The following table gives the figures for 18,049 recidivists in Prussian houses of detention in the years 1894–1897.[260]
| Absolute Numbers. | % | |||
| Of illegitimate birth | 2,218 | 11.2 | ||
| Had lost father before age of 14 | 3,230 | 17.8 |  | 35.1 |
| Had,, lost,, mother lost,, age,, of,, 14,, | 2,116 | 11.7 | ||
| Had,, lost,, both lost,, age,, of,, 14,, | 1,027 | 5.6 | ||
| Had,, lost,, father after age,, of,, 14,, but before 18 | 1,183 | 6.5 | | 12.2 |
| Had,, lost,, mother after the age of 14 but before 18 | 880 | 4.8 | ||
| Had,, both after the age of 14 but before before 18 | 167 | 0.9 | ||
| Had,, committed their first crime before the age of 14 | 1,150 | 6.3 |  | 33.6 |
| Had,, committed their first crime between the ages of 14 and 18 | 4,936 | 27.3 | ||
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Consequently 47.3% had lost one or both parents before reaching the age of 18; 11.2% were of illegitimate birth—a total, therefore, of 58.5% brought up under abnormal home surroundings. And what was the environment under which the other 41.5% had lived? The table gives no answer to this question, but we may imagine it on the basis of the figures given above.
Switzerland, 1892–1896.
Among the 14,612 persons confined in the Swiss prisons during the years 1892–1896 there were 1,359 of illegitimate birth—1,044 men (8.5%) and 315 women (13.9%).[261] In the period 1871–1890 there were only 5 illegitimate births to the 100, while the mortality during the first year was 24.0 to the 100 natural children as against 16.4 to the 100 children in general.[262] The influence of illegitimate birth upon criminality, therefore, is very great in Switzerland; an illegitimate child is at least three times as likely to become a criminal as a legitimate child.
As regards the education of criminals, 22% of the women and 17% of the men had been brought up by persons outside of the family. The following table bears upon the others, i.e. those who were brought up at home:[263]
| Education. | Number of Prisoners. | ||||
| Men. | Women. | Illegitimate. | |||
| Total. | % | Total. | % | % | |
| Good | 4,696 | 57 | 586 | 44 | 37.6 |
| Defective | 3,096 | 37 | 619 | 46 | 47.6 |
| Bad | 481 | 6 | 141 | 10 | 14.8 |
| Total | 8,273 | 100 | 1,346 | 100 | 100.0 |
These figures show that the education of a very great number of criminals was very insufficient, and especially so in the case of illegitimate children.
The following table, dealing with the canton of Berne, gives still further details.[264] [[503]]