Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/227

 CRIME AMONG THE NEGROES OF CHICAGO 21 3

which they were held. At the house of correction he was also unable to secure any data relative to the social relations of the negro prisoners.

Sex. Of the 427 negro arrests examined for the months of May, and January, 1897, 242 were males and 185 were females. Of the arrests made during the sixteen days of May, 128 were of males and 144 of females. Of the arrests made during the ten days of January, 114 were of males and 41 of females. From this we see that in May the arrests among the females exceeded those among the males, while in January the arrests among the males were almost three times as many as those among the females. This would seem to indicate that the pro- portion of female arrests to the male arrests is greatest in the warmer months. The largest number of all arrests is made in the warm months of spring and summer, e. g., the greatest num- ber of arrests made during 1897 was m the m onth of May 9,620; the smallest number made during any one month was in February 4,000. This is true of all years.

The ratio of negro female arrests to the total negro arrests is I to 2.3. The total arrests for the city for 1897 were 83,680; female arrests, 17,624, or I to 4. From this we may infer that the proportion of female arrests among the negro population is about twice as great as the proportion of female arrests among the total population of the city.

An examination of the police reports of the city of New York from 1889 to 1896 shows that the average ratio of yearly negro female arrests to total yearly negro arrests is I to 2. Therefore we may conclude that the proportion of negro female arrests is about the same in the two cities. In Charleston, S. C., the ratio of negro female arrests to the total yearly negro arrests is as follows: 1890, 1891, 1896, and 1897, l to 5 '> during 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1895, l to 6. From this we see that the propor- tion of negro female arrests to the total negro arrests is from two to three times as great in Chicago as in Charleston.

Of the total number of prisoners in the county jail at the time of the taking of the United States census in 1890, I in every 10 was a female. Of the negro prisoners at this time I in