Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/107

 CRIME IN STATE AND MUNICIPALITY 91

CRIMINAL LEGISLATION

The power is delegated to municipal corporations to enact ordinances and regulations, and to enforce them by fines and penalties. These ordinances and regulations have all the force of law and as their violation is a misdemeanor, they form a part of the body of criminal law. To delegate the power to enact criminal laws may seem, prima facie, an improper and dangerous transference of sovereignty. The municipal power thus con- ferred, however, is strictly limited and defined by statute. There are countless subjects, affecting the public health and orderly living, that demand regulation in accordance with the varied circumstances and local diversities of separate communities ; these subjects cannot be adequately covered by a general statute of universal application, nor can they be wisely treated by special statutes relating to each separate community. It is impossible for the state legislature to act with that accurate knowledge of the local needs of a municipality in its internal life which the municipality itself possesses and which is the essential basis of salutary legislation. " Home rule " for municipalities is a politi- cal principle which stands in no danger of being carried to excess, and sound government demands rather its extension than its repression. Perhaps the strongest argument in favor of it rests in its tendency to increase the power and dignity of citizenship; by intrusting the well-being of the municipality to the keeping of its own citizens, it serves to develop in them a sense of indi- vidual responsibility for good government, an intelligent interest in public affairs, and a conviction of civic duty sentiments which a strictly paternal government by the state tends to deaden.

DETECTION AND ARREST OF OFFENDERS

The detection of crime and the arrest of persons accused of crime are delegated almost exclusively to the municipalities. A thorough enforcement of the laws can be secured only through the loyal co-operation of the whole community. It needs, not alone a public opinion in favor of the laws, but a public opinion which imposes on every man the personal duty of rendering aid and co-operation in enforcing the law, and holds one guilty of