Semi-weekly herald., 1913-01-13
IMMIGRANTS AND CRIME.
(By FREDERIC j. Haskin.l


The American people have heard so
| much about the criminal tendencies of
the new" immigration that they have
come generally to accept as gospel
truth the oft repeated statement that
the aliens coming to America are dis
| tinguished for their criminal tenden-
cies. And yet every investigation that
has been made points to the concur
sion that if there is any difference be-
tween 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
immigrants show greater tendency
| to crime than do the children of ma
tive parentage. 1t also appears that
juvenile delinquency is greater among
the children of immigrants than
among those cf native parents. The
immigration Commission concludes
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 conclusion. On
the other hand, it 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 investigation of crime
records.
A marked increase in the number of
crimes of personal violence, such as
abduction, kidnapping, assault, homi-
eide, and rape is noted and the num-
ber of cases of disorderly conduct.
drunkenness, vagrancy and like of
fenses has increased largely as a re-
suit of the presence of the immigrant.
The same is true of offenses against
chastity and also of the prevalence
OF blackmail, extortion and the receiy-
ing OF stolen property. On the other
hand, in the majority of the gainful
offenses the native American has a
''Nf'N ASNpid tiidh lut immigrant,
Some of these changes in the nature
of American crime are traceable large
ly to certain nationalities of immi-
grants. For instance, the commission
concludes that the increase in the
number of offenses of personal vio-
lence in this country is due to the i'm
migration 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 attempt
ed homicides and the Greeks and Rus
SANS for their contempt of public or
dinances in the big cities.
But much larger proportion of the
offenses committed by native Ameri-
cans are of serious nature than
among those committed by the immi
grants. For instance, the census in
quiry shows that seven out of every
ten crimes committed by native Amer
lean prisoners are major" offenses.
while less than six out of ten commit
TED by immigrant prisoners belonged
to that category.
Perhaps the most interesting ten
dency disclosed by the investigation is
the inclination of the children of for
eigners to cease to commit the crimes
which characterize their parents and
to commit the kinds of crimes which
characterize the native American pop-
uiation-showing that they initiate
Americans with vengeance. I nthe
records of the court of general ses-
sions of New York il was found that
whereas the percentage of gainful Of
lenses committed by Irish immigrants
was 500 per cent, the second genera
ton shows rs per cent and the ma
tive Americans 79.7 per cent. On the
other hand, the children of Irish i'm
migrants committed less than half as
many offenses of personal violence as
did their fathers.
There are some 10000 alien prison.
ers in the penal institutions of the
United States. Assuming that IL cost,