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Indiana University Studies 



fact which is here taken to represent literacy. 24 Altho literacy 

 is no measure of amount of education, illiteracy may be taken as 

 an indication of lack of school trailing. 



An examination of the cases in tnis study arranged according 

 to illiterates and single race or nationality units shows that the 

 race or nationality units vary widely in proportions of illiterates. 



In the case of certain race or nationality units it is possible 

 to secure figures for illiteracy in their native country. Of those 

 race or nationality units showing both sufficient numbers for 

 comparison and figures for illiteracy in their native countries, the 

 Austrians, Greeks, Italians, and Russians in the criminal popu- 

 lation of Gary show a higher per cent of illiteracy than is found 

 in the general population of their respective countries; the Irish 

 and Servians a lower per cent; and the Roumanians almost the 

 same per cent. 



An examination of these cases arranged according to race or 

 nationality groups and illiteracy shows the New Immigration 

 with by far the greatest relative proportion of illiterates followed 

 in order by the Colored, the Old Immigration, and the Americans. 



Comparing the proportion of illiterates in these race or nation- 

 ality groups in this study to the proportion of illiterates in the 

 roughly corresponding groups in the general population of the 

 United States ten years of age and over in 1910, the Old Immigra- 

 tion and Xew Immigration in this study show a higher proportion 

 of illiterates while the Americans and the Colored show a lower 

 pre portion. 



Of all the cases of all races or nationalities in this study, 

 35.7 per cent are illiterate. The proportion of illiterates in the 

 general population of the United States 10 years of age and over 

 in 1910 was 7.7 per cent. 



The per cent of illiterates among the women offenders in this 

 study is 21.7 per cent, less than that for both sexes (35.7 per 

 cent) and greater than that for women in the general population 

 of the United States 10 years of age and over in 1910 (7.8 per 

 cent). 



The figures given here are consistent with results obtained 

 by investigators of crime in other parts of this country and 

 abroad. 25 



It is difficult to trace a causal relationship between lack of 

 education and crime. 26 Many factors enter into the matter of 



2i See Census, 1910, Vol. I, Population, for use of word "illiteracy". 



25 Koren. pp. 56, 57; Bennet, p. 14; Symposium, Physical Bases of Crime, p. 63; 

 Drakms, p. 189. . . 



2 6Lombroso (Crime, Its Causes and Remedies), pp. Ill, 108; Boies, p. 47; Aschaef- 

 fenburg, pp. 136-138. 



