YOUTH AND CRIME

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 April 1931, Page 4

YOUTH AND CRIME

PROGRESS OF INVENTION. Dr George E. Kirchwey, Professor of Criminology at the New York School of Social Research, and forriier warden of Sing Sing prison, speaking before the Rand School of Social Science, declared that “those who think, that young people- are going into crime for the first time forget the story of Cain and Abel.” Furthermore, Dr Kirchwey said, the immigrant population -is contributing less than its percentage share of American, crime. “There is nothing new about youth taking up crime,” Dr Kirchwey said. “The condition has always existed, only reformers and writers rediscover it from time to time.”

tie continued: “The question ‘Why has the United States, with a civilisation equal to that of Western Europe, a so much higher crime rate?’ is a general one to-day. The answer is that it is a. natifral product of the sort of civilisation we happen to be enjoying at this time. There is nothing abnormal nbout it. In the past fifteen years robbery has increased tremendously, while burglary has steadily decreased. There arc two factors in this phenomenon—the automobile and the automatic. These have made robbery far safer and more profitable than burglary, the ‘pickings’ of which arc hard to dispose of when you get them, Thus the progress of invention 1S a ac^or ■* n the change of crime. Europe is getting easy-goifig and unadventurous. The adventurers of Europe have come here. We’re a rough and ready people, and if we want a pay roll we take it. Similarly nt other walks of life, if we want a’’ conviction we get it. Win all or lose all is our motto. We arc capable of anything, from adopting a new style of robbery to flinging a railroad across a Continent, it is adventure we need? ihtn prol,le,n of supplying something lor our youth better than supervised playgrounds is the real problem conli outing us in the future of crime.”