Chapter I: General Considerations. 483 (7)

======================+===========================================================
| Crimes Known to the Police, to the 100,000
| of the Population.
+---------------+---------------+---------------------------
|All Indictable |Crimes Against | Crimes Against Persons.
Districts. | Offenses. | Property. +-------------+-------------
| | | Crimes of | Sexual
| | | Violence. | Crimes.
+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+------+------+------
| 1894.| 1898.| 1894.| 1898.| 1894.| 1898.| 1894.| 1898.
----------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+------+------+------
London | 416.77| 391.56| 386.24| 358.90| 11.95| 10.63| 5.93| 5.72
Mining districts | 234.33| 230.84| 214.32| 211.07| 8.39| 7.19| 8.11| 7.89
Manufacturing cities | 351.84| 325.93| 332.48| 306.21| 6.66| 6.74| 4.43| 4.00
Sea-ports | 643.60| 611.10| 597.91| 575.60| 22.54| 16.72| 8.44| 5.95
Watering places, etc. | 265.70| 302.25| 250.37| 283.34| 4.38| 5.93| 4.14| 6.16
Agricultural districts| | | | | | | |
divided into: | | | | | | | |
1st. Eastern | 128.20| 120.23| 119.06| 107.84| 3.76| 3.22| 3.63| 5.45
2nd. South-eastern | 182.97| 195.86| 163.52| 176.55| 5.29| 6.22| 8.10| 8.70
3rd. Around London | 202.13| 198.07| 185.97| 181.41| 4.29| 4.94| 6.53| 6.32
England and Wales | 296.70| 284.20| 275.93| 262.83| 7.28| 7.39| 6.09| 5.94
======================+=======+=======+=======+=======+======+======+======+======

The following table [807] relates to

Bavaria, 1883–1897.

=============================+================================================== | Number of Convicts to 10,000 of the Population | over 12 Years of Age. +----------------+----------------+---------------- Crimes. | 1883-1887. | 1888-1892. | 1893-1897. +-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+-------- | City. |Country.| City. |Country.| City. |Country. -----------------------------|-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+-------- Assault | 19.9 | 27.7 | 19.9 | 31.2 | 22.4 | 32.8 Theft | 37.4 | 26.6 | 39.7 | 26.1 | 37.3 | 25.9 Fraud | 10.2 | 5.0 | 12.1 | 6.9 | 12.5 | 6.9 Violence and threats against | | | | | | public officials | 4.7 | 2.7 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 4.9 | 2.6 All crimes | 137.1 | 114.0 | 133.7 | 119.6 | 139.4 | 123.1 =============================+=======+========+=======+========+=======+========

As in England the criminality in the cities is in general greater than in the country.

We find the same picture in the figures for

France, 1881–1900. [808]

=============+============================== Residence. |Number of Persons Arraigned to | 100,000 of the Population. +---------------+-------------- | 1881-1885. | 1896-1900. -------------+---------------+-------------- Urban | 15.4 | 11.1 Rural | 7.8 | 5.4 =============+===============+==============

The following table gives figures for certain important crimes. [809]

==================+================================= |Percentage of Persons Arraigned. +----------------+---------------- Crimes. |Living in Rural |Living in Urban | Communes. | Communes. +--------+-------+---------------- | 1881. | 1900. | 1881. | 1900. ------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------- Murder | 64 | 50 | 36 | 50 Homicide | 58 | 54 | 42 | 46 Assaults | 50 | 56 | 50 | 44 Indecent assaults | 55 | 53 | 45 | 47 Forgery | 37 | 37 | 63 | 63 Breach of trust | 35 | 14 | 65 | 86 Arson | 77 | 74 | 23 | 26 Theft | 33 | 21 | 67 | 79 ==================+========+=======+=======+========

In studying the preceding table it must be noted that in the two periods 34% and 39% of the population respectively were urban.

Netherlands, 1901. [810]

======================+==============================================+==================
Places where the | Percentage of Convicts who had | Percentage of
Offense was Committed.| Committed their Crimes in the Groups |Whole Population
| of Communes Designated. | Living in the
| |Groups Designated.
+------+----------+---------+------------------+------------------
|Total.|Rebellion.| Simple |Simple |Aggravated|
| | |Assaults.|Theft. | Theft. |
----------------------+------+----------+---------+-------+----------+------------------
Communes of more than | | | | | |
20,000 inhabitants | 38.3 | 45.3 | 21.2 | 41.7 | 50.4 | 36.8
Communes of less than | | | | | |
20,000 inhabitants | 61.7 | 54.7 | 78.8 | 58.3 | 49.6 | 63.2
======================+======+==========+=========+=======+==========+==================

An examination of the statistics given shows that except for a few offenses the cities are more criminal than the country. [811] However, it must not be forgotten that the cities have proportionately a greater number of inhabitants at the age at which there is the greatest tendency to crime, and that the figures therefore give the criminality of the cities as a little greater than it is. On the other hand there is a greater proportion of crimes that are not prosecuted, or whose authors remain undiscovered. The English statistics, which do not speak of the persons arraigned or convicted, but of the crimes known to the police, are better in this regard.

It is unnecessary to treat more fully of the rôle of imitation in the etiology of crime; no one will deny it. As I have already noted, in