Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/284

 270 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

La Delinquenza in Vari Stafi di Europa. Per AUGUSTO Bosco. Roma: Tipografia della R. Accademia dei Lincei, 1903. Estratto del Bulletin de flnstitut international de statistique, tome XIII, 4 me livraison.

THIS valuable contribution to the study of the statistics of crime discusses in an introductory chapter the difficulty of interpretation of criminal statistics, makes a clear statement of the standards of judg- ment employed in the work, and shows how far the figures are com- parable and adequate. The official reports of eight countries are employed those of Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Germany, England, Ireland, and Scotland. The absence of judicial statistics for the entire country, and the inadequacy of the prison statistics, excludes the United States from consideration. Here is a solid and convincing argument for extending the activities of the new bureau of the federal government at Washington.

So far as possible, the statistics of each country are presented in the same order for purposes of final comparison and for discovery of general tendencies. For example, in dealing with England the author sketches the social history of England during the nineteenth century, so far as it throws light on the causes of crime and on the fluctuations in the phenomena studied. Tables are given from the official reports which show the absolute numbers of crimes, misdemeanors, and minor offenses from 1861 to 1899, and also the numbers of each offense to 100,000 inhabitants. In connection with each table there is an inter- pretation of the tendencies, an estimate of the value of the figures, a suggestion of facts not presented in the tables, and the causes which seem to account for the fluctuations and tendencies. The conclusions reached do not differ essentially from those of Hall, in Crime and Social Progress, and from other recent writers who have had the original reports before them. Serious crimes, especially attended with violence, seem to diminish. Offenses against social regulations would appear to be increasing, although the apparent statistical increase is caused in many cases, not by greater lawlessness, but by better enforcement of law, as is true in respect to drunkenness.

The variations of the phenomena by countries, by districts, and by offenses are contrasted with the social conditions of geographical areas and time periods in a way to disclose the varying stress of different forms.

At the close of the volume the movements of criminality are repre-