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who to blame for the rising crime wave ?
IN T ER V IEW W ITH J . EDGAR HOOVER
ically local crimes and do not violate federal laws within the FBI’s juris diction. While the FBI does not have direct responsibility, we do render every possible assistance to state, county and city police in their fight against crime. Q . The country hears, though, that much crime today is committed by youths. A. Unfortunately, that is correct. Arrests of juveniles have more than doubled in 10 years while the popu lation increase o f youths aged 10 through 17 was less than one half. Young people in cities accounted for 62 per cent of all arrests for automobile theft, 51 per cent for burglary, 49 per cent for larceny, 28 per cent for robbery, 20 per cent for forcible rape, 12 per cent for aggra vated assault, and 8 per cent for murder. In rural communities, youths rep resented 52 per cent o f all arrests for automobile theft, 41 per cent for burglary, 33 per cent for larceny, 13 per cent for robbery, 10 per cent for forcible rape, 8 per cent for ag gravated assault and 5.5 per cent for murder. Q . What, as you see it, has caused this rise in the crime rate among youths? A. For one thing, there is a steady decline of parental authority. Moral (continued on next page)
and automobile thefts rose 13 per cent. Or, look at the cost side of crime. Our estimate o f this cost is 22 bil lion dollars a year — an average of $128 for every man, woman and child in the United States. For each $1 spent on education, crime costs $1.11; and for every dollar donated to religious organizations, crime costs $9. Q . Since you became a part of the FBI nearly 39 years ago, in what way has organized crime changed? A. We find that the overlords of crime have moved out of gang hide outs into the mainstream of Ameri can life. These criminals have great wealth, taken in from organized gambling, prostitution, the sale of narcotics, the sale of obscene materi al, and other vices. With that money, they have bought into legitimate businesses or set up their own. They have even infiltrated labor unions. Using this new “ respectability” and their wealth, hoodlums and rack eteers have been able to exert real pressure on government, businesses and unions to make possible a fur ther spread of graft and corruption. The fountainheads of this organ ized crime, of course, are the vices that support it. These vices and their by-products, such as thievery, as saults, rapes, and murders, are bas
Q . Mr. Hoover, is the problem of crime in this country getting more and more serious? A. It certainly is. During the 10 years between 1950 and 1960, serious crimes in this country increased ji&- per cent. Population rose 18 per cent. C?hne—grew five times faster than population. Q . But what does this mean in terms of crime itself? A. It means that the more than 7,700 police departments of this country reported 1,861,300 murders, forcible rapes, robberies, aggravated assaul t s , burglaries, au t omo b i l e thefts and larcenies o f $50 or more. Q . Can that figure be simplified still further, so that the public gets an even better understanding of it? A. Yes, it can. In analyzing the statistics, we have found that, on an average, there was a willful homicide committed every 58 minutes; a burg lary every 39 seconds; a robbery each 6 minutes; an aggravated as sault every 4 minutes; a car theft each 2 minutes during the year. Compare figures with an average of three preceding years, and you will find that murders were up 10 per cent; forcible rapes up 9 per cent; aggravated assaults rose 12 per cent; robberies up 23 per cent;
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JULY, 1964
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