88 RELATION OF ORIGINS AND NATIVITY TO CRIME ;
Age and Sex Distribution of the Penitentiary Population—Table 115 shows the numbers
in penitentiaries in Canada per 100,000 for each sex and quinquennial age group. Two facts
are clearly established by that table. First, erie is many times more prevalent among men
than women. Consequently, other things being equal, where there is a large surplus of males,
there will tend to be very much more erime. If one applies that test to immigration,
it is apparent that a country which sends a great surplus of males.to Canada would be
sending proportionately more criminals than were it to send men and women in more equal
numbers. It follows, then, that from the standpoint of erime, the most desirable immigration
is that in which the numbers of the sexes are most nearly equal, and the least desirable
is that in which the excess of males is greatest. ‘Of course other factors besides sex distribution
are involved, such as origin, birthplace, rural and urban distribution, etc. Neglecting
such other factors, however, the above generalization is warranted by the figures under review.
The second point to note is that the most criminal age group, as indicated by the
penitentiary population, is between 20 and 24 years inclusive. The five year group, 25 to
29 years, comes a close second. It must be recalled, however, that the age distribution
of penitentiary population does not refer to the age of admission, and consequently does
not accurately reflect the age at which the crimes were committed. On the average the
date of committing the various crimes for which the prisoners under review were committed
was somewhat prior to the date of the census, and in so far as the rates are used as an
index of criminality at the different ages, allowances must be made for a ‘lag’ in the age
groups of perhaps a year and a half to two years.
However, the data are sufficiently accurate to warrant the statement that the ages for
which the crime rate is highest are in the twenties,—espécially the eurly twenties—and
the corollary follows that in those sections of the population where large numbers are
concentrated at those ages, proportionately more crime of a serious nature is to be
expected.
In Chapter III reference was made to the unusual age distribution of the foreign born
in Canada and particularly to the marked concentration in the early years of adult manhood.
Thus, one of the normal penalties of a large inflow of immigrants is a high crime
rate in so far as that is dependent on the presence of large proportions of the ages at
which eriminality is most marked.
Summarising, then, the examination of penitentiary population shows clearly that a
large surplus of males and a marked concentration of ages in the twenties and early
thirties makes for greater criminality in a population, and from the point of view of
immigration, where the inflow consists largely of males in the prime of life, the erime
rate will normally be exceptionally high.
TABLE 115 —NUMBER IN PENITENTIARIES IN CANADA PER 100,000 POPULATION OF EACH SEX, BY
QUINQUENNIAL AGE CROUPS. 1021
Totaloooviviiniiiiiiiiinnns
Males............. ...
Females... ._..
Cea RRRG
60 and
over
19 8
36 | 15
Nore.—Where (—) is inserted the rate is less than 0-5 per 100.000
Conjugal Condition of the Penitentiary Population~Only a few remarks are necessary
regarding Table 116. The rates shown indicate that higher proportions of widowed and
single males were in the penitentiaries in 1921 than of married men. Not only is that
true for the total male population of penitentiaries at all ages, but it is true also for
each age group. Where a population shows an unusually large proportion of young
unmarried men or of widowers, the crime rate tends to be high. The actual numbers in
the case of women are hardly large enough to warrant any definite generalization, although
it is interesting that in the data for 1921 the widows showed the highest proportions in
penitentiaries, and the single women the lowest,
