Chapter I: General Considerations. 483 (5)

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]

In consequence of what we have just said we may put two questions; first, do all those who are brought up in such an environment inevitably become criminals; second, is there, then, no difference as to morality between two persons of whom one is born with a strong and the other with a weak moral disposition (supposing that both live in the same unfavorable moral environment)?

The answer to the first question must be that there may be sometimes those who succeed notwithstanding the very bad surroundings of their youth. (As we have seen, an expert like Raux denies this possibility.) But such cases are very rare and prove nothing against the theory of environment, for it may readily happen that such persons fall in with a better environment (at school, for example) which puts them on the right track, if they have a strong moral disposition by nature.

To the second question the answer must be made that one endowed with a strong moral disposition, but raised in unfavorable surroundings, will perhaps become criminal, and yet need not be as bad as another with a weak moral disposition, raised in a like environment.

There are criminals and criminals. Anyone who has given himself the trouble of reading the biographies of great criminals knows that all have not been entirely corrupted. It is with morals as with intelligence; in unfavorable circumstances Darwin would not have become a genius, but even in such environment he would nevertheless have been recognized as intelligent; so a child with great moral capacity would not become an honest man when brought up in the company of thieves and assassins, but in his own circle would have been considered as a good boy.

Beside very bad environments there are the great mass of those that are neither the one thing nor the other, in which the children neither have bad examples, nor are, properly speaking, deserted, but in which, nevertheless, they do not receive an education positively good. What is the influence of such environments? They are absolutely insufficient for children with little moral disposition. These have need of a strong and well-taught guide, without which they run much danger of leaving, sooner or later, the straight path. It is evident that an education such as that in question, is insufficient for the great middle class. The future lot of these young people will depend especially upon the circumstances in which chance shall place them. The surroundings spoken of will be enough for those who have great moral capacities, in the sense not that a better environment would not have had a better effect upon them but in the sense that they are more susceptible to the good than to the evil influences and—except in rare circumstances—they will cause less trouble to their fellows.

Finally, how far does the effect of a good education extend? What can a good education do for a person born with weak social instincts? This is the well-known controversy. For no one denies that those who are endowed with strong social instincts, as well as those who have them only in moderation, and who constitute the great majority, do not become bad when they are brought up in a good environment.

It will perhaps be impossible to give a decisive answer to this question. For, since we cannot make experiments with living persons, we cannot get sure results. And then an education really good is so great a rarity that the number of cases where children with little moral disposition are excellently brought up is certainly very small. [684]

We may consider it as certain that children not well endowed will never become very altruistic even if brought up under the best conditions imaginable. But on the other hand no one would doubt that a favorable environment would develop, however little, their weak social instincts (for no one is wholly without such instincts). For the moment we cannot decide how far this influence may extend.

After this introduction we come to the organization of education in present-day society. Before stating the facts we must sum up what has been said above (see Ch. I., Sec. III, B, of this part). The organization of our present social system charges the legitimate parents of the child with his support and education. Most authors who treat of the family wax so enthusiastic that they lose all critical sense. They note that there are parents who love their children, perform all their duties towards them, etc., and they wish to make themselves believe that this is the general rule. But the subject must be considered in cold blood. Certainly it would be ridiculous to deny the social importance of the family; we may even say without hesitation that without the family our present society could not exist. But all this would not be a reason for not seeing its defects.

Are there not many who are bad, even aside from criminals? Is not the majority of mankind made up of those weak in character? Are there not many alcoholics? Are there not persons who do not love their children at all? Are not the persons numerous who have little patience and tact to guide children, or who are lacking in other pedagogic qualities? Is it not true that nearly everyone is ignorant of psychological and pedagogical principles? And have not most men their whole time taken up with the struggle for existence, so that they are not able to concern themselves with the education of their children?

These are the questions that we must ask ourselves; and the answer to all of them is categorically: yes. And have not all these persons offspring? Most certainly. Then the results may be imagined. It will be of the highest importance to know how many children receive an education that is really good. I do not know of any statistics covering any very great number of children. But it will not be far from the truth to infer that the following figures are applicable, not simply to a limited number, but in general to all children. These figures are given by Ferriani: [685]

To each 100 children between 8 and 12 years of age:

Good education 5
Education fair 10
,, superficial 20
,, partially neglected 17
,, entirely ,, 42
,, bad 6
---
100

One of the characteristics of our present education is that it makes children egoistic. It is to be expected. The organization of society obliges men to be egoistic, and “like father, like son.” An apparent morality is the consequence. Children are taught that they ought to do or leave undone this or that, not because it is needful to help their fellows or not to injure them, but because it will be advantageous to them to act morally, or because otherwise they will be punished. It is unnecessary to say that brought up in such a manner, the individual will not recoil from crime because of any moral restraint, when the opportunity presents itself of making a profit, or when the risk of being punished is not great.

As to education among the well-to-do classes, there it is especially egoistic. The children—speaking of course in a general way—are brought up with the idea that they must succeed, no matter how; the aim of life is presented to them as getting money and shining in the world. Such principles are incompatible with a really moral education, and the education of this class aims only at an apparent morality instead of a real one. [686]

Whatever may be the defects of this education, it is at least an education; the children are watched, prevented from getting into bad society, etc. The consequence is that the children of the well-to-do almost never get into the courts. This sad monopoly is reserved for the children of the poor. [687] This is not to say that the defects of education among the well-to-do classes are not among the causes of the criminality to be met with in the adults of these classes. When a poor devil appears in court it will often happen that his counsel in defending him will draw attention to the fact that the environment in which his client has grown up is one of the causes of his fall; but it does not often happen that the advocate makes a similar appeal when his client is from the well-to-do. It is generally believed that nothing is wanting in the moral education of one who has not known poverty, and has not been neglected; but this is a mistake. There can be no doubt that one of the factors of criminality among the bourgeoisie is bad education.

The figures of the following tables show that it is almost exclusively the children of the poor who are guilty of crime.

England and Scotland.

According to the English law the parents of children placed in a “Reformatory” or an “Industrial School” must, if they are able, contribute toward their children’s expenses. The following table shows the assessments due in 1882 (in shillings per week). [688]

===================+==========+==========+=========+=========+=========+=========+========+========
| | | Less | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
| Total. | Exempt. | than | Shill. | Shill. | Shill. | Shill. | Shill.
| | | 1 | and | and | and | and |
| | | Shill. | More. | More. | More. | More. |
-------------------+----------+----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+--------
Reformatories | | | | | | | |
Absolute numbers | 6,601 | 3,858 | 257 | 1,818 | 573 | 66 | 15 | 14
Percentage | 100.0 | 58.5 | 3.9 | 27.5 | 8.7 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2
Industrial Schools | | | | | | | |
Absolute numbers | 17,641 | 10,406 | 600 | 3,904 | 2,316 | 301 | 67 | 20
Percentage | 100.0 | 59.1 | 3.4 | 22.2 | 13.1 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.1
===================+==========+==========+=========+=========+=========+=========+========+========

A little less than 60% of the parents, then, were unable to make any contribution, 25 to 30% of them were able to pay less than two shillings, while the remaining 10 or 15% were working people not at all well-to-do. [689]

France.[689]

The French “statistique pénitentiaire” gives information with regard to the financial condition of the parents of the children received into the “Etablissements d’éducation correctionnelle.” The following figures covering the years 1878 to 1882 [690] will give a sufficiently accurate notion, as figures for a longer period would lead to the same results.

================+============+===========+===========+===========+===========+============
| | | | | | 1878-1882
Children | 1878. | 1879. | 1880. | 1881. | 1882. | Average
Belonging | | | | | | Percentage.
to Parents +-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
|Boys.|Girls.| B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G.
----------------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
Well-to-do | 81| 32| 75| 60| 61| 3| 50| 4| 43| 5| 0.9| 1.2
Living by their | | | | | | | | | | | |
own labor |5,874| 1,254|5,799|1,177|5,800|1,224|5,455|1,154|5,300|1,090| 79.3| 68.7
Mendicants, | | | | | | | | | | | |
vagabonds, | | | | | | | | | | | |
prostitutes | 923| 421| 956| 433| 809| 429| 726| 395| 697| 349| 11.5| 23.6
Unknown, | | | | | | | | | | | |
disappeared, | | | | | | | | | | | |
deceased | 707| 133| 684| 138| 545| 102| 546| 84| 486| 101| 8.3| 6.5
----------------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
Total |7,585| 1,840|7,514|1,808|7,215|1,758|6,777|1,637|6,527|1,545|100.0|100.0
================+=====+======+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======

After 1882 the penitentiary statistics no longer mention the financial condition of the parents, but their occupation. The results confirm those that we have just cited.

France, 1890–1895. [691]

================+============+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+============
| | | | | | | 1890-1895
Children | 1890. | 1891. | 1892. | 1893. | 1894. | 1895. | Average
Belonging | | | | | | | Percentage.
to Parents +-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
|Boys.|Girls.| B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G.
----------------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
Property owners | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
or possessing | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
incomes | 29| 2| 36| 1| 36| 1| 36| 2| 34| 2| 29| 0| 0.6| 0.1
Practicing | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
liberal | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
professions | 31| 2| 28| 0| 31| 0| 30| 0| 42| 17| 46| 0| 0.8| 0.0
Agricultural |1,000| 125|1,192| 105|1,199| 101|1,252| 138| 893| 102| 929| 115| 20.8| 10.0
Industrial |1,252| 193|1,186| 179|1,059| 163|1,237| 240|1,304| 300|1,317| 304| 23.7| 20.1
Miscellaneous |2,084| 572|1,937| 493|2,130| 413|1,866| 373|2,199| 311|2,120| 327| 39.8| 36.4
Mendicants, | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
vagabonds, | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
prostitutes | 391| 201| 434| 224| 423| 287| 440| 294| 403| 286| 333| 300| 7.8| 23.3
Unknown or | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
disappeared | 364| 91| 342| 133| 347| 136| 374| 129| 325| 95| 263| 106| 6.5| 10.1
----------------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
Total |5,151| 1,186|5,155|1,135|5,225|1,101|5,235|1,176|5,200|1,131|5,037|1,152|100.0|100.0
================+=====+======+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======

These figures show clearly that it is only an insignificant number of young criminals who come from the well-to-do classes. [692]

I have been able to procure only a few data from other countries; their results, however, are identical with those for England and France.

Italy.

Of the 2,000 young criminals examined by Ferriani, there were 1,758, or 87.9%, coming from families where a profound poverty reigned, and only 148 (7.4%) from families that had never known poverty. [693]

Prussia.

77.8% of the children received in the correctional educational institutions during the year 1901–02 came from very poor families. [694]

It is then the poorest classes that furnish the greatest number of juvenile criminals.

We come now to education among the proletariat. Here we meet first, insufficiency of the pecuniary means which education requires; second, bad housing conditions, which oblige the children to pass a great part of the day in the street; third, the total absence of pedagogical ideas; fourth, the absence during the greater part of the day of the father of the family, and in many cases even of the mother. The number of married women who work away from home is continually increasing. In 1882 there were in Germany, for example, 507,784 married working-women, and by 1895 this figure had risen to 807,172—an increase of 299,388 (59%) in 13 years. In 1882 17.3% of the working-women were married; in 1895 21.5%. [695] There are no official figures but Braun [696] calculates that in Germany there are 500,000 children under 14 years of age, whose mothers are working-women. In Austria 44.6% of the working-women are married, and in France 20.6%. [697] We have seen above (pp. 409 ff.) that juvenile criminality is increasing. This is explained in part by the increase in the labor of married women, from which it results that an increasing number of children are brought up without the proper care.

Among the working classes there is no question of education properly speaking. We can consider the children as fortunate if their parents do not set them a bad example, are not continually engaging in disputes, and are not given to alcohol. It is plain that all this does not make up a proper education; and yet how many children there are who do not have even so much of an education as this! [698]

In the lower proletariat the situation is naturally worse. Not only is there a total lack of care and surveillance, but children are even brought up to crime.

Up to this point we have supposed the parents to be living. From the present organization of society it follows that the condition of the children of the poor becomes very bad as soon as the parents or even one of them dies. Often private or public charity intervenes, but generally the community does nothing for the orphan.

As a last consequence of the present system it must be noted that children born of illegitimate unions are in a still more precarious situation, since it is only the mother who has to protect them.

The community (in this case the state) concerns itself little with the education of children; it makes education compulsory (at least in some countries) and deprives parents of the charge of their children when they neglect them too much (this again in some countries only).

Now we come to the facts. They prove that the surroundings in which many children live are an important factor in the etiology of crime. The figures at my disposal are not as numerous as I could wish, but official statistics are not yet as full as is desirable for sociological purposes.

In reading the statistics which follow we must not lose sight of the fact that when it is stated that a certain percentage of children were brought up in a bad environment, it does not follow that all the others had a good education. The figures record only the very grave cases, as, for example, where the parents have been convicted, or the children entirely abandoned, etc. It is easier to prove, in making an investigation into the condition of a family, that the children do not receive a good education than it is to prove the contrary. Raux says that 36% of the parents of the juvenile criminals whom he had examined had a good reputation. The author adds, however, that this figure is too high for the following reason: “For certain officials charged with furnishing information on this point, every man who, without being absolutely irreproachable, has not been complained against, is a person of good character. So we have been made to add to the list of those of good reputation certain families where the father, drunken, idle, and unchaste, sets a very bad example to his son.” [699]

Some readers will see in what follows only a tiresome mass of figures—quite wrongly, for those who know how to read the figures find in them a language much more convincing and more shocking than that which can be expressed in words.

Before beginning, the following remark must be made. We shall give, as far as possible, the percentages of criminals born of illegitimate unions together with the percentages of illegitimate births in general. We shall see that with some exceptions, even so, the percentage for criminals is much greater than that for the population in general. However, to make the comparisons exact it is necessary to know the percentage of illegitimate persons among the population of an age to commit crime, and not among the newly born. This percentage is very much less, because, first, the mortality among illegitimate children is especially great, second, because a considerable number are legitimated. In general the percentage of illegitimate persons among the adult population is unknown. From researches by Neumann (“Die jugendlichen Berliner unehelicher Herkunft”) and Spann (“Untersuchungen über die uneheliche Bevölkerung in Frankfurt a/M.”), it appears that 3.6 times fewer illegitimate children in proportion, than legitimate, reach the age of 20 years! [700]

Austria, 1883–1889. [701]

The following figures have to do with illegitimacy among the criminals imprisoned in the years 1883 and 1884.

========+======================================+======================================
| 1883. | 1884.
+-------------+------------------------+-------------+------------------------
Sex. | Total | Illegitimate. | Total | Illegitimate.
| Number of +-----------+------------+ Number of +-----------+------------
| Criminals | Absolute | To 100 | Criminals | Absolute | To 100
| Imprisoned. | Number. | Prisoners. | Imprisoned. | Number. | Prisoners.
--------+-------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------+------------
Men | 4,988 | 595 | 11.9 | 4,512 | 626 | 13.8
Women | 781 | 149 | 19.0 | 751 | 156 | 20.7
+-------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------+------------
Total | 5,769 | 746 | 12.9 | 5,263 | 782 | 14.8
+-------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------+------------
| Recidivists.
+-------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------+------------
Men | 2,719 | 392 | 14.4 | 2,353 | 366 | 15.5
Women | 425 | 93 | 21.8 | 365 | 97 | 26.5
+-------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------+------------
Total | 3,144 | 485 | 15.4 | 2,718 | 463 | 17.0
========+=============+===========+============+=============+===========+============

For the years 1896 and 1899 I have the following data, bearing upon the persons convicted of crime during those years. [702]

========+======================================+======================================
| 1896. | 1897
+-------------+------------------------+-------------+------------------------
Sex. | | Illegitimate. | | Illegitimate.
| Total +-----------+------------+ Total +-----------+------------
| Convicted. | Absolute | To 100 | Convicted. | Absolute | To 100
| | Number. | Convicted. | | Number. | Convicted.
--------+-------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------+------------
Men | 24,833 | 2,095 | 8.4 | 28,984 | 2,838 | 9.7
Women | 4,065 | 621 | 15.2 | 4,679 | 642 | 13.7
--------+-------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------+------------
Total | 28,898 | 2,716 | 9.3 | 33,663 | 3,480 | 10.3
========+=============+===========+============+=============+===========+============

In order to be able to make a comparison we must have the figures for illegitimate births in the population in general. For Austria they are very high: in the period 1876–1880 13.84% of the children born living were illegitimate, and in the period 1887–1891 14.67%. [703] During the period between 1883 and 1892 the general mortality of children under a year old was 24.9% as against 30.3% for illegitimate children. [704]

Baden, 1887–1891. [705]

In 1887 correctional education (Zwangserziehung) was introduced into the Grand Duchy of Baden. The family conditions of the children received between 1887 and 1891 were as follows:

========+=========================================================== | To Each 100 Children there were: Years. +----------------------------------------------------------- | Illegitimate. | Full Orphans. | Motherless. | Fatherless. --------+---------------+---------------+-------------+------------- 1887 | 18.5 | 3.3 | 21.8 | 24.3 1888 | 17.0 | 4.7 | 16.2 | 30.2 1889 | 15.9 | 5.0 | 16.5 | 30.6 1890 | 15.0 | 4.8 | 16.6 | 32.8 1891 | 15.6 | 4.1 | 17.7 | 32.6 ========+===============+===============+=============+=============

England and Scotland, 1887–1899.

With regard to the children received into the “Industrial Schools” during the years 1887 to 1891 there are the following data: 5% were illegitimate, while for the same period 4.52% of all children born living were illegitimate. [706] Here we must take into consideration the greater mortality among illegitimate children. There are no recent data, but in England in 1875 this mortality was twice as great as that of legitimate children, and in some countries it is four times as great.

4% were full orphans; 34% half orphans, 20% being fatherless and 14% motherless; 6% had been abandoned by their parents; and 2% were the children of habitual criminals. 51%, therefore, were living under unfavorable conditions. For the pupils of the “Reformatories” in the same period this percentage was 53. [707]

The following figures indicate also the relative numbers for the two sexes:

Industrial Schools, 1891. [708]

=============================================+===============+=============== | Boys. | Girls. +-------+-------+-------+------- |Number.| % |Number.| % ---------------------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------- Illegitimate | 233 | 6.8 | 108 | 11.6 Full orphans | 115 | 3.4 | 65 | 6.7 Fatherless only | 532 | 15.6 | 181 | 18.6 Motherless only | 535 | 15.7 | 171 | 17.6 Abandoned by parents | 193 | 5.7 | 76 | 7.8 One or both parents perverted or criminal | 118 | 3.5 | 53 | 5.5 Parents living and able to care for children | 1,681 | 49.3 | 317 | 32.7 ---------------------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------- Total | 3,407 | 100.0 | 971 | 100.0 =============================================+=======+=======+=======+=======

It is interesting to note that with girls the influence of bad family surroundings is worse than it is with boys, more than two thirds living under abnormal circumstances.

However, confining ourselves to figures for the period 1887–1891, 49% and 47% of the children in the two classes of institutions respectively came from normal families. In what follows we see what their education was; different competent witnesses before the “Royal Commission on Reformatory and Industrial Schools” affirmed that the environment from which these children came was very unfavorable. The most important testimony was that of Mr. Macdonald, one of the officers who receive the contributions of the parents to the support of their children in the “Industrial Schools.” According to him only 6% of the children came from homes favorable to their moral education. In Manchester 68% of the parents of children in the industrial schools had a bad reputation; 14.7% were of doubtful character; and only 17% conducted themselves well. [709]

Of 1,209 juvenile delinquents in the English prisons (1898–99) 90 (7.4%) had had no education; 512 (42.3%) had had very little; 496 (41%) a fair education; and of 111 (9.1%) only could it be said that their education was good. 211 (17.4%) were without father or mother; 183 (15.1%) had bad homes; 198 (16.3%) had none at all; and 30 (2.4%) slept in night-lodgings. [710]

If the environment in which the young criminals have lived is the cause of their fall, a considerable portion of them ought to return to the right way as a result of the education given in the schools in question. If this is not the case with all, this proves nothing against the influence of environment, for the impressions received by the child in the surroundings in which he has lived before his conviction are too strong to be effaced by a comparatively brief stay in an educational institution (even if these reform-schools were perfect). Finally, after they are set at liberty environment may once more contribute to recidivism. The following figures show the facts in the case: [711]

======+================================================================================ | To Each 100 Released there were: +---------------------------------------++--------------------------------------- Years.| Boys. || Girls. +---------------------------------------++--------------------------------------- | Good |Doubtful|Recidivists.|Conduct || Good |Doubtful|Recidivists.|Conduct |Conduct.|Conduct.| |Unknown.||Conduct.|Conduct.| |Unknown. ------+--------+--------+------------+--------++--------+--------+------------+-------- a. Reformatory Schools. ------+--------+--------+------------+--------++--------+--------+------------+-------- 1882 | 76 | 3 | 14 | 7 || 72 | 7 | 6 | 15 1883 | 76 | 3 | 14 | 7 || 69 | 9 | 8 | 14 1884 | 78 | 2 | 14 | 6 || 70 | 9 | 6 | 15 1885 | 79 | 2 | 14 | 5 || 72 | 9 | 6 | 13 1886 | 77 | 3 | 14 | 6 || 73 | 11 | 5 | 11 1887 | 78 | 2 | 14 | 6 || 75 | 10 | 5 | 10 1888 | 76 | 1 | 17 | 6 || 75 | 9 | 6 | 10 1889 | 74 | 2 | 18 | 6 || 76 | 9 | 6 | 9 1890 | 78 | 2 | 14 | 6 || 73 | 10 | 7 | 10 1891 | 78 | 2 | 14 | 6 || 76 | 8 | 5 | 11 ------+--------+--------+------------+--------++--------+--------+------------+-------- b. Industrial Schools. ------+--------+--------+------------+--------++--------+--------+------------+-------- 1882 | 81 | 4 | 5 | 10 || 79 | 7 | 1 | 13 1883 | 80 | 4 | 5 | 11 || 79 | 7 | 2 | 12 1884 | 81 | 4 | 5 | 10 || 80 | 7 | 2 | 11 1885 | 81 | 3 | 5 | 11 || 81 | 7 | 2 | 10 1886 | 82.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 10 || 83 | 8 | 1 | 8 1887 | 83.3 | 3 | 5 | 9 || 84 | 7 | 1 | 8 1888 | 83 | 3 | 5 | 9 || 81 | 8 | 1 | 10 1889 | 83 | 3 | 5 | 9 || 82 | 8 | 1 | 9 1890 | 84 | 2 | 5 | 9 || 83 | 7 | 1 | 8 1891 | 85.5 | 2 | 4.5 | 8 || 84 | 7 | 1 | 8 ======+========+========+============+========++========+========+============+========

The percentage of those who conduct themselves well is considerable, therefore, and indicates how great the influence of an unfavorable environment upon these children has been. [712]

France, 1890–1895. [713]

The following important data concern the children in the “établissements d’éducation correctionnelle”:

=======================+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+============= | | | | | | | 1890-1895 Condition as to | 1890. | 1891. | 1892. | 1893. | 1894. | 1895. | Average Family. | | | | | | | Percentage. +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. | B. | G. -----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- Illegitimate | 693| 236| 669| 238| 654| 277| 635| 295| 589| 289| 535| 395| 2.1 | 25.1 Half orphans |1,676| 432|1,641| 419|1,753| 418|1,634| 410|1,690| 428|1,492| 452| 1.7 | 37.1 Full orphans | 384| 152| 310| 172| 323| 203| 333| 212| 324| 236| 271| 225| 6.2 | 17.4 Parents: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Convicted one or | | | | | | | | | | | | | | more times | 977| 412| 875| 443| 864| 570| 922| 566| 853| 481| 801| 488| 7.0 | 43.0 Mendicants, vagabonds, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | or prostitutes | 391| 201| 434| 224| 423| 287| 444| 294| 403| 286| 333| 300| 7.8 | 43.0 Unknown or disappeared | 364| 91| 342| 135| 347| 136| 374| 129| 325| 95| 263| 106| 6.5 | 10.0 Total of juvenile +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | delinquents |5,151|1,186|5,155|1,135|5,225|1,101|5,235|1,176|5,200|1,131|5,037|1,152| | =======================+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=======

Out of 100 children born living 8.41 were illegitimate (1887–1891), [714] while the mortality in the first year of life rose to 28.8% of the illegitimate children, and only to 16.7% of the legitimate. [715]

The figures given above constitute a crushing accusation against present conditions. If we suppose that the number of persons born of illegitimate unions who have attained the age at which it is physically possible to commit a crime are 6% of the whole population (a figure which is certainly rather too low than too high), it follows that a natural son runs twice as much danger of becoming a criminal as he would if legitimate, and that this danger is even four times as great in the case of a natural daughter. The other data are striking, especially those which deal with girls. There were 54% who were orphans or half-orphans; 43% had criminal parents; 33% had parents who were vagabonds or prostitutes, or who had deserted their children! [716]

As the official statistics furnish no other data, we will pass on to some of those given by private individuals. In the work already more than once quoted, Raux gives the following table, based upon careful researches and dealing with 385 juvenile prisoners received in the “Quartier correctionnel” at Lyons, to which the juvenile delinquents guilty of grave crimes are sent: [717]

===================================================================== Juvenile Prisoners. -------------------------------------------------+-----------+------- Under normal surveillance | 51 51 | 13% ,, weak ,, | 90} | ,, impotent ,, | 44} 158 | 41% ,, brutal ,, | 24} | Morally abandoned | 98 } 145 | 38% Completely ,, | 47 } | Excited to crime by the example of parents | 15} 31 | Having committed crime under the instigation | 16} | 8% and with the complicity of parents | | +-----------+------- Total | 385 385 | 100% =================================================+===========+=======

Only 13% among them enjoyed a normal education (and who could say how far it was really good?), while 87% had an education insufficient or bad. The author arrives at the following conclusion: “... the population of the ‘quartier correctionnel’ of Lyons, more unfortunate than guilty, has been recruited for more than 16 years from families the majority of which bore within themselves, by reason of the vices of their constitution, the principle of disintegration; whose morality was detestable or very doubtful, and whose means of subsistence were insufficient or totally lacking.

“It is to these different causes that the young delinquents owe first their deplorable antecedents, then their recklessness at the moment of the crime, their perversity, their corruption, and finally, their arrest.” [718]

The opinion of M. Grosmolard, of great value because of the competence of the author, who has been attached to the penal institutions of Lyons, is entirely in accord with what has just been quoted. After having spoken of the strong influence of poverty upon juvenile criminality, Grosmolard continues thus: “Besides material poverty, and as an auxiliary to this factor, we find the moral poverty of the home, manifested by the disorganization of the family. Whether it is due to the misconduct of the father or of the mother, or of both, the disruption, whether private through separation of the couple, or officialized by divorce, has no less deplorable consequences for the children. There is always the depressing spectacle of domestic disputes, the abandonment of the home, the weakening of parental discipline.” [719]

Concerning 400 children in a parental school in Paris we have the following figures: [720]

There were:
Natural children 11.25%
Half orphans 35.00%
Full orphans 10.00%
Children whose parents had disappeared or been convicted 13.25%
Whose parents had separated or been divorced 16.25%
Coming from a normal family 14.25%
-------
100.00%

These results agree, therefore, with those of the official statistics and of Raux. The normal families were those which did not present any of the external marks of demoralization, and it is more than probable that their “morality”, in many cases was only apparent.

Out of 600 families from which juvenile criminals had issued, studied by Dr. L. Albanel, 303 (50.5%) had been disorganized by death, divorce, desertion, etc. In 268 (44.6%) families the fathers and mothers worked away from home and the children were entirely neglected; 291 children (48.5%) were confided to persons outside of the family; and 41 (6.8%) were brought up by their grandparents, etc. [721]

Finally, there is the following fact about the children undergoing correction in Paris during the period 1874–1878: nearly 68% of them received visits from no one at all, not even from their parents. What complete misery! Out of 100 children 68 in whom no one was interested, not even when they were in prison. [722]

The results obtained by correctional education (probably no more perfect in France than elsewhere) prove the correctness of what has been advanced. If the thesis that the environment is the cause of the criminality of minors is true, the conduct of most of those set free ought to be good. Here are the results obtained in the “Quartier correctionnel” of Lyons: [723]

101 discharged prisoners led a good life, i.e. 60%
20 conducted themselves passably, i.e. 12%
24 were put down as bad, i.e. 14%
24 disappeared (died, etc.), i.e. 14%
--- ----
169 discharged prisoners 100%

As I have already remarked, the fact that all do not lead good lives proves nothing against the theory of environment, for it is quite possible that earlier evil influences have not been eliminated in a comparatively short detention. To prove how strong an influence the environment exercises anew upon discharged prisoners, let us look at the following figures, which also have to do with the pupils of the Lyons “Quartier correctionnel”: [724]

=======================================+===========+============== Discharged Inmates whose Parents: | Reformed. | Recidivists. ---------------------------------------+-----------+-------------- Had a good reputation | 83% | 5% ,, doubtful ,, | 52% | 16% ,, bad ,, | 37% | 16% ,, been convicted | 50% | 29% =======================================+===========+==============

Ireland, 1891.

Among the children subjected to correctional education in 1891 there were: 1.2% of illegitimate birth; 8.1% who had lost their parents; 16.2% without father; 19.3% without mother; and 0.6% who had been abandoned or whose parents were unknown. [725] 43.6%, then, were entirely or partially orphaned. These figures have no great value since they relate to so small a number (160).

Italy, 1885–1889.

With regard to illegitimacy among criminals I have data for the years 1885, 1886, and 1889. In these years there were among those convicted at the assizes 2.35%, 2.25%, and 2.21% respectively, of illegitimate birth. [726] The number of natural children in general in the years 1872–1889 was about 7%; [727] the mortality among children in general in the first year was 19%, and that among the illegitimate children 26% (these percentages are the averages for the years 1884–1893). [728] Italy is an exception, therefore to the rule, good everywhere else, that a larger proportion of criminals than of the general population are illegitimate.

In his “Entartete Mütter”, Ferriani says that more than 25% of the 806 juvenile criminals examined by him had become such because of the depravity of their families. [729] In his “Minderjährige Verbrecher” he gives the following results from an examination of 2,000 juvenile criminals: 207 (10.3%) came from families of which one or more members had been convicted; 53 (2.6%) from families entirely demoralized; 701 (35.0%) from families of bad reputation; and 169 (8.4%) from families with a doubtful reputation—all together 56.3%; while 896 (44.8%) had been corrupted by bad examples. [730]

Dr. A. Marro gives the following figures: [731] of 507 criminals examined by him there were:

19 ( 3.6%) whose father or mother was a criminal
98 (13.4%) who had a criminal brother or sister
115 (22.6%) whose father was immoral or violent
56 (11.0%) ,, mother ,, ,, ,, ,,
209 (41.0%) ,, father was alcoholic
26 ( 5.1%) ,, mother ,, ,,
120 (24.1%) had lost their father before the age of 16
90 (18.1%) ,, ,, ,, mother ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,
and 36 (7.0%) were orphans before the age of 16.

Netherlands, 1896–1901.

The data concerning the Netherlands are limited to the following: [732]

Percentage of Persons of Illegitimate Birth.

=======+========================++======================== | Convicts. || Recidivists. Years. +------+--------+--------++------+--------+-------- | Men. | Women. | Total. || Men. | Women. | Total. -------+------+--------+--------++------+--------+-------- 1896 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 1.7 || 2.2 | 6.8 | 2.4 1897 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 1.6 || 1.9 | 3.5 | 2.0 1898 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 1.3 || 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 1899 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 1.6 || 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.2 1900 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.0 || 1.9 | 1.4 | 1.9 1901 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 1.9 || 1.5 | 2.8 | 1.6 =======+======+========+========++======+========+========

In the period 1887–1891 the number of illegitimate children to 100 born living was 3.2 [733]; the mortality among illegitimate children during their first year rose to 26.6% as against 17.5% among children in general (1885–1893). [734] It is not possible to calculate for the population in general the number of individuals born of illegitimate unions and arrived at the age at which they are capable of committing crime, but it is certain that the mortality is greater among illegitimate children at each age than among legitimate children, and that the number of children legitimated is very considerable. The percentage of illegitimates to the whole population, then, is much smaller than 3.2. It is consequently probable that in Holland also illegitimate children are more likely to become criminals than legitimate children.

As to juvenile criminals there are the following figures to be gathered from the criminal statistics for the years from 1899 to 1901:

======+=================================================================== | To 100 of Each Category. +---------------------------------+--------------------------------- Years.| Boys. | Girls. +----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+------------ | Illeg. | Orph. | Half-Orph. | Illeg. | Orph. | Half-Orph. ------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+------------ 1899 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 18.8 | 4.3 | 2.2 | 27.2 1900 | 3.5 | 0.1 | 18.3 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 29.6 1901 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 15.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 19.6 ======+==========+=========+============+==========+=========+============

New York (State), 1875–1897.

Dugdale gives the following figures in “The Jukes.” They deal with 233 criminals imprisoned in New York in 1875. 40.77% were orphans; 46.78% had been neglected in their youth; 17.16% were descended from criminal families, and 42.49% from intemperate families. [735]

The following very interesting figures are taken from the annual reports of the Elmira Reformatory.

=====+============================================================================ | To Each 100 Prisoners. +------------------+------------------------------+------------------------- |Parents Alcoholic.|Character of Home Environment.| Length of Stay at Home. +------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------------------------- Year.| | | | | | Left Home. |Plainly.|Probably.|Positively| Fair. | Good. +------+-------+----------- | | | Bad. | | |Before|Between|Soon after | | | | | | 10. | 10 and|the Age of | | | | | | | 14. | 14. -----+--------+---------+----------+---------+---------+------+-------+----------- 1881 | 33.8 | 18.0 | 47.7 | 44.0 | 8.3 | 5.4 | 7.6 | 22.5 1882 | 35.1 | 16.0 | 48.1 | 41.1 | 10.8 | 5.0 | 7.3 | 22.7 1883 | 35.6 | 14.1 | 49.3 | 39.1 | 11.6 | 5.2 | 7.0 | 23.6 1884 | 35.9 | 13.3 | 50.0 | 39.2 | 10.8 | 4.4 | 6.8 | 25.0 1885 | 36.4 | 12.8 | 50.6 | 38.9 | 10.5 | 4.9 | 6.8 | 25.5 1886 | 37.5 | 12.0 | 52.4 | 37.4 | 10.2 | 4.6 | 6.4 | 25.5 1888 | 38.4 | 10.9 | 52.1 | 38.9 | 9.0 | 5.2 | 6.3 | 29.5 1889 | 38.7 | 11.1 | 51.8 | 39.9 | 8.3 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 30.8 1890 | 38.4 | 11.4 | 52.0 | 40.4 | 7.6 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 29.5 1891 | 38.4 | 13.0 | 52.6 | 39.8 | 7.6 | 4.5 | 5.9 | 30.7 1892 | 38.3 | 13.1 | 54.1 | 38.3 | 7.6 | 4.1 | 5.8 | 32.0 1893 | 37.8 | 12.7 | 50.3 | 40.0 | 9.7 | 3.8 | 6.1 | 32.6 1894 | 37.5 | 12.1 | 49.0 | 40.6 | 10.4 | 3.8 | 6.1 | 31.8 1896 | 37.5 | 11.3 | 47.0 | 41.3 | 11.7 | 3.6 | 6.7 | 33.0 1897 | 37.6 | 51.7? | 46.7 | 41.1 | 12.2 | 3.7 | 6.3 | 34.2 =====+========+=========+==========+=========+=========+======+=======+===========

In round numbers then: 50% of the criminals come from a corrupt environment, and only 10% from a good environment; 40% had left home before the age of 15; and further, 40 to 45% had alcoholic parents. [736]

Norway, 1897–1900. [737]

The following figures deal with illegitimacy of birth among the prisoners in Norway.

==========+================================================== | Persons of Illegitimate Birth to 100 Prisoners Years. | of Each Category. +----------------+----------------+---------------- | Men. | Women. | Total. ----------+----------------+----------------+---------------- 1897-1898 | 12.7 | 14.7 | 13.0 1898-1899 | 11.8 | 17.2 | 12.6 1899-1900 | -- | -- | 12.0 ==========+================+================+================

During the years 1887–1891, out of 100 living births 7.33 were illegitimate, [738] while the mortality of natural children in the first year was 15.3% and that of children in general 9.5%. [739] Persons of illegitimate birth formed a much greater proportion of the prisoners than of the population in general.

Prussia, 1891–1900. [740]

===========================================================
To 100 Prisoners Born of Illegitimate Unions there were:
-----------------+-----------------+-----------------------
In Houses of | In Correctional | In Institutions for
Detention. | Prisons. |Correctional Education.
(1891-1900). | (1896-1900). | (1895-1900).
--------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+-----------
Men. | Women. | Men. | Women. | Men. | Women.
--------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+-----------
8.5 | 10.2 | 8.3 | 12.5 | 11.6 | 15.1
========+========+========+========+===========+===========

In the years 1887–1891 there were 7.81 illegitimate children out of each 100 living births; 35.7% of the illegitimate children died in the first year as against 20.8% of children in general (1884–1893). [741] In Prussia also, then, the influence of illegitimacy upon criminality is very marked.

The following table gives the figures for 18,049 recidivists in Prussian houses of detention in the years 1894–1897. [742]

==================================================================== |Absolute| |Numbers.| % ----------------------------------------------|--------|------------ Of illegitimate birth | 2,218 | 11.2 | | Had lost father before age of 14 | 3,230 | 17.8 } ,, ,, mother ,, ,, ,, ,, | 2,116 | 11.7 } 35.1 ,, ,, both ,, ,, ,, ,, | 1,027 | 5.6 } | | ,, ,, father after ,, ,, ,, but before 18| 1,183 | 6.5 } ,, ,, mother after the age of 14 but | | } before 18 | 880 | 4.8 } 12.2 ,, ,, both after the age of 14 but before | | } before 18 | 167 | 0.9 } ,, committed their first crime before the | | age of 14 | 1,150 | 6.3 } ,, committed their first crime between the | | } 33.6 ages of 14 and 18 | 4,936 | 27.3 } ====================================================================

Consequently 47.3% had lost one or both parents before reaching the age of 18; 11.2% were of illegitimate birth—a total, therefore, of 58.5% brought up under abnormal home surroundings. And what was the environment under which the other 41.5% had lived? The table gives no answer to this question, but we may imagine it on the basis of the figures given above.

Switzerland, 1892–1896.

Among the 14,612 persons confined in the Swiss prisons during the years 1892–1896 there were 1,359 of illegitimate birth—1,044 men (8.5%) and 315 women (13.9%). [743] In the period 1871–1890 there were only 5 illegitimate births to the 100, while the mortality during the first year was 24.0 to the 100 natural children as against 16.4 to the 100 children in general. [744] The influence of illegitimate birth upon criminality, therefore, is very great in Switzerland; an illegitimate child is at least three times as likely to become a criminal as a legitimate child.