The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-07-20

has just been published and
this years version Of Crime
In the United States carries
the discouraging news that
crime is growing five times
faster than the population.
This bleak revelation is make
even more dismal by notation
that youthful criminals continue
on the increase. Consider this:
"As a group, persons under
18 years of age represent 43 per
cent of all arrests for the more
serious offenses of murder, forci-
BILE rape, robbery, aggravated
assault, burglary, larceny, and
auto theft.
This latest FBI compilation of
uniform crime reports discloses
some of the patterns by which
criminals operate. It also dis
inguishes between those crimes
which police can help to prevent
and those crimes which occur
within family or social groups
and are almost impossible to
prevent officially.
Robberies, burglaries, auto
theft and other forms of larc-
eny which result from premedit-
ated plans to steal ~ these
crimes can be curbed by eX-
ponded police forces. greater pa
troll activity. and stricter en-
phasis on preventive measures.
But crimes Of passion, such as
murder and aggravated assault,
are more difficult to curb, for
they frequently occur spontane-
ously within a family or social
environment which is not sub
ject to preventive policing. In
the field of passionate crime. IS
per cent of aggravated assaults
are committed by member; of
the victims family or acquaint-
ances and neighbors.
The shift of American popula-
ton from rural to urban areas
has been accompanied by an ev-
en-greater increase of crime in
the cities. Today, nearly two
thirds of our people live in areas
centered about cities of $4,000 or
more persons.
Within these metropolitan
areas, crime flOurishes at rate
three times that of rural areas.
and twice that of the smaller
towns and cities.
Crime in the United States
also reflects seasonal. monthly,
and in some instances, hourly
characteristics of criminal be-
havior.
Crimes of passion, for exam
pie, are at their highest peak dur
ing the summer months between
June and September.
On the other hand, such GRIM
es against property as robbery
and burglary are at their high
est in the winter months of long
hours of darkness. Larceny and
auto theft show less seasonal
variation, and are fairly constant
throughout the year.
In terms Of average frequency
of occurrence last year, there
was a murder every hour, a
forcible rape every 3 minutes,
an aggravated assault every four
minutes, an auto theft every
mlnute-and-a-half, and a burg
larry every 81 seconds.
The FBI reports point up the
obvious fact that the incidence
of crime could be reduced
through larger and better train
ed police forces. But they also
indicate that we citizens oursel-
YES could help greatly in curling
crime - by being more careful
with our own persons and prop
erty, by being alert to others
carelcssness, and by coopera-
ting more fully with the police.
Speaking Of police, the year
1861 brought death to II law en-
forcement officers. More than
eight out of every 100 police Of
ficers were assaulted last year
during the course Of their duties.
Another occupational hazard
of police officers, points out
FBI Director j. Edgar Hoover
in his preface to this crime re-
port. is the pressure, "often
political in nature which is
brought to bear on a police de-
partment which exposes To-
cal crime problem.
And in some areas. citizens
are reluctant to admit the ex-