In my opinion, no really decisive arguments have ever been adduced for the opinion that the intellectual condition of men has no influence upon criminality. In general the reasoning is as follows: ignorance is decreasing; crime on the contrary increases; ignorance cannot therefore be a factor. Such a line of argument is very superficial, for ignorance is surely not the only cause of crime. Its influence may therefore be neutralized by other factors. And further, from the point of view of statistics it is not permissible to use the indirect method when the direct method is practicable. In most criminal and prison statistics the percentage of the illiterate among the criminals is given, and we have only to put beside these figures those for the illiterate among the non-criminal population to be convinced of the existence or absence of the connection in dispute.
We shall begin, then, by giving the figures that we know.
United States, 1890.[97]
| To 82,329 Prisoners there were | To 100 of the Population over Age of 10 Years. | ||
| Absolute Number. | % | ||
| Illiterate | 19,631 | 23.83 | 13.3 |
Austria, 1881–1899.[98]
| Years. | To 100 Persons Convicted of Crimes. | ||
| Unable to Read or Write. | Able to Read and Write. | Having a Higher Education. | |
| 1881–1885 | 46.2 | 53.5 | 0.2 |
| 1886–1890 | 41.0 | 58.7 | 0.3 |
| 1891–1895 | 37.5 | 62.2 | 0.2 |
| 1896 | 33.0 | 60.3 | 0.7 |
| 1897 | 34.9 | 64.4 | 0.7 |
| 1898 | 33.2 | 66.1 | 0.7 |
| 1899 | 33.0 | 66.2 | 0.8 |
[[426]]
England and Wales, 1894–1900.[99]
| Years. | Prisoners Found Guilty. | Percentage of Persons Wishing to Marry who were Unable to Sign their Names. | ||||||||||||||||
| Unable to Read or Write. | Able to Read, or to Read Poorly and Write. | Able to Read and Write Well. | Having a Higher Education. | |||||||||||||||
| Men. | Women. | Men. | Women. | Men. | Women. | Men. | Women. | |||||||||||
| Absolute Number. | % | Absolute Number. | % | Absolute Number. | % | Absolute Number. | % | Absolute Number. | % | Absolute Number. | % | Absolute Number. | % | Absolute Number. | % | Men. | Women. | |
| 1893 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5.0 | 5.7 |
| 1894 | 20,760 | 18.4 | 11,457 | 27.4 | 86,639 | 76.6 | 29,620 | 70.7 | 5,554 | 4.9 | 797 | 1.9 | 102 | 0.1 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — |
| 1895 | 18,840 | 18.2 | 11,143 | 27.8 | 80,409 | 77.9 | 28,511 | 71.2 | 3,879 | 3.8 | 386 | 1.0 | 89 | 0.1 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — |
| 1896 | 19,377 | 18.1 | 11,844 | 28.5 | 85,199 | 79.2 | 29,261 | 70.6 | 2,806 | 2.6 | 307 | 0.7 | 52 | 0.1 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — |
| 1897 | 18,588 | 17.4 | 11,783 | 27.8 | 84,777 | 79.7 | 30,290 | 71.4 | 2,980 | 2.8 | 344 | 0.8 | 68 | 0.1 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — |
| 1898 | 18,591 | 16.6 | 12,092 | 26.8 | 86,675 | 77.3 | 32,350 | 71.6 | 6,680 | 6.0 | 726 | 1.6 | 158 | 0.1 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — |
| 1899 | 17,703 | 16.3 | 11,483 | 25.3 | 84,854 | 78.4 | 35,114 | 73.0 | 5,658 | 5.2 | 740 | 1.6 | 84 | 0.1 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — |
| 1900 | 16,583 | 16.6 | 11,519 | 25.3 | 77,967 | 77.8 | 33,169 | 73.5 | 5,460 | 5.5 | 420 | 0.9 | 81 | 0.1 | 5 | 0.6 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
[[427]]