Search

The article puts forth several studies on the cost of crime in selected Counties in Arkansas. A number of different forms were tried in an endeavor to reduce to a minimum the labor of filling out. None were very successful, and it is recognized that a really fair cross section of the state could be secured only by personal investigation under favorable circumstances. In some cases, as indicated above, officials are definitely hostile. Very rarely have two reports for the same county at the same time yielded the same figure. In some cases the care and ability and energy displayed in getting data were known, and in other cases the source and its dependability were considered good. But in many cases there has been no way in which to check accuracy unless two or three reports agreed with each other, and even then there is no certainty. However, the rather even run of figures in the list that appears later seems to indicate a reasonable degree of correctness. Of the thirty counties listed only four have a city of more than 10,000 population (1930 Census) and these counties have rather high costs per capita. (Cost per capita would appear to be the fairest way to compare counties).