THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF MEDICINE is not responsible for the sentiments expressed in any paper or article published in the BULLETIN. LEADING ARTICLE. THE PRESS AND CRIME. The criticism of "The Press and Crime," quoted from the LancetClinic in the Bulletin for December, deserves a reply. The argument turns on two points, first that the newspaper's part in suggestion has not been proved, and second, that the term suggestion has not been used with scientific accuracy. In reply to the first argument, it may be said that the only claim has been that the newspaper is one factor in the complex causation of crime, not that all suicides are caused by newspapers, nor that of those so caused all are directly or exclusively fostered by newspapers. In support of this contention the present writer in a study to which she refers on page 307 of the October Bulletin has collected cases in which the strongest testimony of the person concerned, of other persons connected with the various crimes in some way, i. e., prison officials, juvenile probation officers, etc., is offered. In addition, the opinions of many experts on the matter were gathered. This the writer would call a large body of evidence in support of the hypothesis that newspapers do constitute one factor in the causation of 251156 |