372

PSYCHOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS

with 10.6 per cent, and violating liquor laws fourth, with 10.4 per cent.
Rape had the same rank order position (ninth) for Negroes as for
Whites. For the Negro group, it constituted only 3.3 per cent of all
offenses, r/hile for the white population it was 4.0 per cent.

TABLE 117.—MALE FELONY PRISONERS RECEIVED FROM COURT BY OFFENSE, RACE,
AND NATIVITY, FOR THE UNITED STATES: 1942*

Offense
Native
Foreign-born
Negro

Rank
Per cent
Rank
Per
cent
Rank
Per cent

Larceny except auto theft .........
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
17.5 15.3 8.9 8,1 7.7 7.6 4.6 4.4 4.0 3.9 3.1 2.4 2.1 1.8 1.4 1.1 1.0 .4 .3
4 7 15 10 3 11 2 9 12 6 S 5 13 14 18 16 17
19
7.4 4.4 1.5 3.7 9.4 3.5 18.4 3.9 3.3 4.8 4.1 5.7 1.9 1.8 .7 1.2 .9
.3
2
1 8 11 4 3 12 14 9 5 15 10 6 7 16 13 17 18 16
17.7 20.0 3.5 2.4 10.4 10.6 2.3 1.0 3.3 9.9 .9 2.5 6.1 4.4 .6 1.2 ,5 .2 .6

Burelarv ......................

Auto theft ........................

Forsrerv .........................

Violating liquor laws ...............

Robbery ..........................

Violating National Defense laws .....

EToah^zzV-mfint and fraud- ,,...,..,

Rane .......................

Aggravated assault ................

Other sex offenses ..................

Violating drug laws ................

Murder ...........................

Manslaughter ...................

Nonsupport or neglect ..............

Stolen property ....................

Commercialized vice .... ...........

Violating traffic laws ............

Carrying and possessing weapons ---- Other offensesf ....................

* Prisoners in State and Federal Prisons and Reformatories: 1942, Table 35 (adapted), U.S. Bureau
of the Census, Washington, 1945.
t The class " Other offenses " in the original table was omitted because the nature of the crimes
included is not given.
Many factors contribute to the relatively high Negro crime rate.
They are arrested where others would be warned, "bawled out/7 or
ignored by the police. When arrested they are more frequently held
for trial and convicted. When convicted they are given more severe
sentences. Fewer Negroes than Whites, when arrested, are able to
pay fines as an alternative to commitment to an institution,
The difference between the crime rates of Negroes and Whites
would be less if the Negro's status in our society were such as to give
him security and self-respect. Unstable home and family life,1
1 Elmer, M, C., The Sociology of the Family, p. 352, Ginn and Company, Bos-