Criminality and economic conditions

by Willem Adriaan Bonger

As a proof of the coincidence of the fluctuations of crimes against property with those of the price of grain in the period preceding that which he studied especially, Dr. Mayr gives the following table: [[41]]

Years.	Number of Crimes against Property to 100,000 of Population.		Price of Rye in Munich.
	District of the Isar.	District of the Lower Danube.
1818/19	—	138	8	fl.	15	kr.
19/20	—	148	6		31
20/21	233	157	7		28
21/22	297	200	7		58
22/23	267	195	7		57
23/24	276	—	6		2
24/25	295	166	6		59
25/26	317	157	6		18
26/27	315	144	6		55
27/28	463	241	11		11
28/29	416	234	11		6
29/30	401	216	10		48
30/31	427	264	11		12
31/32	530	302	12		35
32/33	493	313	8		21
33/34	—	318	8		42
34/35	487	318	7		47

In chapter IV (“Zahl und Bewegung der Polizeiübertretungen im Gebiete diesseits des Rheins”) Dr. Mayr gives some interesting information with regard to thefts of wood. The following table gives the figures for these crimes in this district compared with the others:

Above the Average (Cis-Rhenal Territory).		Below the Average (Cis-Rhenal Territory).
The Upper Palatinate	18 %	Central Franconia	1 %
Upper Franconia	80 %,,	Swabia	63 %,,
Lower Franconia	178 %,,	Upper Bavaria	99.2 %,,
		Lower Bavaria	99.5 %,,

The great difference between these figures is explained by the fact that in Lower Franconia only a quarter of the woods are privately owned (the rest belonging to corporations, etc.). In Upper Bavaria the private forests are 92%, and in Lower Bavaria 96½% of the whole. Besides, the price of wood is very high in Lower Franconia. Once more, then, economic conditions are the cause of crime.

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Upon the movement of the figures for mendicity Dr. Mayr remarks that they are strongly influenced by the cost of the primary necessities. “The parallel movement of the food-price and mendicity offers little to astonish us if we learn from the statistics of crimes that the [[42]]objective difficulty or ease of getting food resulting from the fluctuations in price, exercises a direct influence upon increase and decrease of serious crimes against property. It is explicable that only a small portion of individuals who become economically dependent proceed to serious crime, while the majority fall into the minor misdemeanors involved in a living obtained through begging and vagrancy. The same force that appears in the increase and decrease of attacks upon property, must consequently appear much more intensively in the fluctuations of mendicity and vagrancy.”

Bavaria.[12]

Years.	Price of Rye				Number of Mendicants and Vagrants Arrested to 100,000 of the Population.
	Cis-Rhenal Territory.		Palatinate.		Bavaria.		Palatinate.	Upper Palatinate.	Franconia.			Swabia.	The Kingdom.
	fl.	kr.	fl.	kr.	Upper	Lower			Upper	Central	Lower
1835/36	6	53	8	17	2696	1558	1542	1952	2165	1348	665	1456	1685
1836/37	7	31	10	26	2100	1839	2075	2277	2421	1229	711	1262	1727
1837/38	10	18	12	21	2065	2483	2472	2233	2255	1438	639	1306	1842
1838/39	11	30	13	40	2232	1989	2056	2076	2195	1435	519	1640	1771
1839/40	10	35	12	6	2032	1805	2238	2111	2584	1233	515	1829	1781
1840/41	8	49	10	4	1887	1608	1845	1711	1810	1006	410	1531	1467
1841/42	9	14	12	39	1777	1318	1878	1625	1814	1008	434	1599	1433
1842/43	14	10	15	19	1810	1757	2479	2365	2679	1450	615	2177	1893
1843/44	14	1	10	28	1905	1690	1970	2286	2264	1475	475	2151	1758
1844/45	15	15	13	30	1857	1698	2411	2364	1412	1119	423	1722	1622
1845/46	19	53	21	45	2182	1836	3528	2856	1447	1475	535	2332	2033
1846/47	21	36	22	44	2902	2166	4276	3757	1904	1850	949	2586	2584
1847/48	10	12	10	22	1916	1635	2704	2290	1348	1364	548	1985	1746
1848/49	7	34	8	46	2269	1439	2555	1360	1015	1270	586	1545	1563
1849/50	7	57	8	57	2346	1528	2801	1782	991	1351	716	1893	1686
1850/51	12	20	13	10	2213	1790	3269	1734	1096	1294	1002	2023	1845
1851/52	17	53	15	57	2927	2243	4562	3030	1637	2274	2236	2969	2705
1852/53	17	39	17	46	2572	1918	5010	2289	2017	1795	2165	2535	2592
1853/54	23	38	24	13	2932	2097	5854	2983	2127	2282	2894	2671	3027
1854/55	23	19	23	38	2964	2591	5026	3326	2470	2215	2831	2804	3229
1855/56	17	45	22	2	2423	1817	4637	2367	2050	1595	2515	1939	2443
1856/57	15	26	18	5	2157	1724	3265	2059	1176	1412	1931	1435	1922
1857/58	12	31	12	58	1956	1237	2595	1537	588	974	1621	1203	1505
1858/59	10	28	12	13	1949	1170	2309	1334	462	497	940	1029	1255
1859/60	11	45	15	15	2084	1219	2622	1538	525	890	994	1105	1419
1860/61	14	8	16	19	2055	1304	2580	1318	484	720	750	1069	1336
Average	13	35	14	44	2234	1741	3083	2155	1649	1388	1120	1842	1920

[[43]]