“AN EXHIBIT IN CRIMINOLOGY.”
By T.
OUR common every-day observation convinces us unmistakably that crime is on the increase. And statistics are not wanting to substantiate our observations, as the following from the Christian Advocate of March 31, shows:— “The Secretary of State of New York, in his annual report recently transmitted to the Legislature, gives some statistics relative to the criminology of the State for the year ending Oct. 31, 1897. The whole number of convictions reported to the department by county clerks as occurring in courts of record was 4,523, which was an increase of 755 over the reported convictions during the preceding year. The convictions thus reported were as follows: Of offenses against the person, 669; a decrease compared with 1896 of 96; offenses against property with violence, 1,130, and without violence, 2,006, both showing an increase, and the total of such increases being 630; offenses not included in the above, 718, an increase of 222. There were 248 females convicted in courts of record, an increase of 38. In courts of special sessions there were 66,402 convictions, an increase of 3,694. The sex of the persons convicted in special sessions shows 60,080 to have been males and 6,322 females. The aggregate of the statistics for both courts of record and courts of special sessions shows 70,925 convictions.” Many good men and women are grappling with this problem of increasing criminology, and seeking a way out. We recommend to all such a careful study of the Scriptures, and they will therein learn that the “last days” are to be made “perilous” because of crime and evil. And is not the appalling list of crimes that are of daily occurrence one of the sure signs that the “last days” are reached? T.