XVII.
H. Müller.
In the introduction to his work, “Untersuchungen über die Bewegung der Criminalität in ihrem Zusammenhang mit dem wirtschaftlichen Verhältnissen”, Dr. Müller describes the result of his researches as follows: “In the course of our discussion it will appear that with time the state of industry, the greater or less chance to get work, the activity or depression of the general economic life, have gradually become of far more significance for the increase or decrease of crime, than a rise or fall in the price of provisions, and that at present these factors have reduced the economic meaning of the price of provisions to a minimum.”[46]
The period examined (1854–1895) is divided into two parts, because the criminal statistics of the empire, which are to be had from 1882 on, give the number of crimes and criminals, while the Prussian statistics give the number of new cases brought before the examining magistrate.
The figures for these years are as follows:
Prussia, 1854–1878. New Cases to 100,000 of the Population.
| Years. | Against Property. | Against Persons. | Against the State, Public Order, and Religion. |
| 1854 | 416 | 78 | — |
| 1855 | 436 | 78 | 41 |
| 1856 | 472 | 81 | 47 |
| 1857 | 324 | 95 | 55 |
| 1858 | 288 | 103 | 54 |
| 1859 | 295 | 103 | 51 |
| 1860 | 310 | 102 | 56 |
| 1861 | 314 | 93 | 52 |
| 1862 | 313 | 105 | 54 |
| 1863 | 288 | 111 | 53 |
| 1864 | 290 | 115 | 56 |
| 1865 | 325 | 121 | 58 |
| 1866 | 314 | 109 | 55[[75]] |
| 1867 | 360 | 112 | 51 |
| 1868 | 392 | 117 | 52 |
| 1869 | 338 | 126 | 53 |
| 1870 | 296 | 99 | 46 |
| 1871 | 254 | 75 | 41 |
| 1872 | 281 | 94 | 56 |
| 1873 | 266 | 106 | 64 |
| 1874 | 295 | 125 | 81 |
| 1875 | 284 | 135 | 84 |
| 1876 | 315 | 142 | 89 |
| 1877 | 341 | 160 | 87 |
| 1878 | 370 | 164 | 103 |
Prussia, 1882–1895. Persons Convicted to 100,000 Inhabitants over 12 Years.
| Years. | Against Property. | Against Persons. | Against the State, Public Order, and Religion. |
| 1882 | 545 | 328 | 180 |
| 1883 | 520 | 343 | 174 |
| 1884 | 527 | 382 | 188 |
| 1885 | 492 | 385 | 185 |
| 1886 | 488 | 402 | 196 |
| 1887 | 475 | 421 | 203 |
| 1888 | 466 | 404 | 200 |
| 1889 | 503 | 423 | 197 |
| 1890 | 496 | 449 | 199 |
| 1891 | 520 | 443 | 190 |
| 1892 | 575 | 458 | 199 |
| 1882–91 | 510 | 404 | 194 |
| 1894 | 528 | 527 | 219 |
Now, the causes that make crime increase when there is an economic depression are, according to the author, the following: “The instinct of self-preservation, which in its harmonious development is the motive for the lawful and moral struggle of men for existence, and in more restricted form is the principal ground for industrial activity, in its degeneration … demands a certain, often high, percentage of victims, who fall into crime, especially theft, fraud, embezzlement, and other offenses against property. And experience shows that the [[76]]greater the care to maintain existence, or often simply to procure daily bread, the greater is the number of offenses against property. When need appears, at the same time comes the instinct impelling a man to seize the property of another, better situated than himself. Infractions of property are in part to be ascribed to other motives. There is nothing to show, however, that these motives (greed and covetousness, for example) are stronger in one year and weaker in another throughout a whole people. We must rather ascribe to them a certain uniformity in their influence upon criminal activity. The determining factor in the increase and decrease of crimes remains the general well-being of a people, in earlier times the price of the necessities of life, at the present the opportunity for employment.”[47]