Criminality and economic conditionsBonger, Willem Adriaan
General
Criminality and economic conditions
Bonger, Willem Adriaan
Crime -- Economic aspects
Finally, the author considers the influence of emigration. It is
chiefly the crimes against property that feel the favorable effects of
it, as murder does among crimes against persons. The cause of this
favorable influence is easily explained. Emigration removes a number of
persons who, not having the means of existence, would easily become
criminals.
The consequences of agricultural vicissitudes are as follows: the years
of abundant harvests show a decrease in criminality, bad years, on the
contrary, an increase; good vintages, however, lead to the same result.
It is chiefly crimes against property (especially rural thefts) that
yield to the influence of the degree of the abundance of the harvest;
while among crimes against persons it is principally assaults that show
the effect of the character of the crops. It is plain that the
agricultural class is that which especially shows the effect of a bad
harvest. During the years 1887–1889 the proportion of the farming class
among those convicted rose from 35.3% to 37.8% and 38.2%.
The effect of the fluctuation of the price of food is the following:
criminality in general shows the influence of it greatly. When prices
fall crime diminishes, and vice versa. This is more clearly to be seen
in crimes against property. Crimes against persons increase especially
when the price of wine is low, and vice versa. When a fall in the price
of food coincides with a fall in the price of wine, the increase of
crimes against persons is great.
According to Dr. Fornasari di Verce the cause of the increase of crimes
against persons in the case of low food prices is not to be found in
the improved nutrition that results, but in the greater consumption of
alcohol. The other crimes feel the effect of the fluctuations in the
price of provisions less.
The author then takes up manufacturing. (As a consequence of the
defectiveness of the official statistics the data are incomplete.)
During the period of which the author speaks, manufacturing increased
enormously, and crime in general increased also. The serious forms,
however, decreased while the less serious ones increased. Industrial
crises bring an increase chiefly of crimes against persons.
The condition of the working-people. According to the author it would
be of the highest importance to establish for each year the number of
industrial workers. For this has a greater importance for criminality
than the price of food or the rate of wages. In default of official
data such an investigation cannot take place, and he has to limit
himself to an examination of wages. With some few exceptions these
wages increased about 35% during the period 1873–1889. However, to
obtain a clearer picture of the condition of the working-class, the
author has combined the fluctuation of wages with those of the price of
grain; that is, he has made a calculation of the number of hours each
man has had to work to get 100 kilograms of grain.
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