Year: 1878

| Close observation of the spirit of both
the secular and religious press, as well as
of the spoken and reported utterances of
the most thoughtful represen tatives of the
pulpit, the bar, and the platform .justifes
the conviction that the belief that crime
| is increasing among the young is general.


And this general impression confirms
the opinion of the present writer. who
has for some time reluctantly believed
that for several years the strength of
criminal tendencies in the young and the
number and turpitude of crimes commit
ted by them have steadily increased. We
should, however, discount general i'm
pressions; for when favorable they are
very often too favorable and when ad-
verse are as frequently too disparaging


There is at the present time greater IA
cility in the collection and distribution of
news than ever before. Twenty five years
ago, if crime were committed in the in
terror Of Maine or Michigan, unless ex-
traordinary in its methods or victims or
perpetrators, it would not be known out
side of the state or, if known, so long q
time would have elapsed that its publ
cation would excite no general interest.
Now we read every morning and evening
of the most insignificant crimes commit





our own state, but of every other Also
there is great difference in the number
and density of the population.


If the population, for example, of New
York and vicinity is four times as great
as it was thirty years ago, and there
should be no more than four times as
many crimes as there were then, there
would be no relative increase. And if a
change in the distribution Of the popula-
ton makes crimes easy which were for
merly difficult, and causes of crime active
which were formerly dormant, this fact
should be duly weighed. We should also
consider our enlarging experience of the
world, and that we judge from the sum
of our impressions, and are thus often led
to form disproportionate estimates 1t is
in this way that honest men sometimes
make great errors in statistical state
lnents They hear on Monday that two
or three persons in certain ward or viii
lage have fever and ague, on Tuesday or
Wednesday of two or three more and in
q few days they declare, under the intu-
ence of a cumulative impression, that the
place is not fiji to live in, that nine-tenths
of the population are down with malaria,
when probably not one in fifty have the
slightest symptom of it.


But while, on account of guarding
against these causes of exaggeration in
our estimates, | take a less gloomy view
than some maintain, | am convinced that,
after due allowance has been made, 1T is
painfully apparent that there has been a
great increase OF youthful crime within a
few years, and that such increased has been
marked by important features that de
serve to be studied very closely.


Crimes among the young are not con
| Gpad to tho roI1 oh or en- led lower elias
ses. . Formerly, with comparatively few
exceptions, they were committed by illit
crate boys and young men and women
who were on the edges of civilization
and when a young man OF good family
and education did an act that put him III
danger of imprisonment, or on account o.
which he was actually tried and impris
oned, sermons were preached aud book:
written about it and all agreed that il
was amazing, But now, II we should hear
at any time that scion of one OF the bes
families had been guilty of some heinou!
offense, unless we chanced to know him
it would excite but momentary surprise
Formerly the traditional type of crimi
mails, old and young. seemed to favor
hrenology-beetling eyebrows, retreat
ing foreheads, and immense projections
in the region of destructiveness and com
bativeness. But now we are as likely t.
have in the criminal full and high fore
head, genial countenance, a soft anc
winning voice, and no unusual thickness
of the back of the neck. Moreover, man.
youthful criminals nave been Sabbath
school scholars When the statistician
were in their glory, on Sabbath schoo
anniversaries they used to tell US tha
careful investigation showed that of al
criminals not more than one per cent
had been in the Sabbath school" 1t wa
1 true then; but it is not true now.
!. have given much attention to the ques
/ ton, visiting institutions conversing witt
men devoted to mission work, and notin
instances that have been brought to m