j. Imitation. Before concluding we must give our attention to one more factor: imitation. We have already pointed this out in speaking of the moral education of the young, but it is also of importance with adults (e.g. the influence of the press, etc.; see above, C., a., in this chapter), though not to so great an extent. When society shows very egoistic tendencies imitation strengthens these considerably; when we see persons with whom we have to do, always acting in an egoistic manner, our anti-egoistic forces weaken little by little [[529]]and we end by doing as the others do.[321] In the crime of mobs imitation plays an important part.
The proofs to support the power of imitation in the etiology of crime are to be found in the biographies of most great criminals; bad example plays generally a preponderant rôle in the drama of life. I know only a single set of statistics giving exact information of the atmosphere in which criminals have lived, and so furnishing an idea of the influence of imitation. It is that furnished by the “Elmira Reformatory”. According to the “Twenty-second Yearbook” (1897) the character of the people with whom the inmates had associated was as follows:[322]
| Character of Associates. | Prisoners. | |
| Absolute Number. | % | |
| Positively bad | 4,511 | 54.2 |
| Less bad | 3,614 | 43.4 |
| Doubtful | 81 | 1.4 |
| Good | 113 | 1.0 |
| Total | 8,319 | 100.0 |
A second proof of the influence of the contagion of crime is found in the fact that the criminality in the cities, where people come more into contact with each other, is in general greater than that in the country. Although it is evident that we cannot impute this exclusively to imitation (it is due, among other things, in part to the great differences of fortune found in the cities), it still plays an important part.[323] The following figures give a picture of the criminality in the large cities and in the country.[324] [[530]]
England and Wales, 1894–1898.
| Districts. | Crimes Known to the Police, to the 100,000 of the Population. | |||||||
| All Indictable Offenses. | Crimes Against Property. | Crimes Against Persons. | ||||||
| Crimes of Violence. | Sexual Crimes. | |||||||
| 1894. | 1898. | 1894. | 1898. | 1894. | 1898. | 1894. | 1898. | |
| London | 416.77 | 391.56 | 386.24 | 358.90 | 11.95 | 10.63 | 5.93 | 5.72 |
| Mining districts | 234.33 | 230.84 | 214.32 | 211.07 | 8.39 | 7.19 | 8.11 | 7.89 |
| Manufacturing cities | 351.84 | 325.93 | 332.48 | 306.21 | 6.66 | 6.74 | 4.43 | 4.00 |
| Sea-ports | 643.60 | 611.10 | 597.91 | 575.60 | 22.54 | 16.72 | 8.44 | 5.95 |
| Watering places, etc. | 265.70 | 302.25 | 250.37 | 283.34 | 4.38 | 5.93 | 4.14 | 6.16 |
| Agricultural districts divided into: | ||||||||
| 1st. Eastern | 128.20 | 120.23 | 119.06 | 107.84 | 3.76 | 3.22 | 3.63 | 5.45 |
| 2nd. South-eastern | 182.97 | 195.86 | 163.52 | 176.55 | 5.29 | 6.22 | 8.10 | 8.70 |
| 3rd. Around London | 202.13 | 198.07 | 185.97 | 181.41 | 4.29 | 4.94 | 6.53 | 6.32 |
| England and Wales | 296.70 | 284.20 | 275.93 | 262.83 | 7.28 | 7.39 | 6.09 | 5.94 |
The following table[325] relates to
Bavaria, 1883–1897.
| Crimes. | Number of Convicts to 10,000 of the Population over 12 Years of Age. | |||||
| 1883–1887. | 1888–1892. | 1893–1897. | ||||
| City. | Country. | City. | Country. | City. | Country. | |
| Assault | 19.9 | 27.7 | 19.9 | 31.2 | 22.4 | 32.8 |
| Theft | 37.4 | 26.6 | 39.7 | 26.1 | 37.3 | 25.9 |
| Fraud | 10.2 | 5.0 | 12.1 | 6.9 | 12.5 | 6.9 |
| Violence and threats against public officials | 4.7 | 2.7 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 4.9 | 2.6 |
| All crimes | 137.1 | 114.0 | 133.7 | 119.6 | 139.4 | 123.1 |