Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1926. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 6 January 1926, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1926. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

In many countries there has been ei marked increase in crime since the war. In Britain, it is. true, various gaols have been closed, and the prison population is smaller than it used to be. But the authorities point out that this gives no indication of the real position. Many a delinquent whose guilt has been proven avoids punishment. Judges and magistrates have more discretion than they formerly had in the direction of indicting a fine instead of .sending a person to gaol, or letting him off as w first offender, and of suspending sentence subject to good behaviour. Hence the reduction in the prison population has no relation to the aggregate of offences committed. The figures for indictable offences in England and Wales in 1923, 1922 and 1921 were 63,269, 61,355, and 55,177 respectively. In the United States, again, the criminal calendar has been 'enormously .swollen by infractions, serious or trivial, of the prohibition laws, and many that have been visited by punishment do not involve a very grave degree of moral turpitude. But, quite apart from these cases, the increase in crime, and e s-pec-ially in crime accompanied by violence, is causing American sociologists a great deal of anxiety. According to a recent cablegram, officials attribute it to a number of factors, some of which would seem to be peculiar to America, while others are more general in their operation. Of the former class is the racial admixture in the cities, which leads to feuds and vendettas. Another is tlie elaborate organisation which the criminal elements have

perfected. It is not only in America that gangs wo-k in unison, but in America, it 'appears from certain recent trials, criminal enterprise lias been systematised with extraordinary thoroughness. Prosecutors, we are told, arc poorly paid. From this, presumably, we are to infer that the less competent practitioners are the ones who accept these posts, and that in consequence criminals escape conviction. A cause whose incidence is not confined to America is the lack of adventure in ordinary life. In this mechanised age the •worker is becoming inoic and more- a mere automaton. His job does not interest him; lie craves for excitement as a relief from the monotony, and sometimes lie seeks it in crime. The decay of home life has also had an unfortunate effect. The home and its associations undoubtedly exerci.sc a restraining influence. But nowadays the tendency is for the young people to gad about the streets,, whore they are 1i.,5,1c to consort with, undesirable companions, and to got into mischief.