From time to time the Census Bureau collects data relating to crime. There has been in each case, however, a considerable variation in the number of prisons, that is jails, penitentiaries, etc., from which data were collected.

In 1904, the prisoners in 1,337 prisons were enumerated There were in these prisons, at the time, 50,111 white and 26,661 colored persons. There were committed to these prisons that year 125,093 white persons and 24,598 colored persons. In 1910, the prisoners, in 3,198 prisons were enumerated. There

were in these prisons, at that time, 72,797 white and 38,701 colored persons There were committed to these prisons that year, 368,468 white persons and 110,319 colored persons. The number of penitentiaries and reformatories from which data were collected in 1904, 81; and in 1910, 82, was practically the same. There was, however, information from 1,764 more municipal prisons, jails, and prisons considered vitiate the comparisons of crime rates for different periods. In 1890 the number of prisoners per 100,000 of the population was for whites, 104; for colored, 325. In 1904 the number was, for whites, 75; for colored, 277. In 1910, the number was, for whites, 89; for colored 30.

In 1910, the number was, for whites, 89; for colored, 378.

In 1904 the number of commitments to prison per 100,000 of the population was, for whites, 171; colored, 256. In 1910 the number of commitments was for whites, 467; colored, 1,101. The number of colored prisoners in penitentiaries per 100,000 of the colored population was 225 in 1904 and 260 in 1910.

Crime Rates Appear

To Be Higher In The

North Than In The South.

It appears that there is a much higher rate of crime among Negroes in the North than in the South. This is to a large extent due to the fact that over seven-tenths of the Negroes in the North live in cities and a large proportion of these are of an age when persons have the most tendency to crime; that isunmarried persons or young people with one or two children.

Some comparisons of commitments of white prisoners per 10,000 of the white population. Maine, 70; Massachusetts, 93; Connecticut, 75; New York, 50; Pennsylvania, 64; Colorado, 59; California, 70; other western states, 93. Southern states, North Carolina, 4; Mississippi, 7; South Carolina, 16; Alabama, 17; Louisiana, 17; Arkansas, 18; Georgia, 18; Texas, 19; Tennessee, 20; Oklahoma, 27; Virginia, 33; Kentucky, 35.

The commitments to prisons per ten thousand of the Negro population is for the North, 283; for the West, 366 and for the South, 88; that is to say, a Negro is 3 times more likely to get in jail in the North and 4 times more likely to be committed to jail in the West than in South. The commitments of Negroes per ten thousand of the Negro population is, for Massachusetts, 196; for Connecticut, 254; for Georgia, 82; for Alabama, 71, for South Carolina, 52, for Louisiana, 47; for Mississippi, 30; for North Carolina, 29.

Negro Crime Rate

Lower Than Rate
For Emigrant Races.

It is to be noted that the statistics of crimes of foreign born are deceptive for the reason that crimes are committed for the most part by

adults and the rates for these crimes are based on the foreign born which is also mostly adult. On the other hand comparison of the criminal population of the white American born is based on the entire white American born population which includes the children of the white American born and also the children of the foreign born. When, however, due allowance is made for this it is still interesting to find that the Negro has a relatively lower percentage of crime than some of the emigrant races who during the past two decades came to this country.

The Commitments to prison in 1904 per 1,000 of certain nationalities were: Mexicans, 4.7; Italians, 4.4; Austrians, 3.6; French, 3.4; Canadians, 3.0; Russians, 2.8; Poles, 2.7; Negroes, 2.7.

It is of still greater interest to compare the commitments for rape. In 1904 the commitments for this crime per 100,000 of the total population were: all whites, 0.6; colored, 1.8*; Italians, 5.3; Mexicans, 4 8; Austrians, 3 .2; Hungarians, 2.0; French, 1.9; Russians, 1.9; of those committed to prison for major offenses in 1904, the per cent committed for rape was, for colored, 1.9; all whites, 2.3; foreign white, 2 .6; Irish, 1.3; Germans, 1 .8; Poles, 2.1; Mexicans, 2.7; Canadians, 3.0; Russians, 3.0; French, 3.1; Austrians, 4 2; Italians, 4.4; Hungarians, 4.7. The report, 1911, of the Immigration Commission on "Immigration and Crime" gives the following concerning the per cent rape forms of all offenses by Negroes and Whites: of convictions, New York City Court of General Sessions, Negro, 0.5; foreign whites, 1.8; native whites, 0.8; of Chicago police arrests Negro, 0.34; foreign whites, 0.35; native whites 0.30; of alien white prisoners, 1908 in the United States, 2.9.†

JUVENILE DELINQUENTS PER 100,000 OF POPULATION

"It is noticeable that the ratios for the colored are very much higher in the Northern states than in the Southern. The difference may be explained partly by the fact that in the North the provisions made for juvenile delinquents are much more extensive for both the white and the colored than in the South, and partly by the fact that the colored in the South live for the most part in rural districts, while in the North they are mainly in cities. Truancy and similar offenses for which most of the juvenile delinquents are committed are more often punished in cities than in rural communities." (Page 230 Prisoners and Juvenile Delinquents in Institutions, 1904.)

LYNCHING

Phillips in his "American Negro Slavery," pages 458-563 and 511572 gives extended information about rapes and the lynchings of Negroes in the days of slavery. He points out that in Virginia from 1780 to 1864

*If to the colored all those who are lynched for rape were added, the change in the figures would be less than one-fourth of one per cent.

The 1904 census figures with reference to rape are used because in the 1910 report "The term 'rape' was interpreted rather broadly to include offenses defined as 'defiling child,' 'indecent assault,' 'indecent liberties with child,' etc., and also those cases where rape was not actually committed, but only attempted or intended. Perhaps this is one reason why the number of commitments for rape reported at the census of 1910—1,337, after excluding for purposes of comparison the juvenile delinquents (74) and prisoners committed for nonpayment of fine (29)-is so much larger than the number reported in 1904, which was No record, however, bas been preserved showing what this offense included in 1904, but in any event the increase is altogether too large to represent an actual increase in the occurrence of the offense."

620.

there were seventy-three slaves convicted for rape and thirty-two convicted for attempted rape. In Baldwin County, Georgia, in 1812 a Negro was convicted of rape and sentenced to be hanged. Near Gallatin, Mississippi in 1843 two slaves were lynched for rape and murder.

According to the files of the Liberator, three slaves and one free Negro were legally executed for rape and two slaves legally executed for attempted rape. Near Mobile, Alabama, in May, 1835, two Negroes were burned to death for the murder of two children. On April 28, 1836, a Negro was burned to death at St. Louis, for killing a deputy sheriff. From 1850 to 1860, according to the records of the Liberator, there appears to have been more of a tendency for the people to take the law in their own hands. Out of forty-six Negroes put to death for the murder of owners and overseers, twenty were legally executed and twenty-six were summarily executed. Nine of these were burned at the stake. For the crime of rape upon white women, three Negroes were legally executed, and four were burned at the stake.

Four-fifths Lynchings

For Crimes

Other Than Rape.

In the forty years, 1885-1924, there were 862 persons, 60 whites and 802 Negroes put to death by mobs, under the charge of rape or attempted rape. This is one-fifth or 20.5 per cent of the total number of persons, 4,203, who were lynched during that period. On the other hand, 3,341 or four-fifths of those lynched were for causes other than rape. This refutes the charge that the majority of lynchings are for the crime of rape.

An investigation into the causes of lynching made some time ago showed that over ten per cent of the Negroes lynched were for such minor offenses as grave robbery, threatened political exposure, slander, self-defence, wife-beating, cutting levees, kidnapping, voodooism, poisoning horses, writing insulting letters, incendiary language, swindling, jilting a girl, colonizing Negroes, turning States evidences, political troubles, gambling, quarrelling, poisoning wells, throwing stones, unpopularity, making threats, circulating scandals, being troublesome, bad reputation, drunkenness, strike rioting, insults, supposed offences, insulting women, fraud, criminal abortion, alleged stock poisoning, enticing servant away, etc CAUSE OF LYNCHING 1889-1924 CLASSIFIED