children under 15 years of age in the native population than in the immigrant population would tend to throw undue emphasis upon the representation of immigrants in the prison population, which is derived chiefly from the male population 15 years of age and over. When the total prison population is compared with the total general population, the figures indicate that the foreign-born contributed to the prison class in excess of their representation in the general population. When the prisoners are classified by sex, however, and the representation of the foreign-born in the male prison population is compared with their representation in the male general population 15 years of age or over (as is done in this table), it is found that the immigrant is more in evidence in the prison population than in the general population in the two southern groups of States only. But it is in these States that fewest immigrant prisoners were enumerated-627 of the total 12,945. In the country at large and in the North Atlantic States, where the majority of the immigrant prisoners were enumerated, the immigrants formed a smaller part of the white male prisoners of known nativity than of the white male general population 15 years of age or over. The enumeration of prisoners on June 30, 1904, therefore, gives no reason for believing immigrant crime relatively greater in quantity than native crime; in fact, the figures make it appear somewhat less, and this does not take into consideration the probably more favorable showing which the foreign-born would make were the population figures those of 1904 instead of 1900.

A comparison of the relative proportions of native and foreign born prisoners in 1890 and 1904 throws further light upon the matter. Such differences are shown in the following table:

TABLE 2.—Per cent of native and foreign born white prisoners among those of known nativity, 1904 and 1890, by geographic division.

The striking feature of these figures is that they show the proportion of immigrant prisoners to have decreased. In 1904 a smaller percentage of the white prisoners were immigrants than in 1890. This was true not only in the United States as a whole, but in each of the five geographic divisions.

Thus far the consideration has been of prisoners in the grossthat is, all prisoners, regardless of their offenses. Such grouping of all offenders, however, fails too much to distinguish the various degrees of crime to indicate very clearly the character of the crimi

nals. The census report classifies all prisoners as major or minor offenders according to the apparent gravity of the offense committed.

Of the prisoners enumerated throughout the United States on June 30, 1904, major offenders were more in evidence among natives than among immigrants, as is plainly shown in the following table: TABLE 3.—Native and foreign born white prisoners enumerated June 30, 1904, by geographic division and class of offender; per cent distribution.

The conclusion to be drawn from such figures is that of the two bodies of criminals-the immigrant and the native-the native (or American-born) exhibited in general a tendency to commit more serious crimes than did the immigrant. The criminality of the latter consisted more largely of the minor offenses that are in considerable measure the result of congested city life. This is indicated by the larger proportion of minor offenders among immigrant prisoners in the North Atlantic States than in any other section of the country, the immigrant population of that group of States being almost entirely resident in urban communities.

The conclusions arrived at in the preceding paragraph are corroborated by the statistics of prisoners committed to penal institutions during the year 1904. Of the 33 States and Territories for which figures are shown there were only 10 in which the foreign-born furnished a larger proportion of the major offenders than of the minor offenders, while in 23 States and Territories the native-born were more conspicuous among the major than among the minor offenders. Comparing the representation of the foreign-born among the white major and minor offenders committed to institutions during the year with their representation in the general white male population 15 years of age or over at the time of the enumeration of population (1900), it is found that in general the foreign-born are more largely represented among the minor offenders than in the general male population, but they are less prominent among the major offenders than in the general male population-that is, that of the graver crimes the immigrant commits a proportion smaller than his proportion of the population.

TABLE 4.-Per cent of foreign-born white persons among prisoners of known nativity committed during 1904, and in the general white population 15 years of age or over, 1900, by geographic division and class of offender.

A further effect of immigration may be discovered by observing the relation of persons of foreign parentage to crime in the United States. Such relation is shown in the following table, which gives the per cent of persons of foreign parentage among the native white prisoners committed during 1904 and in the general native white population of 1900. ·

TABLE 5.-Per cent of white persons of foreign parentage among native white prisoners of known parentage committed during 1904, and in the native-born general population, 1900, by geographic division.

a Includes only those with both parents foreign-born.

This plainly indicates that the American-born children of immigrants formed a larger proportion of the prison population than they did of the general population. In the United States as a whole and in the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and South Central States the representation of the native-born of foreign parentage in the native white prison population exceeded their representation in the native white general population.

Data regarding the criminality of immigrant children are afforded by the census of juvenile delinquents. A comparison of immigrant juvenile delinquency with immigrant juvenile population is shown in the table following. As the figures for the former are those of

1904 and for the latter those of 1900, the comparison is lacking in exactness. Another difference in the figures exists in the age limitsthose of delinquency being 7 and 21 years while those of juvenile population are 10 and 19 years. As 94 per cent of the juvenile delinquents committed to institutions were between the ages of 10 and 19, this difference does not greatly affect the value of the figures. A more serious modification of their value is found in the rather heavy immigration from 1900 to 1904, which doubtless somewhat augmented the immigrant juvenile population.

TABLE 6.-Number and per cent of foreign-born white persons among juvenile delinquents of known nativity enumerated June 30, 1904, and in the general population 10 to 19 years of age, 1900, by geographic division.

The figures given in the table do not show, however-to quote the census report-" any markedly greater criminal tendency among the foreign-born youth than among the native," and it must be remembered that this conclusion is based upon figures which do not take into account the probable increase in immigrant juvenile population due to the influx of immigrants from 1900 to 1904, so that the actual conditions were doubtless more favorable to the foreign-born than the table above given would indicate. A more exact measure of juvenile delinquency is obtained by taking all juvenile delinquents committed to institutions during a definite period of time."

During the calendar year 1904, 10,177 white juvenile delinquents of known nativity were committed to institutions in all parts of the United States. Of this number 1,116 were immigrants. In the table next presented the percentage which the foreign-born formed of the total number of white juvenile delinquents and also of the general white population 10 to 19 years of age is shown.

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TABLE 7.-Number and per cent of foreign-born white persons among juvenile delinquents committed during 1904, and in the general population 10 to 19 years of age, 1900, by geographic division.

The figures given here show that in the country at large the immigrant child formed a larger part of the juvenile delinquent class in 1904 than he formed of the juvenile population in 1900. A partial explanation of this is found in the fact that the North Atlantic division contributed over one-half of the white juvenile delinquents and only a little more than one-fourth of the white juvenile population. As immigrants form a larger part of the population in the North Atlantic States than in any other section of the country, the preponderance of juvenile delinquents committed to institutions in that section rather unduly affects the immigrant proportion for the country at large. It is doubtful, however, if this explanation adequately accounts for the wide difference between immigrant juvenile delinquency and immigrant juvenile population. It is probable that in 1904 the immigrant child was committed to institutions for juvenile delinquents in excess of his representation in the juvenile population.

The testimony of the census figures is not conclusive enough to show clearly the relation which immigration bears to the volume of crime in the United States, and at best it leaves the question of race influences untouched.

CHARACTER AND SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION.

It was evident from the first that the Commission could not undertake an investigation to determine the amount of crime in the United States due in whole or in part to immigration. The inadequacies of the census statistics indicated clearly the barriers in the way of such an investigation. The investigation was therefore confined to a determination, in so far as possible, of the changes in the character of crime in the United States which had resulted from immigration and of the crimes peculiar to various immigrant races and nationalities.

A small amount of entirely new data was collected by the Commission, covering 2,206 convictions in the New York City court of general sessions from October 1, 1908, to June 30, 1909. By special arrangement with this court the race of every offender convicted was recorded. So far as is known that was the first time that any court in the United States had made a record of the race of persons convicted in it. Thus, although the number of cases in which such data