Dr. Müller reminds us that preceding moralistic statisticians have brought out the fact that crimes against persons increase when the price of grain falls, and vice versa, as is distinctly seen in the tables for the years 1854–1860. But there is a change during the ten years following. In 1867–1868 the price of grain was high, but crimes against persons and the public order rose also. Crimes against persons decreased in the years of war, 1866 and 1870, just as crimes against property did. Since 1871 crimes against persons have in general diminished, principally because of favorable economic conditions. (The diminution of crimes against morals is chiefly due to a modification of the law, which prescribed that a case could not be [[81]]prosecuted except upon complaint. The increase after 1876 was caused by a revocation of this requirement.) The crimes in question increased anew considerably after the crisis of 1874. Here is an important exception, then, to the rule that the earlier statisticians laid down, namely that crimes against persons decrease when economic conditions grow worse. [[80]]
II. Crimes against Persons.
a. 1854–1878. New Cases to 100,000 Inhabitants.
| Years. | Offenses against Morals. | Insult. | Murder and Homicide. | Assault in General. | Bodily Injuries Punished as Crime. | Offenses against Personal Liberty. |
| 1854 | 8.7 | 32 | 1.1 | 34 | 6.7 | 0.9 |
| 1855 | 10.2 | 32 | 0.9 | 32 | 4.5 | 0.7 |
| 1856 | 10.8 | 34 | 0.9 | 37 | 3.0 | 0.8 |
| 1857 | 12.6 | 36 | 0.9 | 42 | 1.8 | 1.0 |
| 1858 | 12.5 | 40 | 0.8 | 46 | 1.8 | 1.1 |
| 1859 | 13.1 | 39 | 0.8 | 47 | 1.8 | 1.0 |
| 1860 | 12.4 | 40 | 0.9 | 46 | 1.5 | 0.8 |
| 1861 | 11.6 | 33 | 0.7 | 44 | 1.7 | 1.0 |
| 1862 | 12.9 | 39 | 0.8 | 49 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| 1863 | 14.2 | 40 | 0.7 | 53 | 1.6 | 1.2 |
| 1864 | 14.0 | 43 | 0.9 | 54 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| 1865 | 14.9 | 44 | 0.8 | 58 | 1.7 | 1.3 |
| 1866 | 13.4 | 40 | 0.8 | 50 | 1.5 | 1.3 |
| 1867 | 14.0 | 44 | 0.9 | 50 | 1.6 | 1.0 |
| 1868 | 14.8 | 47 | 0.9 | 52 | 2.8 | 1.0 |
| 1869 | 14.9 | 45 | 1.0 | 58 | 2.8 | 1.3 |
| 1870 | 12.3 | 39 | 0.8 | 49 | 1.9 | 1.1 |
| 1871 | 5.3 | 26 | 0.7 | 39 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| 1872 | 6.2 | 34 | 0.8 | 50 | 2.0 | 1.8 |
| 1873 | 6.7 | 38 | 0.9 | 56 | 2.4 | 2.8 |
| 1874 | 7.8 | 47 | 1.1 | 64 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
| 1875 | 8.2 | 50 | 1.2 | 65 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 1876 | 9.3 | 51 | 1.2 | 73 | 5.5 | 4.1 |
| 1877 | 11.1 | 54 | 1.3 | 86 | 5.0 | 4.7 |
| 1878 | 12.3 | 54 | 1.4 | 89 | 2.5 | 5.5 |
[[81]]
b. 1882–1895. Persons Convicted to 100,000 Inhabitants over 12 Years.
| Years. | Offenses against Morals. | Insult. | Murder and Homicide. | Assault in General. | Bodily Injuries Punished as Crime. | Offenses against Personal Liberty. |
| 1882 | 7.8 | 117 | 1.0 | 60 | 111 | 10 |
| 1883 | 7.6 | 119 | 1.0 | 63 | 121 | 11 |
| 1884 | 7.6 | 127 | 0.8 | 68 | 142 | 15 |
| 1885 | 7.6 | 119 | 0.9 | 65 | 151 | 17 |
| 1886 | 8.9 | 124 | 0.8 | 68 | 153 | 19 |
| 1887 | 8.8 | 133 | 0.8 | 68 | 163 | 19 |
| 1888 | 9.1 | 130 | 0.6 | 64 | 156 | 18 |
| 1889 | 8.4 | 131 | 0.6 | 68 | 166 | 21 |
| 1890 | 8.8 | 138 | 0.6 | 74 | 175 | 23 |
| 1891 | 8.5 | 133 | 0.6 | 74 | 173 | 24 |
| 1892 | 9.0 | 137 | 0.9 | 76 | 177 | 26 |
| 1882–91 | 8.3 | 129 | 0.8 | 68 | 153 | 18 |
| 1894 | 10.5 | 156 | 0.7 | 87 | 208 | 29 |
| 1895 | 10.9 | 161 | 0.7 | — | 220 | — |
| 1896 | 11.1 | 158 | 0.6 | — | 220 | — |
“The great economic crisis beginning in 1873 was accompanied by the characteristic phenomenon that dissatisfaction with the existing economic, social, and political conditions affected wider circles than heretofore, that this embittered people’s minds, and brought about sharp oppositions and struggles of the industrial classes against each other, especially the struggle of labor against capital. The need of an economic reform was more and more felt, which is to be attained, in the opinion of the powerful, by force, and in that of the thoughtful, by social legislation. All public life since the seventies has been dominated by this idea.”[49]
Here also economic conditions are causes of crime, and show themselves principally in resistance to officials, etc. The tables show also an increase in the cases of perjury, bodily injuries, and other crimes that are the consequences of grossness. The increase is due, according to Dr. Müller, to bad economic conditions. For as a consequence of these the number of civil cases rose from 60,000 (the average for [[83]]1871–1873) to 120,000 and 135,000 (1876–1877) and it is by these cases that perjury becomes possible. It is necessary to attribute to the same causes the great increase in the number of cases of crimes against personal liberty (also, since 1876, to the abolition of the requirement of a complaint for prosecution). [[82]]
III. Crimes against the Public Order.