Immigration and Crime. at least the following facts are necessary: The age, sex, race, and offense of every offender committed to a penal institution during a definite period of time, and the age, sex, and race of every person in the general population on a date falling within that period of time. Such facts have never been ascertained. Without them all conclusions regarding the relative amount of crime committed by immigrants and natives must be largely conjectural. Such figures as are presented in the Census reports indicate that immigration has not increased the volume of crime to a distinguishable extent, if at all. In fact, the figures seem to indicate a contrary result. Immigration has, however, evidently made changes in the character of crime in the United States. Whether these changes are for better or for worse must be left to individual decision. The determination of the nature of these changes has been the chief work undertaken in this investigation of immigration and crime. From the data gathered it is evident that immigration has had a marked effect upon the nature of the crimes committed in the United States. This effect has been to increase the commission of offenses of personal violence (such as abduction and kidnapping, assault, homicide, and rape), and of that large class of violations of the law known as offenses against public policy (which include disorderly conduct, drunkenness, vagrancy, the violation of corporation ordinances, and many offenses incident to city life). It is also probable that immigration has somewhat increased offenses against chastity, especially those connected with prostitution. That certain offenses of pecuniary gain, such as blackmail and extortion and the receiving of stolen property, are more common now because of immigration is likewise possible, but it can not be said that the majority of the gainful offenses have increased because of immigration. Indeed, the data analyzed in this report appear to indicate a far greater commission of such offenses by Americans than by immigrants. Some of the changes in the character of crime may be traced to immigration from specific countries, although the difficulty of obtaining data regarding race has rendered the determination of racial influences almost impossible. The increase in offenses of personal violence in this country is largely traceable to immigration from Southern Europe, and especially from Italy. This is most marked in connection with the crime of homicide; of all the various race and nationality groups appearing in the data collected, the Italian stands out prominently as having the largest percentage of cases of homicide among its crimes. Abduction and kidnapping likewise have evidently become more prevalent because of Italian immigration. The increase in offenses against public policy is perhaps more due to the growth of cities and the resultant increase in the number of forbidden acts than it is to immigration. To immigration, however, some increase in the commission of these acts is evidently due and may be largely traced to immigration from Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Greece, and Russia. The Irish and Scotch immigrants are notable in penal records for intoxication, the Italian for offenses of violence against public policy, and the Greek and Russian for the violation of Immigration and Crime. corporation ordinances in large cities. Such probable increase in offenses against chastity as appears due to immigration is chiefly of crimes connected with prostitution, and has evidently been largely caused by immigration from France and Russia. B. CHARACTER AND SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION. ... The investigation was confined to a determination, in so far as possible, of the changes in the character of crime in the United States which had resulted from immigration and of the crimes peculiar to various immigrant races and nationalities. . . . After a general survey of the possible sources of criminal statistics in this country, the following were selected as affording the greatest amount of data for the purpose of the Commission: I. Court records; II. Records of penal institutions; III. Records of arrests by the police of various cities. . . . From these sources records of 1,179,677 criminal cases were obtained. The dissimilarity of the sources, however, detracts from their strict comparability, and the figures from each source must be subjected to separate analysis. [Of these three classes of records the commitments to all Massachusetts penal institutions, October 1, 1908, to September 30, 1909, constituted 31,653 criminal cases considered and a digest of these data having reference to Massachusetts is herewith presented.] C. COMMITMENTS TO MASSACHUSETTS PENAL INSTITUTIONS. From the data of commitments to Massachusetts penal institutions1, October 1, 1908, to September 30, 1909, five immigrant and five second-generation groups have likewise been selected for comparison with persons native-born of native father. No separation, however, of the white and negro constituents of the latter group is possible.. Furthermore, the Massachusetts records do not contain any classification of the foreign-born by race, nor of the native-born by race of father. The classification is . . . by country of birth. by country of birth. Thus, in the following discussion the term "nationality" is used to indicate the country of birth of the foreign-born, and when reference is made to the "second generation" it should be interpreted as meaning the American-born children of the designated "nationality." For example, by first-generation Canadians are meant persons born in Canada, while by second-generation Canadians are meant persons born in the United States whose fathers were born in Canada. Only one of the five second-generation groups shows, in the date of commitments to Massachusetts penal institutions, a persistent deviation in the character of its criminality from the corresponding immigrant group in the direction of the native-born of native father. This group is the second-generation Irish. 1 Excluding the State Farm. Immigration and Crime. (a) Classes of Crime. The four general classes of crime occur among the 11 groups of offenders selected for analysis as follows: Classes of Crimes, First and Second Generations Compared: Massachusetts Other tables are presented in the Commission's report showing in further detail the distribution of crimes for four groups of offenses characterized as "gainful," "personal violence," "against public policy," and "against chastity," together with a group of five tables showing "the relations of second generation to immigrant groups and to the group of persons native-born of native father." There are also appended seven general tables which present in elaborate detail by offenses and by nativity and race of offenders, the information obtained from the Massachusetts penal institutions. Immigrant Population Statistics — 1910. III. POPULATION STATISTICS-CENSUS OF 1910. 1. INTRODUCTORY. The composition and characteristics of the population of Massachusetts in 1910, as determined by the Federal Census of that year, are considered in the second population bulletin for Massachusetts issued in March, 1913, by the Bureau of the Census of the Federal Department of Commerce. In explanation of the method of presenting the statistics of population the following paragraphs were included in the text accompanying the statistical tables appearing in the bulletin: On account of the wide differences in characteristics among the different classes of the population, the statistics on each subject are shown according to race, and for the whites according to nativity and parentage. Classification according to nativity and parentage is scarcely necessary for the other races, since nearly all negroes and Indians are native born of native parentage, and nearly all Chinese and Japanese either foreign born or of foreign parentage. The white population is divided into four groups: (1) Native, native parentage - that is, having both parents born in the United States; (2) native, foreign parentage having both parents born abroad; (3) native, mixed parentage having one parent native and the other foreign born; (4) foreign born. As the second and third classes do not differ greatly in characteristics, they are combined in some of the tables; in a few cases all three native white classes are combined. Since marked differences often exist between urban and rural communities with respect to the composition and characteristics of the population, it is desirable that the two classes be distinguished in presenting census data. The Bureau of the Census has undertaken to do this by classifying as urban all incorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants or more. In New England, however, where many villages of considerable size are not separately incorporated, it was deemed best to classify also towns of 2,500 or more inhabitants as urban, although this classification is not very satisfactory because such towns generally include more or less population that is essentially rural. For our present purpose the more important data bearing upon the subject of immigration to Massachusetts have been selected for publication in this article, some re-arrangement of the tabular matter having been resorted to in order to conserve space and to secure uniformity in tabular makeup. Particular reference to color, nativity, and foreign nationality has been made in the Census Bulletin in the paragraphs reprinted herewith: Color and Nativity. . . .Of the total population of Massachusetts, 1,103,429, or 32.8 per cent, are native whites of native parentage; 1,170,447, or 34.8 per cent, Immigrant Population Statistics- 1910. are native whites of foreign or mixed parentage; 1,051,050, or 31.2 per cent, are foreign-born whites; and 38,055, or 1.1 per cent, are negroes. The corresponding percentages in 1900 were 36.8, 32, 29.9, and 1.1, respectively, the proportion of native whites of native parentage having decreased during the decade. In 8 of the 14 counties more than one-fourth of the population is foreign-born white, the maximum percentage - 37.6 — being that for Bristol County. In 10 counties the population is more than one-fourth native white of foreign or mixed parentage, the maximum percentage38.2 being that for Suffolk. Of the urban population, 30.8 per cent are native whites of native parentage; of the rural, 58.6 per cent. The corresponding proportions for native whites of foreign or mixed parentage are 35.7 and 22.5 per cent, respectively. The percentage of foreign-born whites is 32.3 in the urban population and 17.6 in the rural; the percentage of negroes, 1.1 in the urban and 1.2 in the rural. . . . Foreign Nationalities. . . . Of the foreign-born white population of Massachusetts, persons born in Canada represent 28.1 per cent (those of French parentage 12.8, and all others, 15.3); Ireland, 21.2; Russia, 11.2; England, 8.8; Italy, 8.1; Sweden, 3.8; Austria, 3.4; Germany, 2.9; Scotland, 2.7; Portugal, 2.4; all other countries, 7.4 per cent. Of the total white stock of foreign origin, which includes persons born abroad and also natives having one or both parents born abroad, Ireland contributed 28.5 per cent; Canada, 27.2 (French stock, 13.3, and all others, 13.9); England, 8.3; Russia, 7.9; Italy, 5.9; Germany, 3.5; Sweden, 3.1; Scotland, 2.5; Austria, 2.4 per cent. TABLE 16. Color, Nativity, and Parentage of the Population of Massachusetts. |