I CHAPTER IV NEWSPAPER CAMPAIGNS "CRIME WAVES" 'N RECENT years, since the war, much newspaper publicity has been given to the existence and frequency of periods when crimes of violence of all sorts seem to be on the increase. The phrase "crime was invented, and soon the idea became fixed in popular belief that periodic outbreaks of crime were occurring, more or less referable to the unsettling influences of the war. But the undiscriminating and unchecked use made of the theory of "crime waves" appears from a systematic study of the files of Cleveland papers. And the excitation of the public mind to such an emotional conception of "crime waves" is clearly not an effective way of educating the public to understanding and action. On the other hand, it must be remembered that recently a succession of dramatic crimes in Cleveland stirred an already effervescent public feeling. The McGannon scandal, the Sly-Fanner murders, the Kaber case, the Parma school teachers' mystery, formed an unusual combination to tempt the newspapers to exert their arts. They were doubtlessly influenced by the conviction that they must resort to the explosives of sensationalism to arouse public opinion and official action. Let us compare the actual number of felonies for a given period with the newspaper prominence crime news was given in that period. Let us take the month of January, 1919, in which, according to the newspapers, "crime wave" got under way. Table 1 shows the number of felonies by weeks, exclusive of automobiles driven away, and the number of inches of news space given the administration of justice, including crime news, by the three dailies. It will be seen that while the amount of space given the accounts of crime and news of the administration of justice responded to an increase in the amount of crime, yet the response was out of all proportion to the actual increase in crime. Whereas 345 felonies were reported the first two weeks and 363 the last two weeks of the month, the amount of space given the administration of justice, including crime news, the first half of the month was 925 inches and the second half 6,642 inches. The first half of the month the newspapers were saying nothing about a "crime wave," the second half the readers were vehemently told that a crime wave was sweeping the city. TABLE 1.—NUMBER OF FELONIES, BY WEEKS, COMPARED TO NEWS SPACE1 1 Space occupied by headlines is not included in the figures. Space devoted to news of actual crimes did not, of course, increase to so great an extent. A count of the inches devoted to crime news in one of the dailies for January gives the following figures: week of January 1, 49 inches; week of January 8, 144 inches; week of January 15, 246 inches; week of January 22, 196 inches. Incidentally, the paper publishing the most news of the "crime wave" gave, in the week of January 15, 28 per cent. of its news space to news of crime and the administration of justice. "Crime wave" treatment by the newspapers is significant because of the quality of the news matter. The kind of "news" and the way it is treated, it cannot be too often repeated, makes the public mind and, therefore, the public's attitude toward criminal justice. A few of the outstanding tendencies of newspaper treatment of crime and the administration of criminal justice, during a "crime wave," may thus be summarized: 1. An unusual amount of space and special headline emphasis are given to crimes indiscriminately, whether great or small. News treatment of such a period tends to create and sustain interest in the "crime wave" as a daily feature or news "serial." There is little or no attempt to give dependable statistics of the actual increase in crime, and still less to analyze causes and underlying conditions. 2. A tendency to stimulate the belief that all crimes committed at such a time are part of some special phenomenon that constitutes a "crime wave" and can be cured by some quick panaceas. 3. A tendency to demand summary action and quickly reportable "results" on the part of police, prosecutors, and judges. This last tendency is, from the point of view of the effective administration of criminal justice, the most serious result of "crime waves" as they are treated by the newspapers. Spurts of activity in any department of the machinery provided for law enforcement are sure to lead to congestion, inefficiency, and ultimate demoralization. Reform does not come that way. Moreover, where the community is whipped up to demand "results" of its system of criminal justice, officials responsive to popular whims, as this survey discloses them to be, will, at least unconsciously, care more to satisfy popular demands than to be observant of the tried processes of law. One of the ablest judges of the Common Pleas Court has thus indicated some of the effects of newspaper agitation over "crime waves": "During the January, 1921, term of court out of the first sixteen criminal cases tried before me, there were twelve acquittals. This might be taken to indicate that the jury system is at fault, but other elements must be considered. The fact is that these cases came to court as a result of indictments returned the preceding fall when the newspapers were laying stress upon the amount of crime in Cleveland. In my opinion, there was not sufficient evidence in eleven of these cases to warrant indictment, and I question if they would have been returned but for the agitation at the time. Two factors must therefore be considered-the injustice that may be done to individuals at a time of public excitement during a so-called 'crime wave' and the fact that the time of the court is needlessly consumed by cases that should not come to trial." A former member of the prosecutor's office, who is now a judge of the Common Pleas Court, brings similar testimony: "I was in the prosecutor's office and my work was largely in the grand jury room during one of the recent crime waves that received much newspaper prominence. During this particular term of court to which I refer, I believe that we returned more indictments than were ever before returned during one term of court in Cleveland. A grand jury will, in normal times, return some indictments that ought not to be returned, but I was satisfied that of all the indictments returned during this particular session at least one-sixth of them were unwarranted. Half of this one-sixth, I believe, were returned owing to abnormal conditions, chiefly as a result of the prevailing newspaper agitation of the time." BAIL BOND EXPOSURE During January and February, 1919, there occurred what was known as "the bail bond exposé." The story is told in the reports on Prosecu tion and Courts in this survey. It became known that a number of per sons suspected or actually arrested and charged with crimes had been previously under arrest and released on bail. Special newspaper attention was given to the fact that bail was fixed by judges on the recommendation of the prosecutor, and in view of this power of fixing bail by recommendation the prosecutor was urged to demand higher bail. It was also said that conditions affecting bail bonds were so lax that many persons on bail were eluding justice, while their bondsmen were not suffering any financial loss as a result of the default. Agitation following on these disclosures had two results almost immediately: first, the prosecutor was led to declare that he would recommend higher bail, which he did, and to ask writs of capias and forfeiture of bonds in numerous cases. Then it was discovered that many of the defendants whose bonds had been forfeited were only waiting to be notified of the date of their trials, and in many cases the courts were obliged to set aside the forfeiture. Undoubtedly abuses and laxity as to bail bonds had grown up, and the newspapers' campaign directed attention to dangerous tendencies. But these "campaigns" become indiscriminate in their attack. Too often the baby is thrown out with the bath water. Let the newspapers themselves indicate some of the results. 1. From the News, January 20, 1919: With the several investigations under way, and with bonds being forfeited by Prosecutor Doerfler at a rate unprecedented in Cuyahoga County history, County Jail Monday was filled to overflowing with criminals of every degree. Sheriff Hanratty said that 350 men and women were already in the jail and that more were expected during the day as those sought on capiases were rounded up. 2. From the News, January 23, 1919: NO EMPTY CELLS IN JAIL AS ROBBERY CASES CLOG COURTS The civil branch of the Common Pleas court was called on Thursday to assist in hearing criminal trials as the result of the sudden increase in the activity of prosecuting officials and the rush of "cases," owing to forfeiture of bonds, surrender of hunted offenders and unprecedented number of arrests. The effect of these newspaper "drives" and the tendency to regard mere numbers of indictments as evidence of efficient administration in fact result, as this survey amply discloses, in great inefficiency and may well involve grave injustice. A judge of the Common Pleas Court has declared that the effect on grand juries of "publicity" of this kind is to cause many indictments to be returned in which judges have to direct acquittal because of insufficient or ill-considered evidence. PAROLE ABUSE Much criticism of the administration of the parole law has appeared recently in Cleveland newspapers. Undoubtedly there have been abuses due to various causes as set forth in the report on Correctional and Penal Treatment. But many erroneous conceptions have been lodged in the public mind by unwarranted statements. Thus, sweeping assertions have been made as to the number of paroled men who have committed crime while on parole, supported by the most meager statistics. The whole parole system has consequently been jeopardized through the reckless or careless instillation of erroneous ideas or "facts" into the reading public's mind. 1. From the Plain Dealer, April 24, 1921 (editorial): "PAROLED" Throughout the record of the men implicated or suspected of implication in the Sprosty murder appears time after time one all-significant word. "Paroled." "Bobbie" Hunt, who is charged by his "pals" with having fired the shot that killed the patrolman, was sent to the reformatory in 1918 and paroled. William Murphy, alias Conton, member of the gang that shot Sprosty, was paroled from the reformatory in 1918 and again in 1920. Martin Dwyer, companion of Murphy and other criminal escapades, was paroled from the reformatory and is now there serving a sentence as a parole violator. So runs the story of criminal activities. Most bandit gangs are made up in large part of paroled men-men who have been turned loose on the public by some board given more to sentimentalism and leniency than to justice. If the parole abuse were curbed the keystone of the arch of banditry would fall. 2. From the Press, April 26, 1921: CRIMES ARE PLANNED AT WORKHOUSE Cleveland's crime wave continues to rise. The toll of pillage and murder increases. Gangsters scoff at law and courts. And peaceful citizens shudder. Since the first of the year, in the months of January, February, March and 25 days of April, 317 robberies have been listed and 13 murders...... Nearly every crime horror has its parole angle. It has become second nature for detectives, city editors, police reporters and others who are thrown in pursuit of criminals to look for the "past." The criminal is not cured. Free on parole, from Warrensville, or Mansfield, or Columbus |