; and the character
If crime itself alters with new political
conditions and moral conceptions. OBJ
'iously, there are more opportunities
'or crime in our intricate and complex
civilization, with its charac-
,eristic phenomena of huge crowded
titles, full of lootable stuff, and elabo-
ate high-speed communications. The
criminals or organized gangs work
'aster. They commit more crimes
before they are caught.
But the technical DEVELOPMENTS
which favor the contemporary GRIM
nal during the commission Of q crime
IL