CRIME IN AMERICA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16534, 29 December 1927, Page 3

CRIME IN AMERICA

.:. ' FEDERAL PRISONS FULL WASHINGTON/ Nov. 17. With, violators of the narcotic and .-‘7, prohibition laws heading the list, more i prisoners are confined in United States Federal prisons than at any time in :>tie history of the country, according - 'to the United States Department of 'Justice. In announcing a prison population "of 18,788 at the end of the last iiscaLydSr, compared with 8927 in 1918, title. Department declares that this ligurc a Federal prison increase of fei'llO per cent, daring the last nine years, IS’v against an -increase of the country’s I. popuietfpu of less tlian 20 per cent. |v.ThdiiUbst striking increase is found in | narco tkoriiaw violations, which jumped I fcomlSt in 1918 to 2116 hi 1927, jeprejibe largest number of Federal, over, imprisoned for violating K/irnny one Federal law. Next in order .violations of the Volstead Act, with j 20*° prisoners, hut since this law was

not in operation in 1918 it was impossible. to obtain comparative figures. Violations of another recent v law, the Motor Vehicle Theft Act, stand third on the list with 789 prisoners. In 1918 prisoners convicted of theft under the Inter-State 1 Commerce Law numbered 46.5, while last year they dropped to 243; .violations of postal laws decreased from 471 to 191, and violations of revenue laws from 310 to 52. It should be remembered that these figures apply only to prisons under the control of the Federal Government at Washington. They do nob take into account the vast number of prisoners in the gaols of. the individual States.