CRIME UNDER PROHIBITION IN THIRTY AMERICAN CITIES

PopulationArrests
All Causes
Drunkenness and
Disorderly
Conduct
19201920192119201921
Philadelphia1,823,77973,01583,13620,44327,115
Detroit995,67843,30950,6765,9896,349
Boston748,06058,81772,16122,34131,794
Baltimore733,82641,98854,60213,44320,496
Pittsburgh588,34336,57241,82014,37316,990
Buffalo506,77524,43632,3778,4919,650
San Francisco506,67626,67230,1062,7946,005
Milwaukee457,14710,54515,5202,4003,481
Cincinnati401,24714,17521,9732,0623,106
Minneapolis380,58210,60817,8742,9826,051
Portland, Ore.258,28818,44530,8563,6544,379
Denver256,49112,94719,6491,8473,163
Louisville234,8917,8579,6011,0922,361
St. Paul234,6985,63810,0771,9024,319
Oakland, Cal.216,2813,7064,4971,2612,191
Akron, Ohio208,43512,55810,1045,2283,939
Birmingham178,80616,78621,4882,8864,612
Richmond171,66712,70615,5321,5631,953
New Haven162,5377,9348,4653,1863,184
Dallas158,97626,05835,8481,2191,338
Hartford138,0368,0727,3954,0573,207
Paterson135,8754,0583,8091,6371,509
Springfield, Mass.129,6143,7574,574625920
Des Moines126,4684,4654,9821,5301,598
Trenton119,2895,6935,5771,5501,426
Salt Lake City118,1107,7287,505883909
Albany113,3443,2164,168578900
Cambridge, Mass.109,6943,8224,6648711,423
Spokane104,4376,4787,2379331,311
Kansas City, Kas.101,1774,7744,12945133
Total10,417,227516,835640,402131,855185,808
Total in 30 Cities19201921Increase
Violation of Prohibition Laws9,37518,976102.0%
Drunken Autoists1,5132,74381.0%
Thefts and Burglary24,77026,8889.0%
Homicide1,0862,12412.7%
Assaults and Battery21,14723,97713.4%
Drug Addictions, etc.1,8972,74544.6%
Police Department Costs$31,193,639$34,762,19611.4%

Judge Cavanagh of Chicago estimated that there were from 7,500 to 8,000 cases of murder and manslaughter in the United States in 1921. But the Special Commission on Law Enforcement of the American Bar Association, in its official report made on August 10th, 1922, stated that there were no less than 9,500 “unlawful homicides” in this country in 1921. The average per day was twenty-six. In the previous year there were at least 9,000 such homicides. In the first nine months and a half of 1922 there were 101 “unlawful homicides” in Philadelphia alone, as compared with the same number during all of 1921. In the same city, the arrests for violation of the dry law numbered 32,281, for the period between January and September, 1922. Of these, 25,925 were “drunk and disorderly.”

In Providence, Rhode Island, drunkenness has increased 85 per cent since 1919. In Rochester, New York, crimes of violence in 1921 numbered 607, as against 488 in 1917. In the latter year there were 323 arrests for burglary, while in 1921 there were no less than 502. It has been reported that the western part of the State has become the victim of a new crop of young, educated and what are called “polished” crooks.

Sing Sing prison deported no less than sixty prisoners to Auburn in May, 1922, because of overcrowding.

The warden of Sing Sing, to whom I wrote, asking for figures as to the inmates received at his prison, very graciously and with unprecedented promptness sent me the following report, and told me I could make my own deductions:

Fiscal year ending June 30th,19171071
” ” ” ” ”19181197
” ” ” ” ”19191073
” ” ” ” ”19201490
” ” ” ” ”19211414
” ” ” ” ”19221613

Figures do not lie.