| Prisoners.
+------------------+------------------+------------------
| Men. | Women. | Total.
+----------+-------+----------+-------+----------+-------
| Absolute | | Absolute | | Absolute |
| Numbers. | % | Numbers. | % | Numbers. | %
----------------------------+----------+-------+----------+-------+----------+-------
Illiterate | 4,321 | 22.5 | 3,264 | 32.5 | 7,585 | 25.9
Able to read, or read and | | | | | |
write imperfectly | 3,804 | 19.8 | 1,983 | 19.8 | 5,787 | 19.8
Able to read and write well | 11,003 | 57.2 | 4,757 | 47.4 | 15,760 | 53.9
With a higher education | 93 | 0.5 | 32 | 0.3 | 125 | 0.4
Unknown | 2 | 0.0 | -- | -- | 2 | 0.0
+----------+-------+----------+-------+----------+-------
Total | 19,223 | 100.0 | 10,036 | 100.0 | 29,259 | 100.0
============================+==========+=======+==========+=======+==========+=======
According to the census of 1901 the percentage of illiterates was 12.2
for the men, 13.1 for the women, and 12.7 for the total population 12
years old and over. [589]
Italy, 1881–1889. [590]
======+=====================================++===============================+================
| Correctional Tribunals. || Assizes. | To 100 Married
+-------------------------------------++-------------------------------+ there were the
| To 100 Arraigned there were || To 100 Convicted there were | Following who
Years.| || |were Illiterate.
+-----------+-----+--------+----------++-----------+--------+----------+------+---------
| |Able |Able to | Having || |Able to | Having | Men |
|Illiterate.| to |Read and| a Higher ||Illiterate.|Read and| a Higher | and | Men.[591]
| |Read.| Write. |Education.|| | Write. |Education.|Women.|
------+-----------+-----+--------+----------++-----------+--------+----------+------+---------
1881 | 68.38 | 1.74| 27.38 | 2.50 || 63.40 | 34.87 | 1.73 | 59.07| 48.24
1882 | 67.93 | 1.61| 27.59 | 2.87 || 59.05 | 38.11 | 2.84 | 57.43| 46.68
1883 | 66.45 | 1.82| 28.74 | 2.99 || 57.64 | 40.00 | 2.36 | 56.67| 45.79
1884 | 64.61 | 1.71| 30.10 | 3.58 || 58.99 | 38.76 | 2.25 | 55.81| 44.97
1885 | 60.93 | 1.80| 32.90 | 4.37 || 61.24 | 36.75 | 2.01 | 54.92| 44.28
1886 | 61.34 | 2.20| 33.15 | 3.31 || 59.66 | 38.25 | 2.09 | 53.31| 43.19
1887 | 59.25 | -- | 37.07 | 3.68 || 59.34 | 37.04 | 3.62 | 52.83| 42.83
1888 | 61.48 | -- | 34.51 | 4.01 || 69.14 | 31.99 | 3.87 | 52.08| 42.27
1889 | 60.98 | -- | 35.31 | 3.71 || 63.75 | 33.14 | 3.11 | 50.83| 41.21
======+===========+=====+========+==========++===========+========+==========+======+=========
The following figures shed light upon the intellectual condition of
those accused of certain important classes of crime:
Italy, 1889 (Assizes). [592]
====================================+===========================================
|To the 100 Accused of Each Crime there were
Crimes. +-------------+------------+----------------
|Illiterate or|Able to Read|Having a Higher
| Nearly So. | and Write. | Education.
------------------------------------+-------------+------------+----------------
Infanticide | 92.9 | 7.1 | 0.0
Perjury | 86.8 | 11.3 | 1.9
Highway robbery | 75.5 | 24.2 | 0.3
Homicide | 72.5 | 26.5 | 1.0
Serious assaults | 68.8 | 30.6 | 0.6
Rebellion, etc. | 65.9 | 34.1 | 0.0
All crimes | 63.8 | 33.1 | 3.1
Rape | 63.6 | 32.7 | 3.7
Aggravated theft | 59.7 | 38.4 | 1.9
Counterfeiting etc. | 50.9 | 46.9 | 2.2
Offenses against public decency etc.| 47.6 | 38.1 | 14.3
Sexual crimes against nature | 43.8 | 45.8 | 10.4
Forgery | 10.4 | 36.2 | 26.4
====================================+=============+============+================
New York State, 1881–1897. [593]
======+===========================================================
| To 100 Persons Entering Elmira Reformatory.
Years.+-----------+-----------------+------------------+----------
|Illiterate.|Able only to Read|Primary Education.| Higher
| | and Write. | |Education.
------+-----------+-----------------+------------------+----------
1881 | 19.0 | 59.3 | 16.5 | 5.2
1882 | 18.5 | 58.7 | 18.0 | 4.8
1883 | 19.3 | 57.5 | 18.6 | 4.6
1884 | 19.3 | 56.1 | 20.2 | 4.4
1885 | 18.3 | 55.7 | 21.9 | 4.1
1886 | 19.9 | 53.2 | 23.0 | 3.9
1888 | 19.8 | 50.1 | 26.2 | 3.9
1889 | 19.5 | 49.9 | 26.9 | 3.7
1890 | 19.1 | 50.8 | 26.9 | 3.2
1891 | 18.7 | 48.6 | 29.4 | 3.3
1892 | 19.3 | 48.8 | 28.6 | 3.3
1893 | 19.0 | 45.6 | 31.8 | 3.6
1894 | 18.8 | 43.8 | 33.8 | 3.6
1896 | 18.3 | 41.3 | 37.0 | 3.4
1897 | 18.3 | 43.3 | 35.2 | 3.2
======+===========+=================+==================+==========
Netherlands, 1865–1900. [594]
======+===========================
| Unable to Read or Write.
+--------------+------------
Years.| Convicts at |
| Time of |Militia-men.
|Incarceration.| %
| % |
------+--------------+------------
1865 | 38 | 18.2
1870 | 30 | 16.3
1875 | 25 | 12.3
1880 | 25 | 11.5
1885 | 22 | 10.5
1890 | 24 | 7.2
1892 | 25 | 5.4
1893 | 22 | 5.4
1894 | 20 | 5.0
1895 | 20 | 5.4
1896 | 20 | 4.7
1897 | 19 | 4.0
1898 | 19 | 3.6
1899 | 18 | 2.8
1900 | 16 | 2.3
======+==============+============
Netherlands, 1903–1905. [595]
==============================+=========================================
| Out of 100 Convicted there were
+------+------+------+------+------+------
| 1903. | 1904. | 1905.
+------+------+------+------+------+------
| Men. |Women.| Men. |Women.| Men. |Women.
------------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------
Without elementary instruction| 7.57| 24.70| 6.61| 18.26| 6.36| 13.33
With elementary instruction | 91.43| 74.71| 92.20| 80.62| 92.50| 85.34
,, secondary education | 0.74| 0.33| 0.84| 0.22| 0.80| 0.47
,, higher education | 0.07| 0.00| 0.12| 0.00| 0.11| 0.00
Unknown | 0.15| 0.26| 0.23| 0.90| 0.23| 0.86
Total |100.00|100.00|100.00|100.00|100.00|100.00
==============================+======+======+======+======+======+======
The following figures give an estimate with regard to some specified
crimes: [596]
Netherlands, 1901.
=====================================+===============
|To 100 Convicts
Crimes. | Unable
| to Read or
| Write.
-------------------------------------+---------------
Marauding | 16.6
Vagrancy | 10.0
Simple theft | 9.9
Malicious mischief, etc. | 9.4
Aggravated theft | 9.1
All crimes | 8.6
Assaults | 7.9
Domiciliary trespass | 7.5
Receiving stolen goods | 7.4
Defamation and kindred offenses | 6.9
Offenses against public decency | 6.5
Embezzlement | 5.8
Rebellion | 5.7
Rape and other sexual crimes | 4.3
Obtaining money under false pretenses| 1.7
=====================================+===============
Prussia, 1894–1897. [597]
==========+==============================================+==========
|Out of 18,049 Recidivists in Prussian Prisons.|To the 100
| |Recruits.
+-----------+------------+----------+----------+----------
| Without |Very Little | Primary | Higher | Without
|Education. | Education. |Education.|Education.| Primary
| | | | |Education.
----------+-----------+------------+----------+----------+----------
Number | 1,491 | 8,589 | 7,782 | 187 |
Percentage| 8.3 | 47.6 | 43.1 | 1.0 | 0.23
==========+===========+============+==========+==========+==========
Switzerland, 1892–1896. [598]
==============================+===========+===========
| Men. | Women.
Education +-------+---+-------+---
|Number.| % |Number.| %
------------------------------+-------+---+-------+---
Illiterate | 352 | 3| 82 | 5
Primary education | 8,665 | 87| 1,580 | 92
Secondary and higher education| 856 | 9| 45 | 2
Unknown | 109 | 1| 15 | 1
------------------------------+-------+---+-------+---
Total | 9,982 |100| 1,722 |100
==============================+=======+===+=======+===
The figures for those who have had a primary education are divided up
as follows: [599]
==================+===========+===========
| Men. | Women.
State of Education+-------+---+-------+---
|Number.| % |Number.| %
------------------+-------+---+-------+---
Good | 4,394 | 51| 764 | 48
Mediocre | 4,125 | 47| 750 | 48
Reading only | 146 | 2| 66 | 4
------------------+-------+---+-------+---
Total | 8,665 |100| 1,580 |100
==================+=======+===+=======+===
The redactor of the official statistics of Switzerland observes that
there are no figures to determine the number of illiterates among the
non-criminal population, but the statistics of recruits for the years
1891 to 1895 show that about 19% of the recruits had a higher
education.
I am of the opinion that the statistics which I have quoted, [600]
including, as they do, millions of criminals, are very significant: the
illiterates supply, in general, a great proportion of the criminals, a
proportion much greater than that of the illiterates in the general
population. (In countries with a relatively small number of
illiterates, like England, the Netherlands, and Prussia, for example,
the difference is naturally much greater than in a country like Italy
where the percentage of illiteracy is great. In Prussia for instance,
there are thirty-six times as many illiterates among the recidivists as
among the recruits.)
However, most of the statistics, aside from the figures for illiteracy,
give others which show how many persons really educated are to be found
among the criminals. And then we note that a very great majority of
criminals are ignorant and untrained. In England, for example, there is
among male criminals only 1 to 1,000 who knows more than how to read
and write well, and among the women not even 1 to 1,000; in Austria
there are a little more than 4 to 1,000; and in France a little more
than 20 to 1,000 among the men, and between 4 and 5 among the women.
The relation between ignorance and criminality cannot, then, be
contradicted. But it is impossible to fix exactly the extent of the
influence of the one upon the other, or it is difficult to separate
ignorance from other factors with which it is ordinarily found, as
poverty, for instance.
The ancient idea that crime is only a consequence of ignorance need not
be treated of, for morality and intellect are two distinct parts of the
psychic life, even though there exists a certain relation between them.
The first reason why ignorance and the lack of general culture must be
ranked among the general factors of crime is this: the person who, in
our present society, where the great majority of parents care very
little for the education of their children, does not go to school, is
deprived of the moral ideas (honesty, etc.) which are taught there, and
ordinarily passes his time in idleness and vagabondage.
The second reason which makes ignorance a factor of crime, is that
generally an ignorant man is, more than others, a man moved by the
impulse of the moment, who allows himself to be governed by his
passions, and is induced to commit acts which he would not have
committed if his intellectual equipment had been different.
In the third place, it is for the following reasons that ignorance and
the lack of training fall within the etiology of crime. The mind of the
man whose psychic qualities, whether in the domain of the arts, or of
the sciences, have been developed, has become less susceptible to evil
ideas. His intellectual condition constitutes thus a bridle which can
restrain evil thoughts from realizing themselves; for real art and true
science strengthen the social instincts. The figures cited above
furnish only a slight contribution to this question. There is no doubt
that if we had figures showing how many criminals there are any part of
whose life is taken up by art or science, we should find the number
very small. It could not be objected that the cause of this is in the
innate qualities of the criminals; certainly one man is born with
greater capacity than another, but everyone is born with some
capacities which, if developed, may become a source of happiness; and a
happy man, says the proverb, is not wicked.
Finally ignorance is in still another way a factor in crime. Very often
the author of a crime conceives and executes it in so clumsy a fashion
and with so little chance of success, that we may be certain that he
would not have committed it if he had not been an ignorant person,
without knowledge of the forces with which he had to do.
When the Italian school is reproached with making their researches upon
prisoners only, and not upon criminals and their free equals, the
implication is that it is only the stupid and ignorant criminals that
are in prison, while the others, the shrewd and tricky, remain at
liberty. There is assuredly much truth in this assertion.
The lower proletariat. In the preceding pages I have already spoken of
the influence exercised by bad material surroundings upon a man’s
character; I have pointed out the moral consequences of bad housing
conditions, and also that he becomes embittered and malicious through
lack of the necessaries of life. All this applies to the proletariat in
general, but much more strongly still to those who do not succeed, for
any reason, in selling their labor, that is the lower proletariat.
If the dwellings of the working-class are bad, those of the lower
proletariat are more pitiable still. There are, through sickness or
lack of work, periods of dire poverty in the life of almost every
worker—for the lower proletariat these periods are without
intermission. Its poverty is chronic. And when the poverty makes itself
felt for a long time together, the intellectual faculties become
blunted to such a point that there remains of the man only the brute,
struggling for existence.
Although the material and intellectual poverty of the lower proletariat
is much greater than that of the proletariat, the difference between
them is only quantitative. In one connection, however, there is also a
qualitative difference, and a very important one, namely that the
working-man is a useful being without whom society could not exist.
However oppressed he may be, he is a man who has a feeling of
self-respect. It is different with the member of the lower proletariat.
He is not useful, but a detriment. He produces nothing, and tries to
live upon what others make; he is merely tolerated. He who has lived
long in poverty loses all feeling of self-respect, and lends himself to
anything whatever that will suffice to prolong his existence.
In short, poverty (taken in the sense of absolute want), kills the
social sentiments in man, destroys in fact all relations between men.
He who is abandoned by all can no longer have any feeling for those who
have left him to his fate.
b. The proportion in which the different classes are guilty of crime.
After having treated of the direct consequences of the present economic
system upon the different classes, I shall take up this question, which
is an important one for the problem of criminality, before touching
upon the indirect consequences.
As I have already observed in Part I, the opinions with regard to this
proportion are very divergent. There are authors (Garofalo, for
instance) who are of the opinion that the bourgeoisie commits as many
crimes, in proportion to its numbers, as the proletariat. On the other
hand there are those who maintain that the prisons hold only the poor.
That Garofalo’s conclusion does not hold good for Italy has been proved
by the statistics of Fornasari di Verce and those of Dr. Marro, quoted
in Part I of this book. The figures given by Fornasari di Verce have to
do with the persons sentenced by the assizes, the correctional
tribunals, and the justices of the peace. They show that 56% of the
convicts were indigent, that 31% had only the strict necessities of
life, 10% were moderately well off, while 2% were well-to-do or rich;
while among the non-criminal population about 40% were rich or more or
less well-to-do, and the other 60% indigent or having only the
necessaries of life. But the figures for non-possessors become much
greater if we take only the number of those sentenced by the court of
assizes,—the real criminals.
Italy, 1887–1889 (Assizes). [601]
========================+=========+=========+========
Condition. | 1887. | 1888. | 1889.
------------------------+---------+---------+--------
| % | % | %
Indigent | 79.57 | 79.62 | 77.58
Having the necessaries | 9.39 | 10.21 | 13.31
Passably well off | 7.35 | 6.62 | 6.12
Well-to-do and rich | 3.69 | 3.55 | 2.98
+---------+---------+--------
| 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00
========================+=========+=========+========
The following figures give the economic condition of persons convicted
for different crimes:
Italy, 1889 (Assizes). [602]
==============================+====================================================
|To the 100 Convicted of the Crimes Given there were:
Crimes. +------------+------------+------------+-------------
| Indigent. | Having the | Passably | Well-to-do
| |necessaries.| well off. | or rich.
------------------------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------
Infanticide | 88.1 | 7.1 | 4.8 | 0.0
Theft of every kind | 81.5 | 13.4 | 3.3 | 1.7
Counterfeiting, etc. | 80.3 | 10.4 | 7.7 | 1.6
Rebellion, cruelty, etc. | 79.5 | 11.4 | 0.0 | 9.1
Homicide of every degree | 79.0 | 10.8 | 6.8 | 3.4
Serious assaults | 78.7 | 12.4 | 7.4 | 1.5
Highway robbery | 77.8 | 17.5 | 4.0 | 0.7
Rape and other sexual offenses| 77.3 | 14.8 | 5.6 | 2.3
Extortion | 74.7 | 13.1 | 7.8 | 4.4
Forgery | 47.5 | 24.7 | 11.1 | 16.7
==============================+============+============+============+=============
Italy not being a rich country, it is evident that the headings
“passably well-off” and “well-to-do or rich” have been given a liberal
interpretation, otherwise they would never include almost 40% of the
population. But even taking account of this fact, these figures show
that the indigent, that is, the lower proletariat, and the proletariat
without work, form a much higher proportion of the criminal class than
of the population as a whole.
Other figures confirming these conclusions for Italy have been produced
by Dr. Colajanni (see Part I of this work). Further than these,
statistics concerning the financial condition of convicts are not
numerous so far as I know. Here are those that are known to me:
Austria, 1881–1899. [603]
=========+===============================================
| Condition (%).
Years. +-------------+--------------------+-----------
|Without Money.|With a Little Money.|Well-to-do.
---------+--------------+--------------------+-----------
1881-1885| 89.1 | 10.4 | 0.3
1886-1890| 90.0 | 9.4 | 0.4
1891-1895| 89.6 | 9.9 | 0.4
1896 | 86.7 | 13.0 | 0.3
1897 | 86.0 | 13.5 | 0.5
1898 | 85.9 | 13.7 | 0.4
1899 | 86.7 | 13.0 | 0.3
=========+==============+====================+===========
The following figures give us the proportions of the different crimes:
Austria, 1899. [604]
=====================+===================================================
| There were to the 100 Convicts Guilty of the
| Crimes Mentioned:
Crimes. +----------+----------+--------+------+------+------
|Without Fortune.[605]|Little Fortune.| Well-to-do.
+----------+----------+--------+------+------+------
| Men. | Women. | Men. |Women.| Men. |Women.
---------------------+----------+----------+--------+------+------+------
Robbery | 96.6 | 100.0 | 3.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0
Theft | 92.0 | 94.7 | 7.8 | 5.3 | 0.2 | 0.0
Rape, etc. | 91.2 | 100.0 | 8.6 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0
Leze majesty, etc. | 90.1 | 93.1 | 9.6 | 6.9 | 0.3 | 0.0
Threats | 90.0 | 81.5 | 9.9 | 18.5 | 0.1 | 0.0
Rebellion, etc. | 87.3 | 74.9 | 12.4 | 24.8 | 0.3 | 0.3
Crimes in general | 86.4 | 88.4 | 13.2 | 11.4 | 0.4 | 0.2
Extortion | 86.2 | 80.0 | 13.5 | 20.0 | 0.3 | 0.0
Serious assaults | 79.0 | 70.2 | 30.6 | 29.8 | 0.4 | 0.0
Fraud | 74.8 | 75.1 | 23.6 | 24.3 | 1.6 | 0.6
Murder, homicide | 73.0 | 87.2 | 26.7 | 12.8 | 0.3 | 0.0
Infanticide, abortion| 0.0 | 90.8 | 0.0 | 9.2 | 0.0 | 0.0
=====================+==========+=======-==+========+======+======+======
I have not been able to procure the figures showing the financial
condition of the Austrian population. But it may be considered as
certain that there are more well-to-do persons in Austria than about 3%
of the population, and also that there are more persons with a little
money than the percentage of criminals shown under that heading.
Therefore, as in Italy, the poor there are more guilty of crime than
the well-to-do (and much more so of certain crimes). It is interesting
to note that well-to-do women are not guilty at all of most crimes.
[606]
Prussia, 1894–1897. [607]
===============================================================================================
Among Recidivists were Found
-----------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------
With incomes of |
-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ Indigent.
Less than 900 marks. | 900 to 2,000 marks. | 2,000 to 5,000 marks. |
----------+------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Men. | Women. | Men. | Women. | Men. | Women. | Men. | Women.
-------+--+------------+-------+---+-------+---+-------+---+-------+---+-------+---+-------+---
Number.| %|Number.| % |Number.| % |Number.| % |Number.| % |Number.| % |Number.| % |Number.| %
-------+--+-------+----+-------+---+-------+---+-------+---+-------+---+-------+---+-------+---
13,931 |90| 2,424 |96.5| 1,424 |9.2| 66 |2.6| 46 |0.3| 2 |0.1| 74 |0.5| 18 |0.8
=======+==+=======+====+=======+===+=======+===+=======+===+=======+===+=======+===+=======+===
There were no rich persons then among the recidivists; no one with an
income of more than 5,000 marks. On the other hand, those of very
limited income are exceedingly numerous, especially among the women. It
is a pity that the first group was not further subdivided, for “less
than 900 marks” leaves the group still very large.
The following figures give a picture of the financial situation of the
Swiss criminals.
Switzerland, 1892–1896. [608]
=========================================
There were Prisoners:
---------------------------+-------+-----
|Number.| %
---------------------------+-------+-----
With fortune | 589 | 5.0
With expectations | 1,140 | 9.7
With neither | 9,569 | 81.8
Condition unknown | 406 | 3.5
+-------+-----
|11,704 |100
+=======+=====
Having a savings-bank book | 202 | 1.7
Without ,, ,, | 9,608 | 82.1
Unknown | 1,894 | 16.1
+-------+-----
|11,704 |100
===========================+=======+=====
All the statistics cited [609] show then that the poor supply a very
great proportion of the convicts, in every case a greater proportion
than they bear to the population in general, and the well-to-do form
only a small part.
There are still other ways of inquiring what part the different classes
take in criminality. One consists in an examination of the statistics
of the intellectual development of the convicts, for the illiterate and
those who have received only a primary education belong, almost without
exception, to the classes without fortune. These statistics have
already been given, and they confirm entirely the conclusions to be
drawn from the figures for the financial condition of the convicts.
The third way of solving the problem is by a study of the statistics of
the occupations of those convicted. Here, however, great difficulties
present themselves. In the first place not all the criminal statistics
make the distinction between the employer and the workman in such and
such an occupation. And it is just this information that we need. In
the second place we need beside statistics for the occupation of the
criminals, others showing the occupations of the population in general,
and the two classified in the same way. Even in this case the picture
given by these statistics will not be exact, for there are among the
employers many persons who are not really independent (workers at home,
etc.), or persons who, while being employers, are, as far as their
plane of living is concerned, only the equal of the proletarian, and
not of the bourgeois.
Upon this question we have the following figures:
Germany, 1894–1896. [610]
======================+=============================================================================================================
Groups | To 10,000 Persons Over 12 Years of Age in Each Group of Occupations there were:
of +-----+---------+---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
Occupations. | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I. | J. | K. | L. | M. | N. | O. | P.
----------------------+-----+---------+---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
I. Agriculture: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
a. Independent | 75.1| 7.1 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 0.21| 0.10| 19.1| 1.5| 2.9| 0.22| 14.1| 0.02| 2.3| 0.08| 0.03
b. Workers |142.1| 28.9 | 3.1 | 4.8 | 6.0 | 1.67| 0.18| 9.8| 3.1| 6.8| 0.31| 36.4| 0.05| 6.5| 0.36| 0.37
II. Manufacturing: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
a. Independent |129.9| 7.1 | 0.5 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 1.20| 0.17| 27.8| 3.3| 5.3| 0.32| 17.5| 0.02| 3.2| 0.09| 0.05
b. Workers |234.5| 32.7 | 5.8 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 2.98| 0.20| 19.4| 13.1| 13.3| 0.32| 57.5| 0.06| 12.0| 0.19| 0.14
III. Commerce and | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
transportation:| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
a. Independent |275.5| 10.4 | 0.7 | 8.8 | 16.4 | 1.35| 0.11| 49.4| 5.9| 7.4| 0.59| 21.8| 0.04| 3.4| 0.10| 0.01
b. Workers |222.6| 35.2 | 6.7 | 22.0 | 18.3 | 2.22| 0.09| 20.8| 10.3| 8.8| 0.32| 26.3| 0.05| 6.1| 0.06| 0.05
IV. Domestics | 52.8|27.1[611]|2.02[611]|3.1[611]|4.0[611]| 0.06| 0.15| 2.4| 0.4| 0.8| 0.20| 1.4| 0.01| 0.6| 0.12| 0.31
V. Public service | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
and lib. profess.| 79.3| 5.9 | 1.2 | 4.8 | 5.6 | 1.69| 0.06| 20.0| 2.0| 2.2| 0.14| 6.6| 0.01| 1.6| 0.02| 0.00
VI. Population | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
over 12 |120.1| 19.2 | 2.5 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 1.17| 0.13| 14.7| 4.5| 5.5| 0.22| 22.3| 0.03| 4.6| 0.13| 0.09
======================+=====+=========+=========+========+========+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====
KEY TO COLUMN HEADINGS:
A. Crimes in General. I. Violence and Threats against Public Functionaries.
B. Theft. J. Domiciliary Trespass.
C. Aggravated Theft. K. Perjury.
D. Embezzlement. L. Serious Assaults.
E. Fraud. M. Homicides.
F. Rape, etc. N. Malicious Mischief.
G. Incest. O. Arson.
H. Insult. P. Infanticide.
Germany, 1896. [612]
======================+=======================================================================================================
Groups | To 10,000 Persons Over 12 Years of Age and having Occupation there were to Each Group:
of +--------+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----
Occupations. | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I. | J. | K. | L. | M. | N. | O. | P.
----------------------+--------+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----
Agriculture | 1,208.7| 238.1| 26.2| 35.8| 1.2 | 1.1 | 54.1| 9.0| 12.1 |127.2| 84.1| 299.8| 24.6| 55.0| 2.8 |0.42
Manufacturing | 2,144.3| 304.3| 58.4| 86.6| 2.3 | 2.6 | 97.9| 19.0| 26.3 |225.3|141.8| 496.1|105.3|120.0| 3.2 |0.51
Commerce and | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
transportation | 2,566.2| 276.9| 40.1|159.3| 1.2 | 6.3 |154.5| 50.5| 19.5 |353.4|126.3| 256.8| 84.8| 80.1| 4.0 |0.64
Workmen and | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
day-laborers[613] |10,402.6|2,622.7|439.3|514.7|20.8 |15.3 |459.7| 88.8|107.8 |829.8|669.5|1,679.5|664.2|439.5| 9.7 |1.60
Domestics | 530.3| 305.7| 25.3| 29.4| 0.23| 0.45| 46.8| 9.2| 0.83| 24.8| 7.4| 13.4| 4.3| 10.0| 2.2 |0.08
Public service and | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
liberal professions | 798.6| 70.7| 13.1| 48.9| 0.63| 1.6 | 65.3| 18.7| 17.1|193.0| 33.2| 70.8| 19.7| 21.4| 2.1 |0.13
Professors, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
physicians, employees| 418.6| 19.2| 1.7| 9.9| 0.00| 0.71| 19.8| 6.8| 12.4|120.0| 14.3| 25.8| 8.6| 7.8| 0.99|0.14
Persons of income, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
students, persons | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
supported | 224.5| 17.3| 0.71| 4.3| 0.00| 0.65| 9.2| 1.8| 4.6 | 65.7| 14.8| 30.6| 8.3| 12.7| 0.59|0.06
======================+========+=======+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======+=====+=====+=======+=====+=====+=====+====
KEY TO COLUMN HEADINGS:
A. Crimes in General. I. Rape upon Children, etc.
B. Theft. J. Insult.
C. Aggravated Theft. K. Assaults.
D. Embezzlement. L. Serious Assaults.
E. Robbery. M. Violence and Threats against Public Functionaries.
F. Extortion. N. Domiciliary Trespass.
G. Fraud. O. Perjury.
H. Forgery. P. Homicide.
These statistics, probably the best upon the subject, tell the whole
story to those who know how to read the figures. They constitute a
proof of the enormous influence of the social factors in the etiology
of crime. It is impossible to maintain that the influence works the
other way, that the moral disposition influences the choice of a
profession. Dr. Prinzing rightly says in the article cited: “It is
quite impossible that those engaged in the three great groups of
occupations, agriculture, manufacturing, and commerce, are persons of
different kinds of moral traits. On the contrary, the supposition that
the moral endowment of each group is nearly the same is completely
justified by the movements that are continually going on under our own
eyes, through which the countryman becomes a city-dweller, and the man
who has grown up in the practice of agriculture, a workman or assistant
in manufacturing and commerce.” [614]
England and Wales, 1894–1900. [615]
=============+====+=========================================+======+==============
| | Among the Prisoners Convicted there were: | Average.
Occupations. | +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+------
| | 1894.| 1895.| 1896.| 1897.| 1898.| 1899.| 1900.|Number.| %
-------------+----+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+------
Domestics |{ M.| 948| 729| 832| 651| 662| 667| 604| 729| 0.7
|{ W.| 1,876| 1,530| 1,417| 1,369| 1,424| 1,986| 2,042| 1,663| 3.9
| | | | | | | | | |
Workmen, |{ M.|75,539|69,944|72,725|73,264|77,321|75,220|69,168| 73,311| 68.0
housekeepers,|{ W.|11,083|10,596|10,574|12,394|14,376|14,960|14,179| 12,594| 29.2
seamstresses |{ | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
Factory |{ M.| 3,763| 2,420| 3,212| 2,855| 3,019| 2,590| 2,331| 2,941| 2.7
workers|{ W.| 3,755| 3,127| 2,926| 2,762| 3,086| 3,367| 3,498| 3,217| 7.5
| | | | | | | | | |
Mechanicians |{ M.|20,702|18,747|19,216|19,179|20,914|20,351|19,726| 19,870| 18.4
and skilled|{ W.| 677| 646| 1,220| 1,342| 1,527| 1,348| 1,480| 1,177| 2.7
workmen|{ | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
Foremen, |{ M.| 80| 75| 65| 64| 60| 75| 61| 68| 0.1
inspectors|{ W.| 2| 3| 4| 5| 2| 1| 2| 2| 0.0
| | | | | | | | | |
Store and |{ M.| 2,869| 2,652| 2,805| 2,506| 2,877| 2,677| 2,550| 2,705| 2.5
office clerks|{ W.| 125| 83| 77| 84| 102| 161| 237| 124| 0.3
| | | | | | | | | |
Merchants |{ M.| 4,054| 4,045| 4,410| 3,984| 4,352| 4,052| 3,461| 4,056| 3.7
|{ W.| 4,127| 4,004| 4,249| 4,087| 4,820| 4,513| 4,179| 4,282| 9.9
| | | | | | | | | |
Liberal |{ M.| 239| 231| 208| 223| 194| 209| 204| 215| 0.2
professions|{ W.| 24| 23| 34| 23| 33| 24| 28| 27| 0.1
| | | | | | | | | |
Soldiers, |{ | 3,620| 3,338| 3,433| 3,227| 3,202| 3,082| 3,327| 3,318| 3.1
sailors and |{ | | | | | | | | |
marines|{ | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
Prostitutes | | 5,132| 5,105| 7,411| 6,746| 6,413| 6,092| 6,715| 6,230| 14.5
| | | | | | | | | |
Without |{ M.| 1,369| 746| 644| 550| 518| 391| 320| 648| 0.6
occupation|{ W.|15,067|14,910|13,494|13,606|13,361|12,888|12,745| 13,725| 31.9
-------------+----+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+------
| | Total { Men |107,861|100.00
| | { Women| 43,041|100.00
=============+====+================================================+=======+======
According to the first table the workmen are implicated, in a much
greater degree than the independents, in all the crimes except that of
insult (which is explained by the fact that this crime is one of those
which are prosecuted only after complaint laid, and that working-men
decide to lay complaint much less quickly than the bourgeois). Certain
crimes, indeed, are more often committed by the independent merchants
than by the working-men of the same class, but here it is necessary to
remember that many of the small merchants are on the same plane of
living as the working-men. The liberal professions, on the contrary,
show very low figures, a fact which is to be plainly noticed in the
second table, where the attention is caught by the very low figures of
the group of students and person with incomes. The participation in all
crimes by unskilled workmen is very great, even if we allow for the
figures’ being exaggerated.
I have not been able to procure statistics concerning the occupations
of the whole population of England. Nevertheless, it seems to me to be
worth while to mention the figures concerning the occupations of the
criminals, for, considered by themselves, they show clearly that the
classes without means play a very large part in crime. At least 95% of
the men are in this condition, as well as at least 5% of the women (a
part of the merchants must be added in both cases) while of the 31.9%
without occupation it is certain that a large number are also poor.
France, 1898–1900. [616]
=======================================+============================
| Number of Persons Accused
| to 100,000 of Each Group.
Groups of Occupations. +---------+---------+--------
| 1898. | 1899. | 1900.
---------------------------------------+---------+---------+--------
Agriculture | 8 | 9 | 8
Manufacturing | 20 | 22 | 24
Commerce | 29 | 33 | 27
Domestic service | 16 | 16 | 13
Liberal professions and public service | 15 | 15 | 15
=======================================+=========+=========+========
Since this table makes no distinction between independents and
dependents, it does not advance the matter much, and the only important
observation that can be drawn from it is that agriculture and the
liberal professions give the lowest figures. A clearer idea is given by
the following table:
France, 1890–1895. [617]
==============================+=======================================================================================
| To the 100 Prisoners in Penitentiaries and Houses of Correction.
+----------------+--------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
Occupations. | 1890. | 1891. | 1892. | 1893. | 1894. | 1895.
+------+---------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------
| Men. | Women. | Men. |Women. | Men. |Women.| Men. |Women.| Men. |Women.| Men. |Women.
------------------------------+------+---------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------
Property owners, persons of | | | | | | | | | | | |
income | 0.58| 1.10 | 0.62| 2.21 | 0.62| 0.99| 0.66| 1.45| 0.66| 1.78| 0.65| 2.07
Liberal professions | 2.36| 1.03 | 2.92| 1.66 | 2.64| 1.42| 2.41| 1.90| 2.64| 1.62| 2.50| 1.33
Employees | 5.00| 0.55 | 5.40| 0.34 | 5.07| 0.36| 4.81| 0.30| 5.26| 0.62| 5.49| 1.33
Merchants, manufacturers | 3.77| 4.47 | 3.25| 4.80 | 3.49| 4.35| 3.39| 3.81| 3.64| 4.71| 3.19| 5.72
Alimentary professions | 3.12| 1.24 | 3.41| 0.92 | 3.53| 0.85| 3.60| 1.52| 4.31| 1.78| 4.27| 1.82
Workmen in shops and factories| 8.39| 13.14 | 8.93| 12.03 | 8.73| 12.17| 7.86| 15.16| 9.46| 16.08| 9.39| 15.34
Building and furnishing trades| 16.76| 0.21[#]| 16.09|0.28[#]| 17.11| 0.49| 17.68| 0.23| 17.51| 1.23| 17.92| 0.66
Agricultural and day laborers | 48.31| 62.45 | 48.85| 61.02 | 47.94| 63.17| 49.52| 56.44| 45.71| 56.03| 44.93| 54.15
Nomadic occupations | 3.99| 4.68 | 3.89| 4.63 | 4.19| 4.77| 3.79| 4.72| 3.77| 4.79| 3.82| 4.48
Soldiers and sailors | 2.41| -- | 2.23| -- | 2.29| -- | 1.94| -- | 1.75| -- | 1.60| --
Vagabonds and mendicants | 1.48| 4.74[#]| 0.82|4.65[#]] 0.94| 4.77| 1.03| 5.71| 1.27| 4.95| 1.52| 5.14
Individuals in the care of | | | | | | | | | | | |
their families | 3.83| 6.39 | -- | 7.46 | 3.45| 5.66| 3.31| 8.76| 4.02| 6.41| 4.72| 7.96
------------------------------+------+---------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------
|100.00|100.00 |100.00|100.00 |100.00|100.00|100.00|100.00|100.00|100.00|100.00|100.00
==============================+======+=========+======+=======+======+======+======+======+======+======|======|======
Although there are no statistics of the occupations of the
corresponding non-criminal population, the figures are well worth
noting. We discover that the unskilled laborers form a large proportion
of the prisoners, in every case a larger proportion than they bear to
the population in general; and that the merchants and manufacturers
form a much smaller part of the prisoners than they do of the
population as a whole, for they certainly constitute more than 5.45%,
especially in France, a country where small industries still flourish.
Italy, 1891–1895. [620]
=======================================================+============================
| Convicts.
Groups of Occupations. +----------------------------
|Annual Average to 100,000 of
|Each Group of Occupations.
-------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------
Agriculture | 1,009.03
Manufacturing, arts and trades | 855.78
Commerce, transport, navigation and fishing | 1,677.46
Domestic service | 410.96
Employees, liberal professions, capitalists, pensioners| 288.58
=======================================================+============================
These figures show that in Italy also the capitalists and liberal
professions furnish a figure for criminality below that of the other
groups. The same is true of the following table:
Italy, 1891–1895. [621]
==============================+================================================
| Convicts.
|Annual Average to the 100,000 of the Population.
Groups of Professions. +-----------------------+------------------------
| Proprietors or | Dependents.
| Managers. |
------------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------
Agriculture | 307.43 | 1,368.99
Manufacturing, arts and trades| 678.56 | 861.57
Commerce | 1,278.11 | 1,585.03
==============================+=======================+========================
The following table is more detailed for certain occupations:
Italy, 1891–1895. [622]
==================================================+============================
| Convicts.
+----------------------------
|Annual Average to 100,000 of
| Population.
Occupations. +--------------+-------------
|Proprietors or| Dependents.
| Managers. |
+--------------+-------------
| Men.
--------------------------------------------------+--------------+-------------
Building trade | 1,654.52 | 1,895.18
{textile, mechanical, } | |
Manufacturing {chemical, alimentary,} | 837.80 | 1,443.22
{arts and trades } | |
Shoemaking | 1,080.95 | 2,254.63
Meat business | 3,925.95 | 3,900.61
Cafés, etc. | 1,542.12 | 914.68
Sale of food and fuel | 1,035.58 | 2,411.66
Other kinds of commerce | 1,649.80 | 1,383.12
Navigation, fishing | 259.11 | 1.769.94
--------------------------------------------------+--------------+-------------
| Women.
--------------------------------------------------+--------------+-------------
Manufacturing {mines, building, tobacco, textile,}| 133.70 | 193.38
{alimentary, arts and trades }| |
Seamstresses, dressmakers, milliners | 285.00 | 138.15
Sale of food and fuel | 460.46 | 511.49
Other kinds of commerce | 2,403.88 | 3,113.34
==================================================+==============+=============
We have now arrived at the end of our observations upon occupations
among criminals. Other statistics are available, but either it is
impossible to compare them with statistics of the non-criminal
population, or they are without significance for some other reason. At
any rate it seems to me that those I have given are enough to show that
proportionately the non-possessors are more guilty of crime than the
possessors. [623]
The thesis set forth above is confirmed, then, in three different ways.
The question still remains to be answered, to what must we attribute
the greater criminality among the non-possessors?
As was remarked at the beginning of this section (on the egoistic
tendency of the present economic system, and its consequences), there
are three questions which present themselves in connection with the
etiology of crime; first, what is the origin of the criminal idea?
Second, what are the forces in man which prevent this idea from coming
to realization? Third, the occasion for committing the crime. For the
moment we shall concern ourselves with the second question only; and we
shall ask ourselves the question, is the explanation that these forces
are weaker with non-possessors than with others? It is very difficult,
if not impossible, to give an answer to this question, for it is very
complicated. In the first place it is necessary to prove that the
environment of the non-possessors arouses thoughts for which that of
the possessors offers no place. The circumstances in which the
well-to-do live are in general of such a nature that the moral force
has no need of offering combat, since the criminal thought does not
exist. For example, in economic offenses one of the principal
provocatives of criminal ideas is poverty, which is unknown to the
bourgeoisie. It follows that nothing definite can be said about the
relative force of the moral sentiments in these two groups of the
population in counteracting criminal ideas. Other examples could be
added, and I am of the opinion that this influence of the environment
will be by itself sufficient to explain the difference in the
criminality of the two groups.
It is impossible to decide with certainty whether, aside from the
above-mentioned influence of the environment, the present economic
system and its consequences have a harmful influence upon the social
sentiments that is stronger in the case of non-possessors than it is in
the case of possessors. It must be considered as certain (and the
figures which I shall give farther along also show it) that the
circumstances in which children and young people live among the
proletariat is a cause of their being much more demoralized than the
children of the bourgeoisie. The influences acting upon the adults of
the two classes differ so much in nature and intensity that it is
impossible to contrast their effects.
It is unnecessary to say that in what has preceded the possessing class
has been contrasted with the proletariat alone, and not with the lower
proletariat. It goes without saying that the environment in which the
latter live makes them the class most destitute of the moral sense in
the whole population.
c. Marriage. To form an idea as to whether there is a relation between
crime and marriage, and in this case, as to what its nature is, we must
have recourse to statistics. Almost all the criminal statistics give
information upon the civil status of criminals (England is the sole
exception, I believe).
We shall commence with:
Austria, 1881–1899. [624]
===================+========================================================
| Years.
Status. +----------+----------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----
|1881-1885.|1886-1890.|1891-1895.|1896.|1897.|1898.|1899.
-------------------+----------+----------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----
Unmarried | 56.8 | 59.9 | 60.7 | 62.2| 62.9| 61.7| 61.3
Married | 39.9 | 36.9 | 36.2 | 34.7| 34.1| 35.3| 35.3
Widowers and widows| 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 3.1| 3.0| 3.0| 3.3
===================+==========+==========+==========+=====+=====+=====+=====
Here the unmarried are more numerous than the married. It is different,
however, in a neighboring country:
Hungary, 1888. [625]
===================+=================================
| To 100 Convicts.
+----------------+----------------
Status. | Men. | Women.
+--------+-------+--------+-------
|Assizes.| Corr. |Assizes.| Corr.
| |Tribun.| |Tribun.
-------------------+--------+-------+--------+-------
Unmarried | 42.89 | 32.99 | 33.51 | 18.03
Married | 54.66 | 62.31 | 53.08 | 69.29
Widowers and widows| 2.36 | 4.06 | 13.08 | 11.46
Divorced | 0.09 | 0.64 | 0.33 | 1.22
===================+========+=======+========+=======
Here, then, the married persons far outnumber the unmarried. However,
neither of these tables has much value, for first, nothing shows that
from the total number of the unmarried those who have not yet reached
marriageable age has been subtracted, and second, the corresponding
figures for the non-criminal population are lacking, so that a
comparison of the two is impossible.
In these respects the following figures are better:
Italy, 1891–1895. [626]
====================+====================================
|Annual Average Number (of Criminals)
Status. | to 100,000 of the Population in
| Each Group over 14.
--------------------+------------------------------------
Unmarried | 978.47
Married | 622.27
Widowers and widows | 291.84
====================+====================================
But as the Hungarian figures have already shown it is necessary to make
a division for sexes, for first, women have a much lower figure for
criminality than men, and second, the whole population is not equally
divided between men and women.
The defects so far noted have been avoided in the following tables:
France, 1881–1900. [627]
====================+===============================================
|To 100,000 of the Same State of Life there were
| accused at the Assizes:
Status. +-----------------------+-----------------------
| Men. | Women.
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
| 1881-1885.| 1896-1900.| 1881-1885.| 1896-1900.
--------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Unmarried | 62 | 41 | 8 | 5
Married | 18 | 12 | 3 | 2
Widowers and widows | 24 | 14 | 5 | 3
====================+===========+===========+===========+===========
Netherlands, 1899. [628]
==========================+===============================+=============================
| Men. | Women.
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------
| To 100 Men | To 100 Male | To 100 | To 100
Status. |of Marriageable| Convicts of | Women of |Female Convicts
| Age | Marriageable |Marriageable|of Marriageable
| there were: |Age there were:| Age there |Age there were:
| | | were: |
--------------------------+---------------+---------------+------------+----------------
Unmarried | 34.8 | 59.1 | 36.2 | 36.7
Married | 58.8 | 36.7 | 52.4 | 52.6
Widowers, widows, divorced| 6.4 | 4.2 | 11.4 | 10.7
==========================+===============+===============+============+================
Switzerland, 1892–1896. [629]
===================+===========================+===========================
| Men. | Women.
+---------------+-----------+---------------+-----------
Status. | To 100 of | To 100 | To 100 of | To 100
|Population Over| Prisoners |Population Over| Prisoners
| 12 Yrs. Old |there were:| 12 Yrs. Old |there were:
| there were: | | there were: |
-------------------+---------------+-----------+---------------+-----------
Unmarried | 49.3 | 64.0 | 45.7 | 48.5
Married | 44.8 | 26.6 | 41.9 | 33.0
Widowers and widows| 5.5 | 5.7 | 11.7 | 11.6
Divorced | 0.4 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 6.9
===================+===============+===========+===============+===========
These tables show that the unmarried men (but not the women) are in
general more criminal than the married. However it is necessary to be
careful as to this point. All these tables fail to connect civil status
with age, a fact which reduces their importance almost to nothing,
first because the tendency to crime differs much with age; and
secondly, because the percentage of married persons is not the same for
different ages. It is, therefore, necessary to compare the married and
the unmarried at the same age. The German statistics are the only ones
which furnish the necessary materials, and the conclusions to be drawn
from these are the only ones which give us certain information as to
the relation between crime and marriage. These statistics have served
as the basis for the two studies of Dr. Prinzing’s already quoted from
which we take the following tables.
First the relation between marriage and crime among men. But it must
first be remarked that married men are acquitted oftener than
bachelors, as a consequence of which the unmarried men are made, in the
tables, to seem more criminal than they are—as the following table
shows:
Germany, 1886–1890. [630]
========+=======================================================
|Number Acquitted out of 100 Accused of Each Category of
| Age and Civil Status.
Age. +------------------+----------------+-------------------
| Unmarried. | Married. | Widowers and
| | | Divorced.
--------+------------------+----------------+-------------------
18-21 | 15.0 | 20.7 |
21-25 | 15.8 | 18.4 |
25-30 | 15.9 | 20.1 | 16.1
30-40 | 15.1 | 22.3 | 16.0
40-50 | 13.4 | 23.7 | 15.2
50-60 | 13.4 | 24.9 | 18.0
Over 60 | 14.2 | 28.1 | 22.3
========+==================+================+===================
Germany, 1888. [631]
Crimes in General.
=======+=======================================================
|Number of Convicts to 100,000 Persons of Each Category.
Age. +--------------+------------+-----------------+---------
| Unmarried. | Married. | Wid. and Div. | Total.
-------+--------------+------------+-----------------+---------
18-21 | 2,994.5 | 5,413.0 | | 3,009.2
21-25 | 3,107.0 | 3,566.3 | | 3,163.8
25-30 | 2,950.9 | 2,504.7 | 4,273.7 | 2,746.7
30-40 | 2,880.9 | 1,961.2 | 3,797.2 | 2,171.5
40-50 | 2,205.7 | 1,487.8 | 2,626.3 | 1,599.8
50-60 | 1,241.9 | 1,009.8 | 1,267.8 | 1,052.5
Over 60| 494.6 | 490.1 | 342.7 | 450.5
=======+==============+============+=================+=========
It appears then from this table, first, that in general the bachelors
commit more crimes than the married men; second, that the contrary is
true of the period between 18 and 25; third, that the criminality of
married men is very great.
The following figures have to do with some important economic crimes.
[632]
Simple Theft.
=======+==========+========+==========+======
| | |Widowers, |
Age. |Unmarried.|Married.|Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorced. |
-------+----------+--------+----------+------
18-21 | 551.7 |1,418.3 | | 555.3
21-25 | 427.7 | 685.9 | 627.2 | 457.7
25-30 | 382.6 | 412.6 | 572.1 | 398.5
30-40 | 411.9 | 296.9 | 550.0 | 323.0
40-50 | 365.0 | 216.2 | 420.0 | 237.4
50-60 | 233.1 | 151.6 | 231.1 | 164.6
Over 60| 109.2 | 84.0 | 67.2 | 81.2
=======+==========+========+==========+======
It is, then, in the period between 18 and 30 that married persons are
more often guilty of theft than the unmarried; after 30 the parts are
changed, except that under the last two age-classes the widows,
widowers, and divorced persons show high figures.
Embezzlements. [633]
=======+==========+========+==========+======
| | |Widowers, |
Age. |Unmarried.|Married.|Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorced. |
-------+----------+--------+----------+------
18-21 | 123.2 | 338.7 | | 124.4
21-25 | 131.6 | 163.6 | 295.6 | 135.5
25-30 | 139.7 | 109.8 | 291.6 | 126.1
30-40 | 161.8 | 86.1 | 279.6 | 103.4
40-50 | 128.0 | 61.1 | 168.8 | 71.3
50-60 | 66.2 | 37.7 | 71.3 | 42.7
Over 60| 28.3 | 16.6 | 13.9 | 16.7
=======+==========+========+==========+======
In this crime also there is a greater criminality among married persons
between 18 and 25 than among the unmarried, and the opposite for the
later periods. The situation is entirely different in the case of the
crime which follows: [634]
Fraudulent Bankruptcy.
=======+==========+========+==========+======
| | |Widowers, |
Age. |Unmarried.|Married.|Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorced. |
-------+----------+--------+----------+------
18-21 | 0.3 | 33.9 | | 0.3
21-25 | 3.3 | 21.3 | | 4.5
25-30 | 3.9 | 14.8 | | 9.8
30-40 | 4.3 | 9.9 | 15.9 | 9.0
40-50 | 2.2 | 6.6 | 7.2 | 6.2
50-60 | 1.1 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.7
Over 60| 0.4 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.5
=======+==========+========+==========+======
Here we have a higher degree of criminality among the married persons
of all ages.
It is unnecessary to give the figures for all the economic crimes and
it will be enough simply to give the general results for the rest.
Unmarried persons are guilty of the following crimes more often than
married persons: aggravated theft (at all ages); robbery and extortion
(except between the ages of 21 and 25); fraud and criminal breach of
trust (except between the ages of 21 and 25); forgery (except between
21 and 25, and over 60); and counterfeiting. The following offenses are
more often committed by married persons than by unmarried: being
accessory to theft, and receiving stolen goods (except between 30 and
40); violation of secrets; usury; and procuration. It must be added
that widows, widowers and divorced persons show very high figures for
economic offenses.
As to sexual crimes we have the following figures: [635]
=======+====================================++====================================
| Incest. || Debauching through Abuse of
| || Confidence.
+----------+--------+---------+------++----------+--------+---------+------
Age. |Unmarried.|Married.| Widows | ||Unmarried.|Married.| Widows |
| | | and |Total.|| | | and |Total.
| | |Divorced.| || | |Divorced.|
-------+----------+--------+---------+------++----------+--------+---------+------
18-21 | 0.7 | | | 0.7 || 0.03 | | | 0.03
21-25 | 0.8 | 1.4 | | 0.9 || 0.20 | 0.4 | | 0.20
25-30 | 1.0 | 0.9 | | 1.0 || 0.30 | 0.3 | | 0.30
30-40 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 22.7 | 1.7 || 0.20 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 0.40
40-50 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 26.3 | 2.5 || 0.40 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 0.50
50-60 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 12.4 | 2.1 || 0.20 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.30
Over 60| 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 0.8 || | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.10
=======+==========+========+=========+======++==========+========+=========+======
Consequently, as regards these crimes, the married persons are more
often guilty than the unmarried, but the widowers, widows and divorced
persons occupy the first rank.
=======+=======================================
| Rape, Etc.[636]
Age. +----------+--------+------------+------
|Unmarried.|Married.|Widowers and|Total.
| | | Divorced. |
-------+----------+--------+------------+------
21-25 | 26.3 | 24.1 | | 26.1
25-30 | 26.2 | 15.7 | | 21.2
30-40 | 39.7 | 12.8 | 61.4 | 18.6
40-50 | 44.5 | 9.9 | 56.2 | 14.8
50-60 | 36.8 | 8.4 | 28.3 | 12.3
60-70 | 28.3 | 6.8 | 18.7 | 11.1
Over 70| 18.7 | 5.6 | 10.3 | 8.6
=======+==========+========+============+======
Here the unmarried persons are guilty oftener than those married, and
widowers and divorced persons oftenest of all. As for debauch contrary
to nature it is the unmarried persons who are the most often guilty.
Here, finally, are figures for the more important remaining crimes:
=======+======================================================
| Rebellion.[637]
+------------+----------+------------------+-----------
Age. | | | Widowers, Widows |
| Unmarried. | Married. | and Divorced. | Total.
-------+------------+----------+------------------+-----------
18-21 | 130.5 | 211.7 | -- | 130.8
21-25 | 199.0 | 143.6 | -- | 192.0
25-30 | 228.2 | 113.8 | 258.0 | 174.2
30-40 | 262.6 | 83.1 | 236.2 | 119.4
40-50 | 206.6 | 55.6 | 160.4 | 73.6
50-60 | 92.0 | 34.2 | 59.6 | 40.8
Over 60| 25.2 | 14.5 | 11.2 | 14.3
=======+============+==========+==================+============
===============================================================
| Insults.[638]
+------------+----------+------------------+------------
Age. | | | Widowers and |
| Unmarried. | Married. | Divorced. | Total.
-------+------------+----------+------------------+------------
18-21 | 111.1 | 444.5 | -- | 112.5
21-25 | 173.3 | 279.0 | 448.0 | 186.7
25-30 | 222.9 | 270.6 | 381.4 | 249.3
30-40 | 277.4 | 316.2 | 377.3 | 312.8
40-50 | 240.7 | 311.3 | 317.3 | 307.3
50-60 | 158.1 | 237.7 | 187.5 | 229.4
Over 60| 66.4 | 122.9 | 66.6 | 103.7
=======+============+==========+==================+============
Here the married persons have the highest figures at all ages.
=======+=======================================================
| Assaults.[639]
Age. +------------+----------+------------------+------------
| Unmarried. | Married.| Widowers and |
| | | Divorced. | Total.
-------+------------+----------+------------------+------------
18-21 | 1,084.2 | 1,778.2 | -- | 1,087.3
21-25 | 1,132.5 | 1,051.5 | 1,344.0 | 1,124.1
25-30 | 904.6 | 692.9 | 964.7 | 803.3
30-40 | 552.6 | 434.1 | 602.3 | 459.7
40-50 | 262.9 | 268.1 | 316.1 | 269.6
50-60 | 117.7 | 161.9 | 144.6 | 157.2
Over 60| 43.5 | 68.6 | 40.9 | 59.0
=======+============+==========+==================+============
The unmarried show in general higher figures than the married persons
(except for the period between 18 and 21).
=======+=========================================
| Murder and Homicide.[640]
+-----------+---------+------------+------
Age. |Unmarried. |Married. |Widowers and|Total.
| | | Divorced. |
-------+-----------+---------+------------+------
18-21 | 2.2 | | | 2.2
21-25 | 3.1 | 2.1 | | 3.0
25-30 | 3.1 | 2.0 | | 2.6
30-40 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 13.6 | 1.9
40-50 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 6.0 | 1.9
50-60 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 0.7
Over 60| 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3
=======+===========+=========+============+======
Here it is the widowers, widows and divorced persons who are most
involved, and then the unmarried.
For some other crimes we shall give only the results. Married persons
are more often guilty of the following crimes than the unmarried;
domiciliary trespass (except between 25 and 50); perjury (except
between 21 and 25, and between 30 and 40) and other offenses against
the obligation of taking oath; false accusation; unintentional homicide
(except between 25 and 30); offenses against personal liberty (except
between 30 and 50); and crimes and misdemeanors committed by public
officials.
For the following crimes, on the other hand, the unmarried hold the
first rank: offenses against public worship (except between 21 and 25);
malicious mischief (except between 18 and 21); and arson. It is to be
noted that for nearly all the above the widowers, widows and divorced
persons show very high figures.
After an examination of the results found it is impossible to say that
the married persons show absolutely a criminality less in degree than
that of the unmarried; there is a variation for offenses as well as for
ages. Only considered in general, the tendency to crime is less in the
case of the married than of the unmarried.
As the following figures prove the connection between crime and
marriage is quite different in the case of women. It is necessary,
however, to show the following table before giving figures in support
of this assertion.
Germany, 1886–1890. [641]
=======+=======================================================
|Number of Acquittals to 100 Accused Persons of Each Age
Age. | Group.
+----------------+--------------+-----------------------
| Unmarried. | Married. | Widowed and Divorced.
-------+----------------+--------------+-----------------------
18-21 | 15.1 | 25.6 |
21-25 | 16.8 | 24.5 | 24.1
25-30 | 16.7 | 24.2 | 19.7
30-40 | 17.3 | 23.4 | 19.6
40-50 | 18.2 | 24.2 | 21.7
50-60 | 18.2 | 25.8 | 24.4
Over 60| 19.8 | 27.0 | 27.7
=======+================+==============+=======================
As in the case of men there are, then, a greater percentage of
acquittals among the married than among the unmarried.
Germany, 1882–1893. [642]
Crimes in General.
=======+==========================================================
|To 100,000 Persons of Each Age Group there were Sentenced:
Age. +------------------+----------------+----------------------
| Unmarried. | Married. | Widowed and
| | | Divorced.
-------+------------------+----------------+----------------------
18-21 | 415.2 | 602.5 |
21-25 | 417.5 | 469.9 | 1339.3
25-30 | 440.7 | 454.5 | 1149.2
30-40 | 446.2 | 500.0 | 1029.9
40-50 | 334.7 | 468.2 | 709.9
50-60 | 221.5 | 299.5 | 369.2
Over 60| 102.2 | 133.4 | 111.2
=======+==================+================+======================
While married women of all ages lead the unmarried in general
criminality, the highest figures are shown by the widows and divorcées.
The following tables have to do with the more important crimes,
beginning with those affecting property: [643]
Simple Theft.
=======+==========+========+==========+======
Age. |Unmarried.|Married.|Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorcées.|
-------+----------+--------+----------+------
18-21 | 210.6 | 209.3 | |210.6
21-25 | 177.1 | 147.8 | 385.7 |169.3
25-30 | 158.5 | 132.0 | 318.5 |144.0
30-40 | 136.6 | 127.1 | 265.9 |135.1
40-50 | 92.2 | 104.0 | 175.9 |111.6
50-60 | 61.2 | 64.4 | 88.6 | 70.3
Over 60| 32.0 | 31.1 | 28.0 | 29.5
=======+==========+========+==========+======
The married women show, then, figures a little lower than those of the
unmarried women, except between 40 and 60, and the widows and divorcées
give the highest figures.
=======+===========================+===========================
| Embezzlement. | Receiving Stolen Goods.
Age. +------+----+--------+------+------+----+--------+------
|Unmar.|Mar.|Wid. and|Total.|Unmar.|Mar.|Wid. and|Total.
| | | Div. | | | | Div. |
-------+------+----+--------+------+------+----+--------+------
18-21 | 25.3 |35.2| | 25.8 | 9.2 |33.7| | 10.7
21-25 | 25.9 |23.4| 92.8 | 25.4 | 10.6 |26.3| 48.2 | 15.3
25-30 | 26.0 |20.3| 80.7 | 23.2 | 12.6 |23.9| 52.4 | 20.2
30-40 | 25.3 |21.6| 63.4 | 24.2 | 17.2 |32.6| 61.3 | 31.4
40-50 | 18.6 |18.3| 40.3 | 21.1 | 16.1 |36.4| 56.4 | 36.6
50-60 | 11.0 |10.3| 17.2 | 12.2 | 11.4 |22.6| 29.6 | 23.3
Over 60| 4.4 | 4.3| 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 8.8| 7.4 | 7.6
=======+======+====+========+======+======+====+========+======
Under the head of “embezzlement” the unmarried women show figures a
little higher than those of the married women (except between 18 and
21); in the crime of receiving stolen goods the married women are more
guilty than the unmarried; while in both offenses it is the widows and
divorcées who lead.
Procuration.
=======+==========+========+=============+======
Age. |Unmarried.|Married.|Wid. and Div.|Total.
-------+----------+--------+-------------+------
18-21 | 0.6 | 5.2 | | 0.9
21-25 | 2.1 | 8.2 | 33.8 | 3.9
25-30 | 6.4 | 10.1 | 47.5 | 9.2
30-40 | 10.9 | 11.7 | 47.3 | 13.2
40-50 | 7.6 | 9.7 | 28.4 | 11.7
50-60 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 10.4 | 5.9
Over 60| 1.1 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 2.2
=======+==========+========+=============+======
Here also the highest figures are found with the widows and divorcées
and the lowest with the unmarried women. In the following economic
offenses it is the married women who are oftenest guilty: aggravated
theft (except between 18 and 21 and after 60); fraudulent bankruptcy;
forgery (except between 25 and 50); and violation of secrets. We must
once more note that the widows and divorcées show very high figures.
As to sexual crime we have the following:
=======+=======================================
| Incest.
Age. +-----------+---------+----------+------
|Unmarried. |Married. |Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorcées.|
-------+-----------+---------+----------+------
18-21 | 2.7 | 1.4 | | 2.6
21-25 | 2.1 | 0.6 | | 1.7
25-30 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 8.0 | 1.1
30-40 | 2.5 | 0.2 | 6.2 | 0.8
40-50 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 0.3
50-60 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.2
Over 60| 0.1 | 0.02 | 0.1 | 0.07
=======+===========+=========+==========+======
Here the widows and divorcées are at the head and the married women
last. The other sexual crimes give figures for women too small to be of
any value for our purpose.
Certain of the crimes which remain show the following figures:
=======+=====================================
| Insults.
Age. +----------+--------+----------+------
|Unmarried.|Married.|Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorcées.|
-------+----------+--------+----------+------
18-21 | 24.3 | 88.5 | | 27.9
21-25 | 34.9 | 85.7 | 157.1 | 50.0
25-30 | 44.2 | 99.8 | 137.1 | 76.7
30-40 | 57.3 | 116.8 | 138.4 | 108.1
40-50 | 58.4 | 121.4 | 121.7 | 114.5
50-60 | 43.6 | 84.8 | 77.1 | 78.5
Over 60| 22.4 | 38.3 | 26.7 | 30.2
=======+==========+========+==========+======
The highest figures are those for widows and divorcées (except over
50), and the lowest for the unmarried.
=======+=======================================
| Domiciliary Trespass.
+-----------+---------+----------+------
Age. |Unmarried. |Married. |Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorcées.|
-------+-----------+---------+----------+------
18-21 | 5.4 | 16.9 | | 6.0
21-25 | 6.9 | 13.3 | 28.6 | 8.9
25-30 | 8.6 | 15.2 | 28.2 | 13.0
30-40 | 11.1 | 21.2 | 32.7 | 20.1
40-50 | 10.6 | 23.9 | 27.2 | 22.8
50-60 | 6.2 | 15.3 | 15.9 | 14.4
Over 60| 3.0 | 6.0 | 4.2 | 4.7
=======+===========+=========+==========+======
The highest figures are for the widows and divorcées, the lowest for
the unmarried.
=======+=======================================
| Assaults.
Age. +-----------+---------+----------+------
|Unmarried. |Married. |Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorcées.|
-------+-----------+---------+----------+------
18-21 | 20.4 | 67.5 | | 23.0
21-25 | 24.9 | 61.1 | 96.4 | 35.7
25-30 | 29.8 | 58.7 | 88.9 | 48.3
30-40 | 29.9 | 61.0 | 70.2 | 56.4
40-50 | 21.3 | 55.3 | 46.8 | 50.4
50-60 | 13.9 | 33.9 | 25.7 | 29.5
Over 60| 7.0 | 14.2 | 8.6 | 10.4
=======+===========+=========+==========+======
Here the highest figures are those for the married women except between
the ages of 21 and 40 when they fall to the widows and divorcées.
=======+=====================================
| Crimes against the Life of a Child.
Age. +----------+--------+----------+------
|Unmarried.|Married.|Widows and|Total.
| | |Divorcées.|
-------+----------+--------+----------+------
18-21 | 5.6 | 4.3 | | 5.5
21-25 | 9.8 | 1.7 | 7.1 | 7.4
25-30 | 9.3 | 1.4 | 16.1 | 4.5
30-40 | 5.4 | 1.1 | 12.5 | 2.4
40-50 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 3.4 | 1.2
50-60 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.6
Over 60| 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2
=======+==========+========+==========+======
In this regard the widows and divorcées show the greatest criminality,
the married women the lowest.
Finally, we may add the results for some other crimes. The married
women are more guilty than the unmarried in the following: rebellion
[644] (except between 21 and 40); violation of factory laws; crimes
against individual liberty; and malicious mischief (except between 25
and 40). In the following the unmarried women lead the married:
perjury, false accusation, homicide and murder (except for the ages
over 50), unintentional homicide (except after 50), and arson. It is to
be noted that the widows and divorcées are at the head.
The conclusion to be drawn is that the married woman commits more
crimes than the unmarried, but that this does not apply to all crimes
nor to all ages.
So much for the figures themselves; now for their explanation.
It is very difficult, in examining the influence of marriage upon
criminality, to separate the moral consequences from other factors. We
are mistaken, for example, if we attribute to the moral influence of
marriage the fact that married persons are less often guilty of the
great majority of economic crimes than the unmarried. The fact that
anyone marries is ordinarily an indication that he is in a material
situation more or less good. The danger that he will commit an economic
offense becomes, then, much less great than when he is in a less
comfortable condition. The correctness of this position is clearly
shown by the statistics given, according to which married men still
young give a higher figure than that furnished by the bachelors. The
reason is that proletarians marry while still young. The material cares
of these husbands are then much greater than later on when their
children have already left home, or are at least earning their own
living. [645] If we examine the figures for insults we shall see that
married men and women both are more guilty than the unmarried. It would
be very erroneous to conclude that marriage increases the tendency to
this offense. The explanation is to be found in the fact that when a
single dwelling (or barrack rather) is the common habitation of several
workmen’s families, living conditions easily become a permanent source
of disputes. In this case it is not marriage but bad housing conditions
which appear as a factor in the etiology of crime. If it were possible
to separate these conditions or these material consequences of marriage
from its moral consequences, the difference between the criminality of
the married and the unmarried would not appear very great. Especially
is this true if we keep sight of the fact that the bourgeoisie
generally marry at a more advanced age than the proletariat. This
brings it about that there are more of the bourgeois among the older
married people than among the younger; and since, from other causes,
the bourgeoisie commit fewer crimes than the proletariat, the influence
of marriage seems greater here than it really is.
As for the criminality of women it must be noted that the unmarried
women of the bourgeoisie represent a greater proportion of the whole
number of unmarried women than the women of this class do of women in
general. And since from other causes the criminality of the women of
this last class is very small, marriage seems to have a less favorable
effect than it really has.
As for the consequences of marriage upon morality, I believe they are
the following. In the first place marriage has a tendency to increase
the feeling of responsibility, especially if there are children. Then
when man and wife understand one another, when they are happy in their
union, no one will deny that marriage has a strong moral influence,
for, according to the proverb, happy people are not wicked. The proof
of this is that married men participate less than bachelors in the
crimes of rebellion, assault, homicide, murder, etc., while widowers
are more often guilty of them, becoming addicted to alcohol after the
death of their wives, or becoming demoralized in other ways. However,
it would be more accurate to speak of the moral influence of love than
of marriage in the sense of legal monogamy. Happy married couples do
not owe their happiness to the legal sanction. Without it their
happiness would be as great. On the other hand if the couple is
ill-assorted for one reason or another, then marriage has a very
demoralizing influence. Legal monogamy comes into play in such cases by
rendering difficult the separation of persons who do not understand
each other, or of whom one or the other conducts himself badly.
The great power of a man over his wife, as a consequence of his
economic preponderance, may equally be a demoralizing cause. It is
certain that there will always be abuse of power on the part of a
number of those whom social circumstances have clothed with a certain
authority. How many women there are who now have to endure the
coarseness and bad treatment of their husbands, but would not hesitate
to leave them if their economic dependence and the law did not prevent.
Holmes, the author of “Pictures and Problems from London Police
Courts”, who for years saw all the unfortunates who came before these
tribunals, says in this connection: “A good number of Englishmen seem
to think they have as perfect a right to thrash or kick their wives as
the American had to ‘lick his nigger.’ Yes, and some of these fellows
are completely astonished when a magistrate ventures to hold a
different opinion. I well remember a great hulking fellow, with a
leg-of-mutton fist, being charged with assaulting a policeman. After
all the evidence had been given, the magistrate inquired whether the
prisoner had been previously charged. ‘Yes, your worship, he was here
two months ago, charged with assaulting a female.’ As the prisoner
declared this was false, and indignantly denied that he had ever
assaulted a female, the gaoler brought in his book and proved the
conviction. The prisoner then looked up in astonishment, and said: ‘Oh,
why, it was only my own wife!’ Only their own wives; but how those
wives suffer! Is there any misery equal to theirs, any slavery to
compare with theirs? If so, I never heard of it. I have seen thousands
of them, and their existence is our shame and degradation.” [646]
Further it goes without saying that a marriage entered into for reasons
of self-interest is demoralizing.
Although the above consequences of marriage must be mentioned, that our
discussion may be as complete as possible, and although they may have a
certain importance for the etiology of crime, yet their influence is
not very great. There are causes of criminality much more important,
which may put those that have been named entirely in the shade. [647]
Before taking up the criminal consequences of the family, I am of the
opinion that this is the best place to fix our attention for a moment
upon the criminality of women. In treating above of the origin of
marriage as it exists today, we have at the same time spoken of the
social position of woman.
d. The criminality of women. In order to give an idea of its extent and
nature we must begin with some statistics.
Germany, 1886–1895. [648]
=======================================+=================================
|To 100,000 Persons Over 12 of the
| Same Sex, There was an Average
Crimes. | Number of Persons Sentenced of:
+----------------+----------------
| Men. | Women.
---------------------------------------+----------------+----------------
Simple theft | 352.49 | 132.25
Aggravated theft | 57.95 | 7.19
Embezzlement | 80.97 | 18.25
Robbery and extortion | 2.44 | 0.10
Receiving stolen goods | 28.21 | 16.33
Fraud | 88.06 | 19.50
Forgery | 18.78 | 3.75
Perjury | 6.83 | 2.31
Threats | 46.36 | 2.65
Procuration | 5.21 | 7.23
Rape, etc. | 20.63 | 0.15
Insults | 204.32 | 69.52
Domiciliary trespass | 90.38 | 12.25
Malicious mischief | 80.37 | 4.85
Arson | 2.43 | 0.54
Violence and threats against officials | 77.45 | 5.90
Minor assaults | 118.30 | 12.71
Serious assaults | 256.86 | 25.99
Murder | 0.56 | 0.13
Homicide | 0.75 | 0.15
Crimes in general | 1847.03 | 380.42
=======================================+================+================
This table shows that women have a general criminality from 4 to 5
times less than that of men. The figure for women exceeds that for men
in the case of one crime only, procuration; for the others it is
smaller, and for some very small (e.g. assaults, assassination, etc.).
The following table gives an idea still clearer and more detailed.
Germany, 1896. [649]
============================================+====================+===============
| Number of Persons |
|Convicted to 100,000| Number of
Crimes. | of Same Sex. |Women Convicted
+---------+----------+ to Each 100
| Men. | Women. | Men Convicted.
--------------------------------------------+---------+----------+---------------
Abandonment of children | 0.02 | 0.1 | 800.0
Abortion | 0.4 | 1.7 | 437.3
Procuration | 6.0 | 9.2 | 167.7
Receiving stolen goods (repeated recidivism)| 0.07 | 0.1 | 158.3
,, ,, ,, (simple) | 26.5 | 13.1 | 53.9
Simple theft | 274.6 | 100.8 | 40.1
Perjury | 3.1 | 1.2 | 38.7
Insults | 223.7 | 76.5 | 34.2
Simple theft (repeated recidivism) | 51.7 | 14.4 | 30.5
Homicide | 0.5 | 0.1 | 22.0
Arson | 2.2 | 0.5 | 21.8
Embezzlement | 85.6 | 17.6 | 20.6
Fraud | 101.7 | 20.4 | 20.1
Crimes in general | 2177.07 | 388.9 | 17.9
Extortion | 3.0 | 0.4 | 14.3
Aggravated theft | 45.0 | 5.6 | 13.5
Domiciliary trespass | 103.8 | 12.3 | 11.8
Minor assaults | 138.3 | 15.4 | 11.1
Aggravated theft (repeated recidivism) | 14.4 | 1.2 | 9.1
Serious assaults | 448.4 | 32.8 | 7.3
Violence, etc. against officials | 88.3 | 5.6 | 6.3
Violence and threats | 60.7 | 3.6 | 5.9
Malicious mischief | 93.6 | 5.4 | 5.8
Robbery | 2.4 | 0.07 | 2.9
Crimes against morals upon children | 25.3 | 0.2 | 0.7
============================================+=========+==========+===============
The country upon which we are about to fix our attention is:
England and Wales, 1893–1900. [650]
======+=======================================================
| Number of Women to the 100 Persons Sentenced for:
Years.+-----------------------------+-------------------------
|Offenses tried on Indictment.|Offenses tried Summarily.
------+-----------------------------+-------------------------
1893 | 13.07 | 23.39
1894 | 12.95 | 23.50
1895 | 13.26 | 23.94
1896 | 11.75 | 23.58
1897 | 12.00 | 23.99
1898 | 11.82 | 23.66
1899 | 11.70 | 23.89
1900 | 11.51 | 24.67
======+=============================+=========================
When we examine this table, as well as the one that follows, it must be
noted that the women constitute more than half of the population (51.5%
according to the census of 1901). [651]
The following table shows the relative proportion for the more
important groups of offenses:
England and Wales, 1893–1894. [652]
==========================================+=========================
| Number of Women to
| 100 Persons Sentenced.
Crimes. +-------------+-----------
| 1893. | 1894.
------------------------------------------+-------------+-----------
Abortion and failure to report birth | 91 | 86
Kidnapping and cruelty to children | 70 | 57
Counterfeiting, etc. | 18 | 21
Malicious mischief | 15 | 20
Crimes against property without violence | 19 | 19
Other crimes | 16 | 16
Crimes of violence against persons | 11 | 13
Robbery and extortion | 10 | 11
Forgery | 9 | 8
Domiciliary trespass, etc. | 3 | 4
Sexual crimes | 4 | 3
==========================================+=============+===========
These statistics show, then, that in England also the criminality of
women is not as great as that of men. However there is great divergence
in the crimes taken separately.
Austria, 1899. [653]
============================+==========================
| Of 100 Convicted of Each
| Crime there were:
Crimes. +------------+-------------
| Men. | Women.
----------------------------+------------+-------------
Abandonment of children | 7.1 | 92.8
Abortion | 10.7 | 89.2
Murder | 69.6 | 30.3
Fraud | 79.1 | 20.8
Theft | 80.4 | 19.5
Defamation | 80.9 | 19.0
Arson | 85.2 | 14.7
Crimes in general | 86.1 | 13.9
Rebellion | 89.5 | 10.4
Leze-majesty | 91.6 | 8.3
Criminal breach of trust | 93.4 | 6.5
Crime against religion | 94.8 | 5.1
Robbery | 95.1 | 4.8
Serious assaults | 95.8 | 4.1
Sexual crime | 96.7 | 3.2
Malicious mischief | 96.8 | 3.1
Homicide | 97.3 | 2.6
Blackmail | 97.4 | 2.5
============================+============+=============
In connection with this table we must note that, according to the
census of 1890, 51.6% of the population over 14 are women.
France, 1881–1900 (Persons accused). [654]
=========================+================+================+================+================
| 1881-1885. | 1886-1890. | 1891-1895. | 1896-1900.
+-----------+----+-----------+----+-----------+----+-----------+----
| Average | | Average | | Average | | Average |
| Annual | % | Annual | % | Annual | % | Annual | %
| Number. | | Number. | | Number. | | Number. |
-------------------------+-----------+----+-----------+----+-----------+----+-----------+----
Before the Assizes: | | | | | | | |
Men | 3,767 | 86 | 3,589 | 85 | 3,389 | 84 | 2,900 | 85
Women | 615 | 14 | 646 | 15 | 631 | 16 | 500 | 15
-------------------------+-----------+----+-----------+----+-----------+----+-----------+----
Before the Correctional | | | | | | | |
Tribunals: | | | | | | | |
Men | 162,573 | 86 | 172,162 | 86 | 179,194 | 86 | 165,586 | 86
Women | 26,330 | 14 | 27,719 | 14 | 29,992 | 14 | 28,049 | 14
=========================+===========+====+===========+====+===========+====+===========+====
As the two following tables show, the part which women take in
different crimes varies greatly, as in the countries cited above.
France, 1900 (Assizes). [655]
===============================================+=============================
| To 100 Accused there where:
Crimes. +--------------+--------------
| Men. | Women.
-----------------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
Infanticide | 5 | 95
Abortion | 12 | 88
Domestic theft | 82 | 18
Murder | 84 | 16
Fraudulent bankruptcy | 84 | 16
Arson | 84 | 16
Counterfeiting | 85 | 15
Serious assault | 86 | 14
Crimes in general | 86 | 14
Homicide | 90 | 10
Other aggravated thefts | 91 | 9
Parricide | 92 | 8
Forgery | 92 | 8
Concealment or false attribution of parentage | 93 | 7
Rape and indecent assault upon children | 98 | 2
Breach of trust | 98 | 2
Theft with violence | 98 | 2
===============================================+==============+==============
For the correctional tribunals the figures are as follows:
France, 1900 (Correctional Tribunals). [656]
================================+======================================
| To 100 Persons Arraigned there were:
Offenses. +------------------+-------------------
| Men. | Women.
--------------------------------+------------------+-------------------
Concealment of parentage | 5 | 95
Offenses against chastity | 29 | 71
Adultery | 50 | 50
Defamation and insult | 75 | 25
Theft | 80 | 20
Fraud | 83 | 17
Offenses against public decency | 85 | 15
All offenses | 87 | 13
Criminal breach of trust | 88 | 12
Assaults | 89 | 11
Mendicity | 89 | 11
Domiciliary trespass | 91 | 9
Rebellion | 92 | 8
Vagrancy | 95 | 5
================================+==================+===================
It is only in some few crimes that women play a larger part than men
(infanticide, abortion, concealment of parentage, offenses against
chastity—including procuration); in all others they play a smaller
part, and in some cases much smaller, than the men.
We turn now to Italy:
Italy, 1884–1895. [657]
=======+===========================================================================
| Number of Women Convicted.
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+---------------------
Years. | Justices of the | Correctional | Assizes. | Total.
| Peace. | Tribunals. | |
+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+------------+--------
| Number. | % | Number. | % | Number. | % | Number. | %
-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+------------+--------
1884 | 46,683 | 18.31 | -- | -- | 304 | 6.00 | -- | --
1885 | 48,063 | 17.58 | -- | -- | 304 | 5.91 | -- | --
1886 | 51,199 | 18.23 | -- | -- | 297 | 6.38 | -- | --
1887 | 45,598 | 17.58 | 4,690 | 9.30 | 265 | 5.11 | 50,553 | 16.05
1888 | 49,125 | 17.38 | 4,482 | 8.56 | 290 | 5.81 | 53,897 | 15.86
1889 | 53,690 | 18.38 | 4,910 | 9.08 | 272 | 5.68 | 58,872[658]| 16.78
1890 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 23,984 | 18.29
1891 | | | | | | | 26,182 | 18.23
1892 | | | | | | | 25,638 | 17.21
1893 | | | | | | | 22,959 | 16.21
1894 | | | | | | | 26,274 | 17.34
1895 | | | | | | | 28,502 | 16.96
=======+=========+=======+=========+=======+=========+=======+============+========
The following table shows us to what extent the women are guilty of the
different crimes:
Italy, 1891–1895. [659]
======================================================+==========================
| To 100 Sentenced for
| Each Offense there were:
Offenses. +------------+-------------
| Men. | Women.
------------------------------------------------------+------------+-------------
Infanticide | 7.70 | 92.30
Procuration | 19.11 | 80.89
Abortion | 21.65 | 78.35
Defamation | 53.70 | 46.30
Insults | 54.78 | 45.22
Offenses against morals and order of the family | 58.27 | 41.73
Abandonment of children, abuse of means of correction | 62.85 | 37.15
Simple theft | 75.63 | 24.37
Fraud in commerce and industry | 79.46 | 20.54
Offenses in general | 82.81 | 17.19
Minor assaults | 83.32 | 16.68
Corruption of minors and offenses against decency | 84.80 | 15.20
Fraud, etc. | 85.74 | 14.26
Aggravated theft | 88.77 | 11.23
Threats | 90.68 | 9.32
Rebellion and insults to public officials | 90.95 | 9.05
Forgery | 92.49 | 7.51
Serious assaults | 93.61 | 6.39
Murder | 93.91 | 6.09
Counterfeit money | 95.02 | 4.98
Homicide | 96.74 | 3.26
Offenses against public order | 97.70 | 2.30
Robbery, etc. | 97.77 | 2.23
Rape, etc. | 99.04 | 0.96
======================================================+============+=============
According to the census of 1901 the population over 9 years old
consisted of 49.4% men and 50.6% women. [660]
Finally some figures for the Netherlands:
Netherlands, 1896–1900. [661]
========+====================================
| Number Sentenced.
+-----------------+------------------
Years. | Men. | Women.
+----------+------+----------+-------
| Number. | % | Number. | %
--------+----------+------+----------+-------
1896 | 13,964 | 89.6 | 1,625 | 10.4
1897 | 14,483 | 90.0 | 1,613 | 10.0
1898 | 14,018 | 89.5 | 1,646 | 10.5
1899 | 13,928 | 90.5 | 1,463 | 9.5
1900 | 13,234 | 91.3 | 1,254 | 8.7
========+==========+======+==========+=======
Women participate in the different crimes in the following proportions:
Netherlands, 1901. [662]
================================================+==============================
| To 100 Sentenced there were:
Crimes. +--------------+---------------
| Men. | Women.
------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------------
Debauch of a minor (as principal or accessory) | 6.2 | 93.8
Simple insults | 64.9 | 35.1
Simple theft | 79.0 | 21.0
Fraud | 80.0 | 20.0
Offenses against public decency | 81.8 | 18.2
Homicide | 89.5 | 10.5
Aggravated theft | 90.5 | 9.5
Embezzlement | 91.1 | 8.9
Receiving stolen goods | 91.8 | 8.2
Forgery | 92.1 | 7.9
Assault | 93.5 | 6.5
Serious assault | 94.7 | 5.3
Malicious mischief | 95.5 | 4.5
Mendicity and vagrancy | 96.5 | 3.5
Assaults upon officials | 97.3 | 2.7
Domiciliary trespass | 98.1 | 1.9
Rebellion | 98.7 | 1.3
================================================+==============+===============
The whole population being divided in 1901 into 50.5% women and 49.5%
men, the figures given above make the criminality of woman appear a
little greater than it really is.
Here, then, are the facts, which may be reduced to this, that in all
the countries named the criminality of women is much less than that of
men. However, it is greater than we should suppose from the figures,
since almost all the figures (except those for France) have to do with
persons convicted, and acquittal is much more common in the case of
women than in that of men. We have already given the figures for
Germany in regard to this matter. In England the percentage of
convictions is 82% for men and 79% for women. [663]
In France the differences are still greater:
France, 1881–1890 (Assizes). [664]
=======+===================================================
| Percentage of Acquittals.
Sex. +------------+------------+------------+------------
| 1881-1885. | 1886-1890. | 1891-1895. | 1896-1900.
-------+------------+------------+------------+------------
Men | 25 | 25 | 26 | 28
Women | 45 | 47 | 50 | 52
=======+============+============+============+============
1896–1900 (Correctional Tribunals). [665]
=======+================================================
| Percentage of Acquittals to Each Age-category.
Sex. +---------------+---------------+----------------
| Under 16. | 16 to 21. | Over 21.
-------+---------------+---------------+----------------
Men | 57 | 6 | 5
Women | 58 | 9 | 7
=======+===============+===============+================
These figures lead to the presumption that in other countries also
women are more apt to be acquitted than men.
Other reasons why the criminality of women seems smaller than it really
is are the following: As is shown by the statistics cited, the offenses
of which women are most often guilty, are also those which it is most
difficult to discover, namely those committed without violence. Then,
those who have been injured are less likely to bring a complaint
against a woman than against a man. [666] But even when we take account
of all these things, the criminality of women remains much smaller than
that of men. This may be explained as follows:
First. An examination of the tables shows that women participate less
in the crimes which require strength or courage. The first cause is to
be found in the fact, then, that the average woman of our time has less
strength and courage than the average man, and consequently commits on
the average fewer crimes than he.
Second. It is clear that women take small part in sexual crimes (for
procuration is not a sexual crime but an economic one), which is to be
explained by the fact that most sexual crimes cannot, from their
nature, be committed by women. Another reason is that the rôle of women
in the sexual life (and thus in the criminal sexual life) is rather
passive than active.
Third. The small part played by women in economic crimes committed
because of poverty or even of greed, is explained by prostitution,
which generally yields greater and more certain returns than crime, and
avoids the risk of prison.
Fourth. A comparison of the criminal statistics of different countries
has not much value for the different reasons already given (Pt. I, Ch.
II, sec. XIX). Only when the figures are very different may one draw a
conclusion from them. A comparison of the tables brings out the fact
that the criminality of women does not differ much in the countries
named. However, when we fix our attention upon the crimes and
misdemeanors more or less grave in the Italian statistics (assizes and
correctional tribunals) we discover that there is a considerable
difference between England, for example, on the one side, and Italy on
the other. While the former country shows about 12% (offenses tried on
indictment) and 23% (offenses tried summarily) of women among those
convicted, the figures are 5 to 6% (assizes) and about 9% (corr. trib.)
in the latter country. This difference shows that the direction in
which the principal reason for woman’s small part in crime must be
sought, is in her social position. This differs less from that of the
man in England than in Italy. However, there are figures much more
significant than those I have just cited. Between 1893 and 1899 the
percentage of convicts in prison in Scotland was between 36 and 37.
[667] In Denmark from 1876 to 1885 about 26% of the convicts were
women. [668] It is an incontestable fact that Denmark and Scotland are
countries where the social position of women approaches most closely
that of men. Let us set in opposition to this now a country like
Algeria where the life of woman is entirely different. It appears that
there between 1881 and 1900 3% of those arraigned before the assizes
were women, and 4% of those arraigned before the correctional
tribunals. [669]
An examination of the criminality of women in the different parts of
the same country, Germany for example, shows that the highest figures
for female criminality are furnished by the great cities and the
countries most developed economically.
Germany, 1897–1898. [670]
=============================+=========================================
| Percentage of Women among the Convicts.
Cities or Countries. +--------------------+--------------------
| 1897. | 1898.
-----------------------------+--------------------+--------------------
Berlin | 27.8 | 27.6
Hamburg | 24.7 | 25.3
Saxony | 22.0 | 21.7
Prussia | 21.8 | 21.5
Germany as a whole | 20.6 | 20.3
Bavaria | 18.6 | 18.6
Alsace-Lorraine | 17.3 | 18.1
Wurtemberg | 16.7 | 15.8
Hesse | 15.2 | 14.4
Baden | 13.8 | 12.1
=============================+====================+====================
As regards England, Morrison says that of misdemeanors 25% are
committed by women in London (Metropolitan Police District), and 33% in
Manchester; while women commit only 10% of the misdemeanors in Surrey,
and about 14% in Lancashire. [671] The high percentages come then in
the places where the social position of woman is most nearly equal to
that of man.
Dr. H. Hoegel gives the following table for Austria. As the author says
it proves that the country where the woman takes the greatest part in
the economic life gives the highest figures for female criminality.
As to the movement of the criminality of women the data that I have
given, and others that I have at my disposal, are not significant
enough to lead to a definite conclusion. In England it has been made
out that there is a small diminution of serious crimes and a slight
increase of minor offenses, though the period of observation is very
short. Between 1881 and 1900 the relative criminality of men and women
remained constant. In Italy there was between 1890 and 1895 a slight
increase in the absolute number, and a slight, but fluctuating,
diminution in the relative number. In the Netherlands the proportions
remained pretty constant from 1896 to 1901.
Austria, 1889–1893. [672]
======================+====================================+=======================
| Number of Women to | Number of Convictions
Country. +--------------------+---------------+ for Crime to 10,000
| 100 of Population. | 100 Convicts. | of Population.
----------------------+--------------------+---------------+-----------------------
Moravia | 52.5 | 18.0 | 15.9
Silesia | 52.5 | 17.8 | 17.8
Salzburg | 50.9 | 17.6 | 17.6
Bohemia | 52.0 | 17.2 | 8.9
Lower Austria | 51.4 | 16.7 | 14.1
Upper Austria | 50.9 | 16.1 | 13.9
Austria | 51.4 | 14.9 | 12.6
Carinthia | 51.6 | 14.7 | 18.5
Galicia | 51.0 | 13.7 | 13.7-10.4[673]
Tyrol and Vorarlberg | 51.4 | 13.5 | 10.5-12.0[674]
Styria | 50.7 | 12.9 | 17.3
Bukowina | 50.0 | 11.8 | 13.3
Littoral of Trieste | 50.2 | 8.8 | 14.2
Carniola | 52.5 | 7.5 | 19.5
Dalmatia | 50.0 | 6.8 | 13.9
======================+====================+===============+=======================
The following are the figures for Germany and Austria:
Germany, 1888–1900. [675]
=======+=================================+=================
| Number Convicted. | Number of
Years. +---------------------------------+ Women Convicted
| To the 100,000 | To the 100,000 | to Each 100 Men
| Men over 12. | Women over 12. | Convicted.
-------+----------------+----------------+-----------------
1888 | 1,821.7 | 358.0 | 19.7
1894 | 2,164.3 | 374.9 | 18.7
1896 | 2,177.7 | 388.9 | 17.9
1898 | -- | -- | 19.5
1900 | -- | -- | 19.3
=======+================+================+=================
There was, then, an increase in the criminality of women, but a smaller
increase than that of men (except in 1898).
Austria, 1881–1899. [676]
Percentage of Persons Convicted who were Women.
===========+============+============+=======+=======+=======+======
1881-1885. | 1886-1890. | 1891-1895. | 1896. | 1897. | 1898. | 1899.
-----------+------------+------------+-------+-------+-------+------
14.8 | 14.6 | 14.7 | 14.1 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 13.9
===========+============+============+=======+=======+=======+======
Here, then, there was a slight but fluctuating diminution in the
criminality of women in proportion to that of men.
It must be conceded that the figures given do not contribute much to
the support of the thesis that it is especially the social position of
women which is the cause of their being less criminal. This position
has been modified during the years to which the figures given refer.
Women participate much more than formerly in the whole economic and
social life. One would accordingly naturally look for a great increase
in the criminality of women. Nevertheless these figures cannot, it
seems to me, be used to refute the thesis in question, for the
following reasons:
In the first place the figures given cover a short period only. They do
not show very much, therefore; for, notwithstanding the continual
increase of the importance of the rôle of woman in the economic life,
the modification of her position in the whole social life is not made
so quickly that one can expect much of an increase in female
criminality in the criminal statistics of the last few years. [677]
In the second place, most of the figures give the ratio of the crimes
of women to those of men; they do not then show whether the decrease in
the percentage is due to a decrease in the criminality of women, or
rather to an increase in that of men. This latter is the case, for
example, in Germany. [678]
In the third place the statistics at my disposal are not sufficiently
detailed with regard to the movement of the criminality of women, so
that it is impossible to tell whether there are changes in the
qualitative character of the crimes even though its quantitative
character remains about the same. [679]
A very conclusive proof of the thesis that the social position of woman
is what explains her lower criminality, is as follows. The difference
in the manner of life of the two sexes decreases as we descend the
social scale. If the social position of woman is then an important
determinant of her lower criminality, the figures ought to show that
the criminality of men differs more from that of women in the
well-to-do classes than in classes less privileged. Now the figures
already given (pp. 482 ff.) upon the intellectual development of
criminals confirm our hypothesis completely. Just so the tables upon
the financial situation of criminals (see pp. 493, 494); in Austria,
for example, 0.2% of the women convicted in 1899 came from the
well-to-do classes, and 0.4% of the men. There were no well-to-do women
at all among those convicted of the graver crimes. Just so again, in
the table of Prussian recidivists the women form 4% of the well-to-do
convicts and 14% of the poor convicts.
Finally the figures for the influence of marriage upon criminality show
(see p. 513 ff.) that the criminality of widows is very great. This
proves that the smaller criminality of woman is not to be sought in
innate qualities, but rather in the social environment. For widows are
generally forced to come into contact with the economic and social life
of the world more than other women.
We have still to explain how social position is a cause of a lower
degree of criminality. As to economic offenses, it must be remarked
that the small part that woman plays in the economic life has the
result that the desire to be enriched at some one else’s expense is
less aroused in her than it is in man, and that the opportunity to
accomplish the desire is presented to her less often than to him. As to
crimes committed for vengeance etc., since women live more retired
lives they enter less quickly into conflict with others, and hence are
less in danger of committing such crimes. Then the fact that women are
less addicted to alcohol must be taken into account. The almost wholly
negligible participation of women in political life explains why they
are almost never guilty of political crimes, a kind of crime rare
enough in any case.
After the long detour that we have made (in order to comprehend what
follows), we come now at last to the subject which especially concerns
us in this section, the influence of the economic and social life upon
the social sentiments of women.
It results from this examination that, on the one hand, women feel
generally less than men the direct harmful influences of the present
economic system, and those of alcoholism; that the influence, very
significant for criminality, of the environment in which she passes her
youth, acts as strongly upon her as upon a man; and that militarism has
no influence upon her, nor has prostitution itself upon the majority of
the sex.
Then woman has lived for ages in a state of oppression injurious to the
development of the social instincts, which forces her to have recourse
to lying and hypocrisy, those two defensive weapons of the oppressed.
Just so also her retired life has been an obstacle to the development
of her feeling of solidarity with reference to persons outside of the
family.
In looking the whole field over I see nothing to justify the opinion
that the less criminal character of women indicates a higher morality,
whether innate or acquired. The consequences of her manner of life, in
so far as they are harmful to the formation of character, are probably
counterbalanced by those which are favorable. Her smaller criminality
is like the health of a hothouse plant; it is due not to innate
qualities, but to the hothouse which protects it from harmful
influences. If the life of women were like that of men their
criminality would hardly differ at all as to quantity, though perhaps
somewhat as to quality. [680]
e. The family. Here we have to take up the question of how far the
family in which the criminal has been raised has contributed to make
him such. It will be well to begin with some theoretical observations
upon the question, what is the effect of moral education upon a child
(in the larger sense of moral surroundings), and how far does this
education in the end affect the adult?
It is unnecessary for us to tarry long upon this. The facts which we
shall cite below are more convincing than all the theoretical
observations, and they show clearly how great this influence is.
Nevertheless some brief observations are necessary. It is not far from
the truth, it seems to me, to say that the power of moral education
upon the character, and that of intellectual education upon the
intelligence, are equal. The thesis has been maintained that the
intellectual capacities of all men are equal, and that education is the
sole cause of the great differences which exist. No reasonable person
would maintain this theory; men differ enormously in their innate
intellectual capacities; some have great intellectual power, others
have very little, while between the two extremes is found the general
average. What now is the rôle that education has to play?
Those who have small intellectual capacity naturally never become
superior men, even if their education is the best possible; though by
virtue of proper education they might become fairly useful. Those who
have great intellectual capacity also need education (though less so
than the run of mankind), for otherwise their faculties will remain
dormant. Darwin would never have made his great discovery if he had
been born and reared in the slums of a great city and had learned
nothing (even supposing that, with his poor health, he had not
succumbed to such an environment). His acquaintances would have
doubtless thought him intelligent, but the scientific world would never
have heard of him.
It must be much the same with the moral faculty. We are not born with
moral precepts in our heads, but only with a greater or less
predisposition to become moral. If this predisposition, even though it
be very strong, is not cultivated, there is no question of morality.
The child, even more than the man, is an imitator, and responds to
suggestion in everything, but especially in morals. If we put the
question: how does it happen that there are honest persons? the answer
must be: largely because in their youth they have become accustomed to
be honest. [681] In his “Descent of Man”, Darwin says: ... “Habit in
the individual would ... play a very important part in guiding the
conduct of each member; for the social instinct, together with
sympathy, is like any other instinct, greatly strengthened by habit,
and so consequently would be obedience to the wishes and judgment of
the community.” [682]
A great proportion of the whole number of criminals have become such
through the evil example of those about them, or have even been
deliberately trained to crime. Even those who are endowed with great
innate moral capacities cannot withdraw themselves from these
influences. One of the men most competent to speak on this subject, M.
Raux, director of one of the penitentiary districts in France, and
author of one of the best books upon juvenile criminality says, after
speaking of the miserable environment in which young criminals are
brought up: “Let no one attempt to tell us after these revelations that
the child, born in surroundings which asphyxiate him morally, can
escape from vice. No nature would resist such demoralizing agencies. In
order to convince ourselves of the truth of this it would only be
necessary to try an experiment, which, it if were possible, would not
fail to be conclusive.
“The method would be to transport some children of the middle or
wealthy class, neither of which furnish any inmates to our
reformatories, into families considered as types of those from which
our young delinquents come, and to substitute for them in their former
homes the children of poor families. This double substitution would
have immediate effects. Little time would be needed, very little, we
are convinced, for the former group of children to lose all trace of
their early education and to become thoroughly bad characters. As to
the other group, a moral movement in the other direction would be
produced in them, but much more slowly. Vices are like diseases, they
take hold quickly, and let go with difficulty. There would long remain
to the second group a taste for vagabondage and gross pleasures. But
when even these habits and impressions of childhood are painfully
eradicated, well-being, advice, and care would always keep the child
away from the possibility of theft, and after a certain time of
probation passed in the bosom of well-to-do and respectable families
the public would certainly regard our subjects, grown to be men, as
upright and worthy of all confidence. Thus we should have transformed
children of good character into malefactors, and of the malefactor we
should have made an honest man.
“This experiment, which no good family would consent to try for fear of
the result, would prove on the one hand, that any child placed in the
living conditions of most of our young delinquents would inevitably
become vicious and criminal, and on the other that if circumstances
easily make a malefactor of a child well brought-up, it is much more
difficult to transform a bad character into an honest man.” [683]