| Years. | Average Price of a Hectolitre of Wheat. | Number of Persons Arraigned. | |
| fr. | c. | ||
| 1850 | 14 | 32 | 147,757 |
| 1851 | 14 | 48 | 146,368 |
| 1852 | 16 | 75 | 159,791 |
| 1853 | 22 | 39 | 171,351 |
| 1854 | 28 | 82 | 170,940 |
| 1855 | 29 | 32 | 163,748 |
| 1856 | 30 | 75 | 162,049 |
| 1857 | 24 | 37 | 161,556 |
| 1858 | 16 | 75 | 157,815 |
| 1859 | 16 | 75 | 150,948 |
| 1860 | 20 | 24 | 144,301 |
| 1861 | 24 | 55 | 151,112 |
| 1862 | 23 | 24 | 152,332 |
| 1863 | 19 | 78 | 144,072 |
| 1864 | 17 | 58 | 146,230 |
Although, according to Corne, the high price of grain may be only an accidental fact, there must yet be some importance attached to it in view of the disastrous consequences which may result from it to families that have in any case a hard time to make both ends meet. But the figures given above do not prove the influence to be very great. For prices rise sometimes although the other figures fall, and vice versa. And then the sudden increase of [detected] crime from 1849 to 1853 must be attributed to a better organization of the police. [[49]]
Then the author gives the following table:
| Years. | Price of a Hectolitre of Wheat. | Number of Persons Convicted (to 1000 of Population). | |
| fr. | c. | ||
| 1850 | 14 | 32 | 147,757 |
| 1851 | 14 | 48 | 146,368 |
| 1852 | 16 | 75 | 159,791 |
| 1853 | 22 | 39 | 171,351 |
| 1854 | 28 | 82 | 170,940 |
| 1855 | 29 | 32 | 163,748 |
| 1856 | 30 | 75 | 162,049 |
| 1857 | 24 | 37 | 161,556 |
| 1858 | 16 | 75 | 157,815 |
| 1859 | 16 | 75 | 150,948 |
| 1860 | 20 | 24 | 144,301 |
| 1861 | 24 | 55 | 151,112 |
| 1862 | 23 | 24 | 152,332 |
| 1863 | 19 | 78 | 144,072 |
| 1864 | 14 | 32 | 146,230 |
We see that the coincidence of the figures is here naturally greater than in the first table.
“The situation of criminals may be summed up in a word: isolation. Most of them hardly know what a family is. They are miserable, they have no home, no fixed occupation which attaches them little by little to men and things. They are immersed in the gloom of ignorance. Aside from what affects their immediate physical wants the rest of the world is for them as if it did not exist.”[17] They are alone, isolated from birth. For among juvenile prisoners there are reckoned not only many illegitimate and orphaned children, but also many who have been deserted. Out of 8006 young criminals in prison December 31st, 1864, 60% were illegitimate, orphaned, or deserted.
The author then depicts the environment in which the children of the proletariat ordinarily grow up—bad hygienic conditions, demoralizing surroundings, etc.—and points out the harmful effect of labor in factories upon the young. Corne also considers celibacy to be one of the causes of crime, since the individual has no one to care for him or be interested in his fate. Crime is developed much more in the great cities than in the country, for the reason, the author thinks, that men are much more isolated, much more left to themselves in the city than in rural neighborhoods. [[50]]
—Here I would remark that it is for economic reasons that men are prevented from marrying, and that the great criminality of cities is best explained by the marked difference in economic situation, and by the more frequent opportunities for wrong-doing found there.—
According to Corne one of the best preventives of crimes is property, since it engenders a feeling of responsibility. The property owner exerts himself to increase his wealth, and hence property has a moral influence.[18]
“Criminality comes from a lack of vitality. It is an anemia. In order to prevent it we must excite a desire for activity.” It is in this that the usefulness of education appears. The man who knows how to read and write, has in his hands an instrument which can multiply his means of action indefinitely.[19]