CAUSES OF CRIME.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 289, 10 November 1925, Page 7

CAUSES OF CRIME.

THE COST TO THE UNITED STATES'.

Received November 10, 11.30 a.m. NEW YORK, Nov. 9. Commissioner Burdette Lewis, of New Jersey State institutions, addressing the National Conference of Juvenile Agencies at Jackson, Mississippi, outlined the major causes of crime in the United States, namely, better organisation and leadership of the criminal element in the cities, £ll6 breaking up of the American home, the great variety of races in the cities, the declino o.f the fear of eternal punishment, modern matcrialisrfi and the complexity of modern govern-' mental machinery, obsolete laws and procedure, the poor pay for judges and prosecutors, the lack of adventure in ordinary living, the improper use of firearms, automobiles, and narcotics, the lack of a comprehensive faoral and social programme, and congested polico courts and penal institutions. Commissioner .Lewis’s remedial proposals included the simplification of Government and the eliminating of obsolete lavs, international and national control of firearms, automobiles and narcotics. Commissioner Lewis declared that the United States annual crime cost between four thousand million and ten thousand million dollars. —A.- and N.Z. cable.