Among Recidivists were Found
With incomes ofIndigent.
Less than 900 marks.900 to 2,000 marks.2,000 to 5,000 marks.
Men. Women.Men. Women.Men. Women.Men. Women.
Number. % Number. %Number. % Number. %Number. % Number. %Number. % Number. %
13,931 90 2,424 96.5 1,424 9.2 66 2.6 46 0.3 2 0.1 74 0.5 18 0.8

There were no rich persons then among the recidivists; no one with an income of more than 5,000 marks. On the other hand, those of very limited income are exceedingly numerous, especially among the women. It is a pity that the first group was not further subdivided, for “less than 900 marks” leaves the group still very large.

The following figures give a picture of the financial situation of the Swiss criminals.

Switzerland, 1892–1896.[126]

There were Prisoners:
Number.%
With fortune 589 5.0
With expectations 1,140 9.7
With neither 9,569 81.8
Condition unknown 406 3.5
11,704 100
Having a savings-bank book 202 1.7
Without a,, savings-bank,, book,, 9,608 82.1
Unknown 1,894 16.1
11,704 100

[[440]]

All the statistics cited[127] show then that the poor supply a very great proportion of the convicts, in every case a greater proportion than they bear to the population in general, and the well-to-do form only a small part.

There are still other ways of inquiring what part the different classes take in criminality. One consists in an examination of the statistics of the intellectual development of the convicts, for the illiterate and those who have received only a primary education belong, almost without exception, to the classes without fortune. These statistics have already been given, and they confirm entirely the conclusions to be drawn from the figures for the financial condition of the convicts.

The third way of solving the problem is by a study of the statistics of the occupations of those convicted. Here, however, great difficulties present themselves. In the first place not all the criminal statistics make the distinction between the employer and the workman in such and such an occupation. And it is just this information that we need. In the second place we need beside statistics for the occupation of the criminals, others showing the occupations of the population in general, and the two classified in the same way. Even in this case the picture given by these statistics will not be exact, for there are among the employers many persons who are not really independent (workers at home, etc.), or persons who, while being employers, are, as far as their plane of living is concerned, only the equal of the proletarian, and not of the bourgeois.

Upon this question we have the following figures: [[441]]