The car theft problem
intensified in the years immediately after World War II. In Milwaukee, where in
1946 car thefts were double of those from 1945, a group of community leaders
that included the chief of police, a Catholic cleric, and Protestant clergyman
formed the Milwaukee Metropolitan Crime Commission.3 This group was
“particularly concerned with the prevention of crime among juveniles,” and to
that end pursued a public education campaign that resulted in the publication
of two brochures, “Here, Kid, Take My Car,” and “Keys of Another Kingdom.”
Their message was a simple one: remove the ignition keys and much of the
juvenile crime will disappear. Thus, the onus was placed on adult automobile
owners, who were seen as being even more disrespectful of law and order than youth.
In its brochures, the Commission firmly argued that “opportunity makes the
thief,” that in certain locales up to 92 percent of cars stolen were the result
of keys left in the car, and that: “No citizen . . . would leave a thousand
dollar bill lying in the street and expect it to be there when he returned. And
yet we have several hundred citizens who daily leave a valuable automobile on
the streets . . . with plenty of gasoline in the tank and keys in the car.”
The magnitude
of the crime was reflected by the fact that in 1946 21.8 percent of all federal
prisoners were auto thieves, representing the single largest group of criminals
in federal custody. A decade later, the number of prisoners had doubled. Testifying
before a Senate subcommittee on juvenile delinquency in 1955, Director of Federal
Prisons James V. Bennett remarked, “It is around the automobile, by far and
away, that the largest number of federal offenses revolve.”4
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