I am not aware of any human experience that
conflicts with this view; for individual cases of criminals who have
been well educated prove nothing in themselves, but are to be considered
as facts in great classes of facts which indicate the principles and
conduct of bodies of men who are subject to similar influences. In fact,
the statistics to which I have had access tend to show that crime
diminishes as intelligence increases. On this point the experience of
Great Britain is probably more definite, and, of course, more valuable,
than our own. The Aberdeen Feeding Schools were established in 1841, and
during the ten years succeeding the commitments to the jails of children
under twelve years of age were as follows:[1]
In 1842, 30 In 1847, 27
1843, 63 1848, 19
1844, 41 1849, 16
1845, 49 1850, 22
1846, 28 1851, 8
___ ___
211 92
In the work of Mr. Hill it is also stated that "the number of children
under twelve committed for crime to the Aberdeen prisons, during the
last six years, was as follows:
Males. Females. Total.
1849-50, 11 5 16
1850-51, 14 8 22
1851-52, 6 2 8
1852-53, 23 1 24
1853-54, 24 1 25
1854-55, 47 2 49
"It will be observed that in the last three years there has been a great
increase of boy crime, contemporaneously with an almost total absence of
girl crime, though formerly the amount of the latter was considerable.
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