Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/218

 CRIME AMONG THE NEGROES OF CHICAGO. A SOCIAL STUDY.

THIS study was begun in the month of November, 1897, and was carried on during the month of December, 1897, and the months of January, February, and May, 1898. The writer has endeavored to ascertain the facts, and to present those facts in such a way that we may be able to see from them the trend of crime among the negroes of Chicago, i. e., whether it is increas- ing or decreasing, and how this crime compares with the crime among the other peoples of the city, and of the country in general.

THE NEGRO AND CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES.

Before taking up the study of crime among the negroes of Chicago, it is perhaps best to notice briefly their crime for the entire United States. From the census reports we see that the total number of prisoners in the United States in 1890 was 82,329; of these 24,277 were negroes. The negro prisoners were 29.49 per cent, of the entire number. When the different nationalities are considered, the negroes are found to be the third highest.

A further fact that the Eleventh Census shows in respect to negro crime is that there is a greater number of negro pris- oners, in proportion to the negro population, in the northern than in the southern states. The Eleventh Census gives the ratio of prisoners in the United States by division of states. From this we see that the ratio of negro prisoners for the United States in 1890 was three times as great as that of the whites ; also that the highest ratio of the negro prisoners was in the western division 9,527 to the million of negro popula- tion. Further we see that in the south central, north Atlantic, and western divisions the ratio of negro prisoners is four times as great as that of the white. In the south Atlantic the ratio is six times as great, and in the north central the ratio of negro

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