Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-28

| The American people have heard SO
much about the criminal tendencies OIL
the new immigration that they have
| come generally to accept as gospel truth
| the oft-repeated statement that the aliens
! coming to America are distinguished TOT
| their criminal tendencies. And yet every
| Investigation that has been made points
| to the conclusion that If there Is any dill
| ference between the immigrant and the
| native American in this regard it Is IN
favor of the foreigner rather than
| against him.
The statistics do indicate. however, that
| the American-born children Of 1mrn1-
grants show a greater tendency to crime
| than do the children of native parentaSe.
| 1t also appears that Juvenile delinquency
| is greater among the children of imIni-
grants than among those of native pa
| rents. The immigration commission con-
| cludes from its Investigations that upon
| the whole broad question as to whether
or not immigration increases crime there
| is not sufficient evidence upon which to
predicate a conclusion. On the other
hand, 1t has found enough evidence to
| justify the assertion that immigration
| does change the character Of crime In
this country, and says that to measure
| this change was the chief aim of the In
VcSllSdLlOu u CIlIuc IeCOTQS.
A marked increase in the number OF
crimes of personal violence-such as alb
| ductiOn, kidnapping, assault homicide and
rape-is noted, and the number Of cases
| of disorderly conduct, drunkenness, vag-
rancy and like offenses has increased
largely as result of the presence of the
immigrant. The same is true of offenses
against chastity, and also of the prev
alence of blackmail, extortion and the
receiving of stolen property. On the
other hand, in the majority of the gainful
offenses the native American has a worse
record than the immigrant
Some of these changes in the nature OF
American crime are traceable largely to
certain nationalities of
Traced to immigrants. For in
r.,.A. stance, the commission
~ concludes that the in
crease in the number of offenses of per-
sonal violence in this country is due to
the immigration from southern Europe
in general and from Italy in particular.
The Irish and Scotch are notable for their
penal records for intoxication. the Italian
for his number of attempted homicides
and the Greeks and Russians for their
contempt of public ordinances in the big
cities.
But much larger proportion Of the
offenses committed by native Americans
are of serious nature than among those
committed by the immigrants. For in
stance, the census inquiry shows that
seven out of every ten crimes committed
by native American prisoners are major
offenses. while less than six out of ten
committed by immigrant prisoners be-
longed to that category.
Perhaps the most interesting tendency
disclosed by the investigation is the in
clination of the children of foreigners to
cease to commit the crimes which char
acteriZe their parents and to commit the
kinds of crimes which characterize the
native American Notwithstanding that
they initiate Americans with a vengeance
In the records of the court of general
sessions of New York it was found that
whereas the percentage of gainfu Of
lenses committed by Irish immigrants
| was only G0.5 per cent, the second gen.
GRAFTON shows IS per cent and the native
Americans 19.7 per cent. On the other
hand, the children of Irish immigrants
| committed less than half as many Of