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Show THE CITIZEN 8 Crime and the Modern Criminal Less Laws, Strict Enforcement and Severer Punishment Will Aid Police in Forcing Proper Respect for All Law. Let Us Wipe Out the Criminal UTAH State Legislature will next Monday for a sixty-da- y session. One of the chief issues that will confront this legislature is e 7- . Only a few seconds elapse ever increasing criminal element which today is backed by money, brains and power and this criminal element must be unseated if the citizen is to survive. In line with this thought we find an article in the December issue of The Manufacturer, an industrial news bureau, which delves into crime and the modem criminal, written by Strayer Earle Whitham. In this article ,which we reproduce herewith for the special benefit of our readers, Chief of Police L. V. Jenkins of Portland, Oregon, says that crime can only be lessened by fewer laws, quicker and surer punishment for the criminal and public understanding and cooperation. It is an article that every legislator should read and carefully digest. The problem of crime prevention is one that has become of steadily greater magnitude for a number of THE be-th- law-abidi- ng years past. Authorities estimate that criminal activities in this country cost us a minimum of thirteen billion dollars a year; more than the cost of an entire years warfare during the late holocaust. Comparison There are 36 more chances of being held up and robbed in New York than in London, and in Chicago the chances are a hundred. The burglar in New York is said to have the odds 13 to one for him; in contrast, the Lonon criminal has them ten to one against him. During one year, all of England and Wales had but 154 cases of murder, while in two American cities the total reached 443 in the same period. These statistics show graphically the entire crime menace facing America. Obviously there is a clear need for reform and reorganization of our criminal procedure if we are to make any progress whatsoever in circumventing the thug, the gangman. This ster and the second-stor- y is generally agreed. What is not agreed, is exactly how to go about crime prevention so as to get tangible results. It is only necessary to read the laws passed or proposed yearly in the several state legislatures to understand the divergent processes of thinking, and the conflicting opinions that have made an movement g organized impossible. It would seem that the men whose life-woit is to prevent crime, or failing that, to solve it and bring the criminal to justice would be the best arbiters of exactly what is causing our modem crime crime-fightin- rk Innocent Legislators Have Passed Laws Which Aid Instead of Intercept Criminals and Graft waves and what must be done if they are to be stopped. Too much crime legislation has been proposed by those whose knowledge is secondhand, and whose beliefs have only a theoretical basis; too little by men whose information has come to them from practical experience, an whose opinions are substantiated by facts. Experience As head of the Portland, Oregon, police department, one of the most efficient and successful organizations of its kind in the Northwest, Chief Jenkins is eminently fitted to discuss crime, and his opinions are of very solid worth. The Portland police revolver team has recently come into national recognition by its having won ,over all other teams, the championship of the world at the recent National Matches held at Camp Per.ry, Ohio. Under the expert tuition of Sergeant J. H. Young, a member of this team and worlds champion individual revolver shot, it is a group that inspires the gangman with a ster and the hold-u- p fear of law and order, supported by shooting ability of the highest 'order. In the hands of such men as Chief Jenkins and Sergeant Young the hopes fo preventing future ravages by crimials rests. Chief Jenkins, in the following interview given to The Manufacturer, discussing the various phases of the crime situation, makes a valuable 'contribution to the practical literature on the subject. Chief Jenkins first answer was a definite yes to the question, Is there a pronounced increase in crime today? He substantiated the popular belief that the criminal has been growing steadily more bold at the expense of society, and that his comparative success, and the failure of law enfrocement has had a tendeney to make the career of crime appear attractive and easy. Responsible Lack of discipline in homes, said the Chief, .coupled with improper home conditions are to a great degree responsible for crime. A survey of domestic trouble cases showed that, of the first thousand, but five came from real homes, and the rest from apartment houses and flats. Domestic discord, leading to divorce, has a degenerating influence on the child. Parents who themselves break laws, even minor ones, can unconsciously give the child doubts as to the necessity for law obeyance. As a result he breaks laws himself, grows more and more disdainful of authority. . From there it is but a step for him' to become a criminal. . A frequently remarked manifesta- tion of our modern life is our vast e number of laws, and the red-tap- and legal technicalities that surround them. According to Chief Jenkins there are now more than 1,900,000 laws in the United States; the average citizen can only understand and know an infinitesimal minority of them. In a report of one court in the city of Chicago, in 1926, it was found that 75 per cent of the defendants were charged wtih law violations that, in 1912, would not have been law violations. Too Many Laws Obviously, Chief Jenkins stated, if there are more laws there are more to break. More people on finding that what was once considered a perfectly innocent act is now illegal, will lose their respect for what they consider an abuse of authority. lThe effect on the individual policeman must also be considered. It is human nature to lose heart if he finds his efforts apparently unavailing. He knows he is outnumbered by the criminal. There are great crime organizations that are as efficient as any legal organizations. The policeman sees organized crime and graft fluorishing. As a e, we occasionally find police failure due to discouragement; even to police crookedness, siding in with and protecting criminals. Police and judicial efficiency is not keeping pace with the criminal, Chief Jenkins continued. The public must be educated to crime and what is needed to successfully handle it. Police departments are almost universally hampered by a lack of equipment, funds and sufficient officers. There has been no real progress made in law and police procedure since the time of George Washington. conse-qeunc- For every police dollar there are a hundred criminal dollars. No matter how ambitious and untiring the law enforcement officer may be, he must work under tremendous disadvantages. All he wants is cooperation and an even break, a thing the general public apparently fails to understand. Pardons Abuses of pardon and parole laws have made the policemans task doubly difficult. Our legal system, while basically sound, has become burdened with a mass of technicalities providing ready loopholes for the criminal. Clever lawyers confuse issues and sway juries composed of laymen with little knowledge of the law, with sentiment or arguments beside the point. And when, everything else fails, advantage is often taken of multiplicity of laws to gain repeals, delays or new trials. The institutions of the pardon and parole, logically conceived, are laudable and should be maintained. Once a criminal has served part of his sentence and shown by his mental attitude and behavior that he wishes to join society again with his slate clean, he should be given a chance. But there is no reason in the world why repeating criminals, who have shown time and again that they are mentally and morally warped, should, through the mistaken in-- stigations of professional Salvationists, be allowed to come out of prison and pursue their way to more murders and robberies. It is such things as this that discourage the police and make their efforts seem unavailing. And society, whether it knows it or not, must pay the cost. Reformers The more or less common belief that heredity can be held to be a determining factor in crime is erroneous. Environment is everything. Children who are taught the iaw by law abiding parents respect it and they grow into law abiding adults. This is a great modem need the proper raising of the child in relation to the society he is to become a member of. Teach the child in the high chair and not in the electric chair, when it is too. late. There has been a pronounced effort by reformers and some legislators, to pass laws that would make the sale and possession of revolvers and pistols illegal. Apparently not recognizing that such a law would not disarm the underworld, with its many contacts and contempt for all laws, and, on the other hand, would make it impossible for the law abiding citizen to possess a gun, thus laying him men more open than ever to hold-u- p and all sorts of criminals, bills have been proposed and, in some cases, passed. Chief Jenkins holds the belief that these laws do far more harm than good. As a matter of fact, he said, there can be no more valuable training, in the direction of crime reform, for the citizen, than in shooting. Such organiaztions as the R. O. T. C., the various gun clubs and so on, are, in |