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Show Country Crime Noted by Federal. Bureau j Attorney General William P. i Rogers this week released FBI; crime statistics for 1959 which : were reported to him by FBI Director Dir-ector J. Edgar Hoover. Mr. Hoover announced that serious ser-ious crimes in the United States have reached an all-time high. Over one and one-half million serious offenses were committed in 1959. Although serious crimes as a group Increased only one percent last year over 1958, killers, kil-lers, . assailants, rapists, robbers, burglars and assorted thelves committed 69 percent more serious ser-ious crimes in 1959 than they committed in 1950 and 128 percent per-cent more serious offenses than were committed In 1940. Already in the first half of 1960 the FBI reports a sharp rise of nine percent per-cent in serious crimes as Indicated Indicat-ed nationally. Immediate prospects pro-spects for a change, in the trend are dim inasmuch as the FBI crime calendar reveals the nation is approaching the most crime-ridden crime-ridden month, December. "This ominous rise in crime cannot be explained away as being be-ing due to population increases," Director Hoover said. ' Crime has been rising four times as fast as population. Unless positive steps are taken to check this rising crime trend, this country will face a crime problem of emergency proportions In the years ahead." As the most alarming aspect of America's crime problem, Mr. Hoover cited the sharp Increase in the number of Juvenile offenders. offend-ers. The last calendar year witnessed wit-nessed an all-time high in the number of Juvenile arrests made in this country. With a four percent per-cent increase in 1959, the arrests rf ycung persons under 18 have doubled the post-World War II low In 1948. "Again," Mr. Hoover stated, "the increase in our youth pop-ulation pop-ulation is not wholly responsible for this rise since Juvenile arrests ar-rests have Increased two and one-half times faster than the growth of our Juvenile population. popula-tion. This disturbing 100 percent increase in Juvenile delinquency gains even more slgnficance' when compared with a 17 percent rise in adult arrests during the same period. i .. ... The seriousness of the Juvenile Juven-ile delinquency- problem," Mr. Hoover said, "is pinpointed by the disproportionately large involvement in-volvement of , young, people in certain crimes. In auto theft, persons per-sons under 18 years of age made up 64 percent of all arrests. They represented 52 percent of the persons per-sons arrested for burgulary while 1 49 percent of the arrests for larceny lar-ceny and 26 percent of the arrests ar-rests for robbery were of young peop'e.-; , , , v Mr.- Hoover concluded: "Although "Al-though fewer juveniles ;' than adults are involved in the overall over-all crime picture, the ever-increasing number , of young offenders of-fenders yea after year calls for positive community action to restore re-store our basic moral values." |
