THE purpose of this helpful monograph is to point out the need, often emphasized by writers on criminology, of a standard system of criminal statistics, which will serve two practical ends: (1) that one may judge of the nature and extent of criminality in a given geographical area, and (2) that one may determine the transformation, if any, which is occurring in these two phases. Federal criminal statistics, in the form they have possessed up to the present time, "tell little or nothing of criminality in the United States, "and state criminal statistics are "almost without exception bad." A reorganization is needed.
The writer's plan for reorganization, which is "not radical nor even new," contemplates co-operation between the federal census office and the states in putting a standard uniform system into operation. The same reform that has been carried out in the field of mortality statistics is advocated. Eighteen states have come into the area of co-operation with the census office in mortality statistics, and this registration area will gradually be extended from year to year by the admittance of those states which come to maintain the required standard of excellence. It will be conceded that the same plan in connection with criminal statistics will surely prove practicable and efficient.
--The Green Bag, Volume 24 [1912]