280 



THE ABNORMAL MAN. 



Crime in the 

 United States. 



Frequency of 

 Suicide* 



Foreign 

 Criminals. 



Comparative statistics indicate that the United 

 States has the highest murder rate of any civil- 

 ized country; its criminal records show 43,902 

 homicides between 1890 and 1896 ; of these 10,500 

 were committed in 1895; this indicates an aver- 

 age in 1895 f 875 per month or over 28 per day. 

 In 1890 there were 4,390 cases of homicide, while 

 in 1895 there were 10,500; an increase of 6,933, 

 or a little over 160 per cent. 



Suicide has just about kept pace with homicide, 

 increasing from something like 3,300 cases in 

 1890, to 7,190 in 1895 ; this means that an aver- 

 age of over 22 persons per day committed sui- 

 cide in the United States in 1895. Fortunately 

 there has been a slight decline in high crime dur- 

 ing the last five years, yet it is an appalling fact 

 that the United States begins the twentieth cen- 

 tury with a suicide every seventy minutes and a 

 murder every hour. 



.In comparing the criminal records of the Unit- 

 ed States with those of other countries, the for- 

 eign criminal must always be taken into account. 

 Thousands of convicts from the old world make 

 their way to "free America," hoping thereby to 

 escape justice. It is estimated that our 15 per 

 cent of foreign born population commit 51 per 

 cent of our crime. Since the introduction of the 

 parole system in Europe, it is said that 80 per 

 cent of the prisoners so released ship to foreign 

 ports; of whom 55 per cent come to the United 

 States. Again, the saloon business being largely 

 in the hands of foreigners, the saloon becomes 

 the habitual resort of the foreign criminal where 

 his vicious tendencies are greatly augmented. 



