Influence of Instruction on Crime. 357 



on the/ac/. On examining the condition of the several departments, it 

 appears that the maximum amount of crimes against the person is found in 

 Corsica, in the provinces of the south-east, and in Alsace. But it is not 

 in these parts that ignorance is most prevalent. On the other hand, the 

 minimum of this class of crimes is found in the western and central pro- 

 vinces, where certainly instruction is not the most diffused. With respect 

 to offences against property, M. G. considers it unnecessary to institute a 

 similar comparison, as this class of crimes is confessedly most prevalent in 

 the best instructed districts j and for a long time past it has been admitted 

 that these crimes should not be attributed chiefly to ignorance, as it has 

 been customary to do. 



From an examination of the ofi&cial records, our author is led to believe 

 that a larger proportion of the crimes against the person than of those 

 against propertif, are committed by parties who have received instruction. 

 Again, the proportion of those brought to trial who arc unable to read, 

 proves nothing as to the effect of ignorance, unless we can show that the 

 bulk of the population, of which these criminals form part, is in a more 

 advanced state of instruction.* Nor does there appear sufficient evidence 

 for concluding that the ratio of youthful convicts has progressively de- 

 creased, as instruction has been diffused. 



"All these results, unexpected as they are," says M. Guerry, " were not 

 our researches limited to France, we could show to agree with those ob- 

 tained by men of great probity and intelligence, who have instituted in- 

 quiries in the most enlightened communities. In England, in Germany, 

 and in the United States, where some years since all was congratulation 

 on the happy influence of instruction and industry on moral advancement; 

 it is now admitted that to found schools is not enough to check demorali- 

 zation, and that some other remedy must be sought to extirpate the evils 

 that oppress society."! 



• " We are always told that the majority of criminals cannot read, as if the mere 

 faculty of reading would have diminished the number of criminals. , . . But if the in- 

 vestigation had gone the length of ascertaining with which of the criminals had an 

 attempt at moral training and useful knowledge ever been made, we should have 

 found that column of the table a blank, and something like cause and effect would 

 begin to dawn upon us." — Simpson, p. ,35. 



t This reference to the experience of the United States is supported by a commu- 

 nication made to M. Guerry by M. M. G. de Beaumont and A. de Tocqueville, two 

 magistrates of the Royal Court of Paris, whose attention during a visit to North 

 America was particularly given to the working of the penitentiary system, and the 

 general state of crime. Their work, " Du Systlme Pinitentiare des Etais Unis," 

 which al the time M. G. wrote was unpublished, has since been given to the world, 

 and has conferred a high character for intelligence and fairness on its authors. After 

 noticing the care of the state governments of New ^'ork and Connecticut to spread 

 education, notwithstanding which (in the latter state particularly} crimes have con- 

 tinued to increase with extreme rapidity, M. M. Beaumont and De Tocqueville ac- 

 knowledge that if this increased prevalence of crime is not to be attributed to the 

 No. 5.— Vol. F. 3 a 



