CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 14 April 1928, Page 5

CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES

A STARTLING STATEMENT A startling answer to the question. •'Why does crime flourish ill the United State's'.'" has been made by a sub-com-mittee of the National Crime Commission. The vastness of the crime, problem, says the committee, is due largely to the "inefficiency of the police, and their inefficiency in turn is due to "lack of average intelligence in the police force, particularly in the supervisory branches.' "The niosl startling thing." says I lit- col Ili'c. is the small mini l.e'r nf ci ii als . aught by I lie police. 1',,.i much attention, i! I'm.ls. has been I'uciissed mi the punishment of criminals alter they are caught, and too little on the problem of catching them and then prosecuting litem successfully. But the Courts and tin* Parole Boards are also at fault, according to the committee. Army intelligence tests were applied tc policemen at Cleveland. Ohio. Only 33 per cent, of them were found to have, average intelligence, and 25 per cent, were classified as feeble li'iTlided or morons. Of detectives, not one was in Class A. only 4 per cent, were in Class R. and only 23 per cent, in Class C. Twenty-five per cent, were found to have ■markedly interior mentality." (.Inciting statistics to show the low ratio of arrests compared with reported crimes, the committee says it is so low that one no longer wonders why so many individuals turn to crime. "It would appear to be about the safest business in which one could engage. Robbery in Buffalo, for example, must be a particularly lucrative calling. As arrests are made in only 5 per cent, of the cases, the number who are finally convicted is necessarily so small that the luckless individual who is occasionally caught and convicted must attribute his misfortune to an act. of God, as he would in the case of a disastrous storm, shipwreck, or earthquake."