Note 258-2 — Chapter III

It is very noteworthy in this connection that married people commit relatively fewer crimes than single persons. Thus, for instance, in Prussia, in 1861, of every 1,000 unmarried men over 16 years of age, 1.18 were sent to the house of correction; of every 1,000 married men, only 0.59; of every 1,000 divorced, 13.71! (Preuss. Statist. Zeitschr., 1864, 318 seq.) In Austria, 1858-59, there was one person under sentence in every 203 unmarried persons, in every 669 married, and in every 1,053 widows and widowers. Of the married, there was a larger proportion of criminals among the childless than among those with children (49.8 per cent. against 42.6 per cent.). Compare v. Oettingen, Moralstatistik, 759. This evidence is all the stronger since, circumstances being otherwise the same, fathers of families are harder pressed by cares for food than single persons.