12,000 YEARS IN GAOL

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2308, 28 November 1925, Page 14

12,000 YEARS IN GAOL

FOR VOLSTEAD ACT VIOLATORS, WASHINGTON, November 25. The Department of Justice (Division in Charge of Prohibition Litigation) reported that during the Prohibition period, fines totalling thirty million dollars and gaol sentences aggregating 12,000 years had been imposed upon Volstead Act violators. The report stated that a summary of the trend of Prohibition enforcement disclosed: (1) that the Government was prosecuting larger and more important cases; (2) a decrease within the last two years in the number of cases pending, indicating more prompt trials: (3) penalties for vio lation, especially prison sentences steadily increasing: (4) a very substantial Increase in the number of padlock injunctions. It is reported that the United States Government up to 30th. June, 1925, had convicted 154,772 persons of violating the Prohibition law, and acquitted 7414, dismissed 30,213, leaving 24,634 cases pending. Federal Courts were becoming more strenuous regarding violations. The average gaol sentence increased by 25 per cent in 1925, compared with 1924 when the average sentence was 21 days. The average fine in 1925 was 200 dollars. During 1925 there were 1317 more convictions than in 1924.