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Show """"""N The 1 a ( HOME TOWN - J REPORTER 1 i 1 ilvJ''! Washington J Home or Hatrack WNU Washington Bureau 621 Union Trust Building C'TN TOO many instances today, the home is pretty much of a hatrack instead of a place of knowledge." knowl-edge." This is the indictment against indolent in-dolent American parents by J. Edgar Ed-gar Hoover, boss G-man of the Federal Fed-eral Bureau of Investigation, in explaining ex-plaining that the nation faces "the biggest juvenile crime problem in history." Principal cure, says Mr. Hoover, is widespread education of adult population as to its responsibilities and the inculcation of religion in the homes. An estimated 1,393,655 crimes were reported in 1944, according ac-cording to fingerprint cards examined exam-ined by the FBI. Of this number age 17 stood out as the predominat-f predominat-f ing single age group among arrest ed persons, followed in this respect by ages 18, 19, 21 and 22 in order indicated. With the passing of each hour dur-ing dur-ing 1944, more than 158 serious ma-r ma-r jor crimes were reported to local police authorities. That's a major crime about every 23 seconds. Every Ev-ery day during last year brought 28 felonious killings, 30 rapes, 150 aggravated ag-gravated assaults and left 120 persons per-sons robbed, 555 with their automobiles automo-biles stolen and the home or business busi-ness place of 749 others burglarized. On top of these 2,176 larcenies occurred oc-curred in the average day. And crimes In rural areas and In the small towns kept pace with crime In the larger cen ters of population. Rural murders mur-ders and rapes decreased In 1944. whereas urban crimes of these types Increased. On the other hand, rural robberies were up 1.7 per cent while urban robberies rob-beries declined 2.1 per cent. For offenses of negligent manslaughter, manslaugh-ter, assault, burglary and auto " theft, the trend in both rural and urban crime figures was upward J In 1944. Arrest records received by the FBI during 1944 in Washington showed that 49.3 per cent of those arrested for major crime have pre-vious pre-vious criminal records and that of " the youngsters committing serious crime a larger percentage will continue con-tinue in a career of crime. "Blame for juvenile delinquency and crime can be laid on the shoulders shoul-ders of the lax parent and the home ... a lack of discipline and knowl-' knowl-' -edge of right living is at fault," Mr. Hoover said. Blame Can't Be Shifted. Efforts to shift the blame from the home to the clergy, to school teachers and public officials don't hold water, for a knowledge of right and wrong, the love of family and neighbor and the tenets of religion must be inculcated early and often within the walls of the homes in the lives of the nation's youngsters. Mr. Hoover believes return of gangsterism in this country such as grew up following the last war can be prevented. There has been a large increase in hijacking recently recent-ly such as developed during the prohibition pro-hibition days and there is evidence that remnants of old gangster gangs have taken part in these crimes . . . but through the efforts of the FBI those mobs have been broken up and the enactment of national laws such as the kidnaping and extortion statutes, stat-utes, the unlawful flight to avoid prosecution law. the national stolen property act and other laws, have curbed the activities of gangsters . . . the success of the FBI in tracking track-ing down criminals and their high rate of convictions . . . about 97 per cent ... is also proving a deterrent against the organized crime of post-World post-World War I days. There likely will be no more John Dillingers, or Dutch Schultzs or Capone gangs, for through the efficiency of the FBI itself, Its tough, hard-hitting, straight shooting agents . . . placing detection of crime on a scientific basis . . . and the FBI national police academy, where police chiefs and other police officers of-ficers are trained to fight crime scientifically , . . highly organized organ-ized gangs just cannot get a foothold foot-hold as they once could. And speaking of crime . . . according accord-ing to the Wickersham report, it is costing the taxpayers of the nation about 15 billion dollars each year. That's more than the total quota of the Seventh War loan. It is more than the cost of education. The FBI has won the respect and the trust of the nation, particularly during these war years when it has had the responsibility of espionage and sabotage and has prevented any act of sabotage by enemy action. Every agent must have an impeccable im-peccable reputation, must be physically phys-ically perfect and must be a graduate grad-uate of an accredited law school and admitted to the practice of law, or a graduate of an accredited accounting ac-counting school with at least three years experience in commercial accounting ac-counting or auditing. So an FBI agent is not just a police officer. He is trained in criminal investigation investiga-tion work after ) becomes an agent of the FBI and Is qualified for all types of investigation within the bureau's bu-reau's jurisdiction. Selection is careful and discipline is strict. |