SOCIAL FACTORS. Concerning the social factors of crime, it must be observed that the action of society upon the individual is so complex that it will here be impossible to discuss, even briefly, all these factors.
Considering, first, the conjugal condition of criminals, it appears that there is a higher ratio of criminality among the unmarried and di vorced than among the married. A partial ex planation of this fact may lie in the circumstance that married men and women, being subject to the restraining influences of home life, arc much less apt to yield to those anti-social tendencies which manifest themselves in crime.
Considering, secondly, occupation, prison statistics show that the higher the character of a man's daily pursuits the greater the unlikeli hood of his falling into crime. An examination into the previous occupations of criminals shows that a very large percentage were engaged in un skilled labor. According to the census of 1890, of 52,594 convicts, 31.42G were ignorant of any kind of trade. The economically low position of the unskilled laborer exposes him to frequent unemployment and want, and 'nme to the desperation which often leads to crime, French official statistics summarizing the results of over fifty years indicate the following number of in dictments for every 100,000 members of each class: Agriculture. S: liberal professions and proprietors. 9; industry, 11; commerce, IS; domestic service. 29: vagabonds and Without trade or regular occupation, 405.
Thirdly, and elosely related to occupation, is the influence of rural or city life on crime. in his Prisoners and Paupers (New York, 1593), Mr. 11. M. Poles declares that our cities furnish 90 per cent. of our criminals. City life, with its crowded slunk and tenements, he considers one great cause of crime. Cities are hotbeds of lawlessness as compared with rural neighbor hoods. The city is the refuge and hiding-place of questionable characters; it intensifies the struggle for existence, and by the sharp contrast it oilers between rich and poor, between luxury and excites envy and class hatred. Ac cording to Levasseur, urban population in France has a criminality double that of the rural popu lation; while according to Mr. W. D. Morrison, London, with less than one-fifth of the population of England and Wales, furnishes one-third of the indictable crimes.
A fourth point of great importance is the in fluence of poverty. If poverty in itself were a decisive factor, we would expect poor countries to produce the most criminals; but poor countries like Ireland, Spain, and 'Hungary show a smaller ratio of theft in the population than rich Eng land. It is rather where great poverty exists
side by side with great wealth that temptation is greatest and crime most frequent, especially crimes against property. Swift and unexpected industrial and commercial changes and hard times put character to unusual strains and in crease the number of law-breakers. Inventions and progress in industrial processes often make it more difficult for men to support existence in their accustomed ways. There can be no doubt, moreover, that the keen struggle for existence imposed upon the poor classes disorganizes the family and destroys many of the beneficent in fluences of home life. It may reasonably be maintained, on the other hand. that excessive wealth, with the idleness that it frequently be gets in the possessor, is quite as apt as destitu tion to lead to viciousness and crime. A wealthy criminal has, of course, more numerous and effi cient means for escaping detection and punish ment than a poor offender. Humanitarian novel ists have accustomed the general public to the belief that hunger and pressing want frequently lead to theft. This belief does not by any means coincide with such facts as we possess; French criminal statistics indicate, for example, that thefts of food—bread, flour, meat, etc.—consti tute only per cent. of the total number com mitted during the period from 1S30 to ISO.
Among the other factors of crime which may properly be classed as 'social' are: the influence of social theories which tend to engender con tempt for human life and the institution of private property: the absence of a widespread, deep-seated religious spirit which restrains men from yielding to evil impulses; the corruption of partisan polities which permits the worst ele ments of the population to become the official guardians of the public peace and prosperity; lynching and public exhibitions of cruelty which debase human character; detailed accounts of crimes in the daily press; the influence of asso ciation and suggestion by which gangs of shift less men or boys form centres of criminal life under the leadership of unscrupulous chiefs; social disturbances like war, crises, revolutions. and expositions, which disturb the even tenor of social progress and relax the social bond.