Show INCREASE OF CRIME ix IN the new princeton review lievi evo for november is an article by george R stetson in which some startling figures are riven given relative to the increase of crime the Uh christian ristian union makes the following summary of the article mr stetson presents in a very effective way and in a popular results oje of an exhaustive analysis of criminal statistics in the last census as it is presented by mr wines in the recent numbers of the international record of charities and correction aud and these statistics seem to bear out the title of mr stetsons article athe the renaissance of barbarism and to justify his assertion that we are in a period of moral decadence decadence a decadence which is not confined to massachusetts and the united states but which casts its shadow over the european continent this is a startling statement bur the figures in support of it are equally startling since they show an increase in the ratio ol of prisoners te W population population in the united states of from 1 in in 1850 to 1 in in 1880 in massachusetts the prison arison population has more than doub doubled ed in its relation to the general population between 1850 and 1887 it is indeed true that improvements in civilization necessarily involve some increase in crime especially against property where there is nothing TO steal there are no thieves tn leves but we cannot attribute that relative increase of crime la in the united states wholly to this cause in england civilization has also improved in thirty ye year arsand yet under an im improved I 1 roved penal system crime his has diminished from about criminals io 1850 out of a population of to in 1880 out of a kopul population of 24 why has the ratio of criminals increased in the united states and deer decreased cased in great Brita britain Jn we cannot console our humiliated national pride by charging this increase upon immigration in f 1850 the percentage ceri tage of foreign born prisoners was five times that of native prisoners in 1880 it is a little less than doub leThis may indeed be due dae to the fact that imported criminal tendencies descend to the second and third generation but the fact to is equally ominous whatever its cause it is singular and ana significant that there has been a similar increase in criminal population on the european continent and also significant that more than half our convicted criminals are under twenty eight years of age |