BAUMES LAWS, a series of criminal laws enacted in New York State in 1926 upon the recommendation of the crime com mission of which Senator Caleb H. Baumes was chairman. The passing of these laws was induced by an unusually active period of wanton crime, involving frequent bloodshed. One of the new laws prohibited sawed-off guns and machine guns equally with pistols, and heavily penalized the possession of any of these in a vehicle as well as on the person. Another, which caused con sternation among criminals, provided that in cases where a felon convicted of a first offence was armed with a pistol while com mitting crime, five to 1 o years should be added to the sentence. For the second offence 1 o to 15 years, and for the third 15 to 25 years' additional imprisonment was ordered. The fourth conviction entailed life imprisonment.
The crime commission of the State of New York reported in 1927 that these laws had been so effective that many New York criminals had departed to other States. Murders of citizens re sulting from robberies decreased 58% in 1927 compared with 1926, and 61% compared with 1925. Murders of police officers had decreased 44% compared with 1925 and 1926. In 1927 Sen ator Baumes introduced two bills aiming to strengthen the law in punishing "fences" or receivers of stolen property. One provided that a thief's testimony should be considered even if uncorrob orated ; the other declared that any person not making reason able inquiry into the right of another to sell him goods should be held responsible if he bought stolen property. Defeated in 1927, these bills were re-introduced in 1928 and passed.
See files of the New York Times: March 26, Aug. 8, Oct. 26 and Dec. 15, 1926 ; Dec. 15 and March 28, 1927. See also records of N.Y. State crime commission, 1926.