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UNIFORM
CRIME REPORTS
FOR THE UNITED STATES
AND ITS POSSESSIONS
H
Volume IV - Number 1
FIRST QUARTERLY BULLETIN, 1933
Issued by the
United States Bureau of Investigation
Washington, D. C.
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1933
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE ON UNIFORM CRIME RECORDS
OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE
(n)
U. S. SUPERINTENDl.
MAY 15 1933
UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS
J. Edgar Hoover, Director, United States Bureau of Investigation
Washington, D.C.
Volume 4 April 1933 Number 1
Contents of First Quarterly Bulletin
Extent of reporting area, 1933.
Monthly returns:
Offenses known to the police, January to March, inclusive, 1933.
Daily average, offenses known to the police, 1933.
Daily average, offenses known to the police, 1931-33.
Offenses known to the police — cities divided according to geographic location,
1933.
Average number of police-department employees, 1932.
Monthly trends for cities over 100,000 population, 1932.
Annual returns:
Offenses known and offenses cleared by arrest, 1932.
Persons charged (held for prosecution), 1932.
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest, 1931-32.
Data compiled from fingerprint cards, 1933:
Sex distribution of persons arrested.
Age distribution of persons arrested.
Percentage with previous record.
The term "offenses known to the pohce" is designed to include
those crimes designated as Part I classes of the uniform classification
occurring within the pohce jurisdiction, whether they become known
to the poUce through reports of police officers, of citizens, of prose-
cuting or court officials, or otherwise. They are confined to the follow-
ing group of seven classes of grave offenses, shown by experience to
be those most generally and completely reported to the police : crimi-
nal homicide, including (a) murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, and
(b) manslaughter by negligence; rape; robbery; aggravated assault;
burglary-breaking or entering; larceny- theft; and auto theft. The
figures contained herein include also the number of attempted crimes
of the designated classes. Attempted murders, however, are reported
as aggravated assaults. In other words, an attempted burglary or
robbery, for example, is reported in the bulletin in the same manner
as if the crime had been completed.
"Offenses known to the police" includes, therefore, all of the above
offenses, including attempts, which are reported by the police depart-
ments of contributing cities and not merely arrests or cleared cases.
In pubhshing the data sent in by chiefs of poUce in different cities,
the United States Bureau of Investigation does not vouch for its
accuracy. It is given out as current information, which may throw
some fight on problems of crime and criminal-law enforcement.
In compifing the tables, returns which were apparently incomplete
or otherwise defective were excluded.
(1)
Extent of Reporting Area
In the table which follows, any city which contributed a return for
one or more months of the first quarter of 1933 is included. The
number of cities contributing is shown, together with the population
represented, the cities being divided according to size. The popula-
tion figures for cities having 10,000 people or more were obtained
from the Bureau of the Census as estimated July 1, 1932, while
figures for cities having less than 10,000 were taken from the 1930
census, due to the fact that similar estimates were not available for
this group.
A total of 1,561 cities contributed returns during the first 3 months
of 1933, representing a population of 53,295,620. The number of
cities filing returns thus far in 1933 shows an increase of 85 as com-
pared with the same period of 1932. Returns were also received from
sheriffs. State police, and officers in the possessions, but such returns
are not included in the above figures.
Of the 37 cities in the United States having a population over
250,000 returns were received from 33, or 89 percent. The four cities
of this group from which returns were not received are Atlanta, Ga. ;
Louisville, Ky. ; Memphis, Tenn. ; and New York City. Memphis and
Louisville, however, did contribute returns during 1932, but reports
for this year have not yet been received. Of the cities within the
population range of 100,000 to 250,000, all but three have contributed
reports this year. The three cities not contributing are Des Moines,
Iowa; Reading, Pa.; and Tampa, Fla. The city of Tampa was, how-
ever, a regular contributor during 1932. It will be noted that the city
of Tulsa, Okla., which has previously been listed as a noncontributor,
is now forwarding crime statistics reports to the United States Bureau
of Investigation.
Population group
Total
number
of cities
or towns
Cities filing returns
Total pop-
ulation
Population repre-
sented in returns
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
Total
983
813
83
60, 813, 881
48, 999, 865
81
A. Cities over 250,000
37
57
105
192
592
33
54
93
168
465
95
89
88
79
29, 955, 600
7,908,112
7, 092, 407
6, 695, 136
9, 162, 626
21, 881, 800
7,542,112
6, 376, 075
5, 892, 400
7, 307, 478
73
B. Cities 100,000 to 250,000
95
C. Cities 50,000 to 100,000
90
D. Cities 25,000 to 50,000
E Cities 10,000 to 25,000
80
The above table does not include 748 cities and rural townships aggregating a
total population of 4,295,755. The cities included in this figure are those of less
than 10,000 population filing returns, whereas the rural townships are of varying
population groups.
Number of Cities Reporting
The following table shows the number of monthly crime statistics
reports received during the first quarter of 1933. Due to the fact
that the returns are counted on a quarterly rather than a monthly
basis, the figures for January and February, as compared with March,
are necessarily large. During the first quarter it is found that 1,511
cities contributed during January, and 1,492 cities during February,
as compared with 1,459 cities for the month of March. However, a
more accurate comparison for the first 3 months can be made at the
end of the second quarter when returns from cities which contribute
reguhirly, but the returns of which are sometimes received too late to
be included in the current bulletin, have been received and added to
the counts for the preceding months.
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas.
California.
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa.
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachu
Michigan..
Minnesota.
Mississippi.
Missouri...
Montana.-.
Nebraska..
Janu-
Febru-
March
ary
ary
7
8
8
5
6
6
6
6
6
111
105
105
15
15
15
30
31
31
2
2
2
25
24
25
15
14
13
3
3
2
76
71
71
40
44
42
26
25
25
30
28
29
13
12
14
9
9
9
17
17
16
5
4
3
88
88
85
123
122
117
39
38
8
9
9
24
23
23
8
8
8
16
16
15
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York.
North Carolina..
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee...
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington...
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Total number contrib
uting
Janu-
ary
Febru-
ary
1,511 1,492 1,459
MONTHLY RETURNS
Offenses Known to tlie Police, January to Marcti, inclusive, 1933
There are contained in table 1 the number of offenses known and
the rate per 100,000 for 1,332 cities in the United States, representing
a total population of 45,718,303. The figures are also shown for the
same cities subdivided according to size.
The figures in the table tend to indicate that the crime rate varies
directly with the size of the city. It will be recalled that the same
trend was noticeable in the figures reported for 1932, as published in
the issue of the bulletin for the fourth quarter of 1932. However,
there appear several exceptions to this general trend, which will be
mentioned. The first exception to the general tendency is that
cities having a population of from 25,000 to 50,000 report the lowest
crime rate for the offense of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter.
The same group of cities reported the lowest crime rate for manslaugh-
ter by negligence. For the offenses of robbery and auto theft the
crime rate varies directly with the size of the city, and for the offense
of burglary there is only one exception to tliis general relationship,
the cities ha\ing a population of from 100,000 to 250,000 having ahigher
rate than cities over 250,000. The rates for larcency-theft are highest
for cities in the third group, and the rates for the groups of smaller
cities vaiy according to the size of the city. However, the rate for
the largest cities is lower than that for cities in the second group,
which in tm^n is exceeded by the rate for cities in the third group.
This may be a real exception to the general trend evidenced by the
figures in the table, but, on the other hand, the variance may be caused
to a considerable extent by lack of uniformity m reporting this par-
ticular type of offense.
It is interesting to note that the rate for murder reported by cities
over 250,000 m population is a little more than twice the rate reported
by cities having a population of from 25,000 to 50,000. For the offense
of manslaughter by neghgence the highest rate is more than three
times as great as the lowest rate. For cities over 250,000 the rate
for robbery is a little more than twice that for cities whose population
is between 100,000 and 250,000 and more than four times as great
as the rate reported by cities under 10,000 in population. The table
reveals that the highest burglary rate is approximately twice as large
as the lowest, and that the highest rate for auto theft is more than
four times as great as the rate for cities under 10,000 in population.
Table 1 — Offenses known to the police, January to March, 1933; number and rates
per 100,000 by population groups
Population group
28 cities over 250,000; total population,
18,109,800:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
49 cities, 100,000 to 250,000; total population
6,929,712:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
83 cities, 50,000 to 100,000; total population,
5,673,153:
Number of offenses known..
Rate per 100,000....
149 cities, 25,000 to 50,000; total population,
5,196,573:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
392 cities, 10,000 to 25,000; total population,
6,163,335:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000.
631 cities under 10,000; total population,
3,645,730:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
Total, 1,332 cities; total population,
45,718,303:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000..
Criminal homi-
cide
Mur-
der,
non-
negli-
gent
man-
slaugli-
ter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Rape
Rob-
bery
8,599
47.5
1,614
23.3
857
16.5
757
12.3
13, 466
29.5
Aggra-
vated
2,016
11.1
Bur-
glary-
break-
ing or
enter-
ing
19, 149
105.7
118.2
5,303
93.5
4,197
80.8
64.3
2,511
43,312
94.7
Lar-
ceny-
theft
30, 470
168.3
13, 791
199.0
172.8
8,591
4,026
110.4
77, 732
170.0
18,858
104.1
2.753
53.0
2,336
37.9
35, 191
77.0
Daily Average, Offenses Known to the Police, First Quarter, 1933
In table 2 there is shown the daily average number of offenses
reported during the first three months of 1933 by the same 1,332
cities as were included in table 1 . Examination of the table discloses
that the daily average for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter
showed a very slight decrease during February, with an increase in
March, bringing the average for that month above the figure for
January. The daily average for aggravated assault also indicated
an upward trend, the daily averages for February and March being
in each instance higher than that for the preceding month. For the
periods from January to February and from February to March the
daily averages for the offenses of manslaughter by negligence and
robbery showed a decrease. The averages for burglary, larceny-
theft, and auto theft are lowest for February and the averages for
March are lower than those for January. Considering the table as
a whole, January reflects the highest daily average and February
the lowest.
Table 2. — Daily average, offenses known to the police, January to March, inclusive,
19S3; 1,3S2 miscellaneous cities
[Total population, 45,718,303]
Criminal homicide
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
break mg
or
entering
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Month
Murder,
nonnegli-
gent man-
slaughter
Man-
slaughter
by negli-
gence
Auto
theft
8.2
8.0
8.5
6.0
5.3
5.1
6.7
5.8
7.5
166.9
144.4
137.0
53.4
54.5
57.6
504.5
449.2
486.9
891.1
830.3
866.5
412.5
February .-
355.5
March
401.6
January to March
8.2
5.5
6.7
149.6
55.2
481.2
863.7
391.0
Daily Average, Offenses Known to the Police, 1931-33
It will be noted that table 3 sets forth the daily average number of
offenses reported by 66 cities over 100,000 in population during the
first quarter of 1931, 1932, and 1933.
With the exception of rape, burglary, and larceny, the daily average
number of offenses known shows a substantial decrease in 1932 as
compared with 1931. Some of the more important decreases are:
Percent
Manslaughter by negligence 11. 4
Robbery 11. 9
Assaultl 18. 7
Autotheft 16. 1
The daily averages for larceny show a slight decrease (2.6 percent)
in 1932. Offenses of manslaughter by negligence, robbery, and auto
theft continued to decline in 1933, whereas offenses of aggravated
assault show an increase in 1933 over 1932, but are slightly less than
in 1931.
The table reflects a consistent increase in the offenses of burglary-
breaking or entering for 1932 and 1933 over 1931. An increase of
6.6 percent was shown for this offense in 1932 as compared with 1931,
and an increase of 9.2 percent in 1933 over 1931.
Although the average for 1932 showed a decrease of 5.3 percent for
the offense of murder as compared with 1931, the highest daily average
for this offense (3.9) occurred in 1933. The average number of offenses
of manslaughter by negligence committed daily in 1933 was 22.9
percent less than in 1931, while the 1932 average was 11.4 percent
less than that for 1931.
Table 3. — Daily average, offenses known to the police, 66 cities over 100,000,
January to March, inclusive, 1931-33
[Total population, 17,842,102]
Criminal homi-
cide
Eape
Rob-
bery
vated
as-
sault
Bur-
ingor
enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Year
Mur-
der,
non-
negli-
gent
man-
slaugh-
ter
Man-
Slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Auto
theft
Number of offenses known:
1931
343
332
350
3.8
3.6
3.9
319
283
241
3.5
3.1
2.7
251
276
290
2.8
8.0
3.2
5,304
4,723
4,541
58.9
51.9
50.5
2,026
1,663
1,975
22.5
18.3
21.9
16,017
17, 263
17, 493
178.0
189.7
194.4
33,091
32, 581
34, 078
367.7
358.0
378.6
19, 814
16,817
15,243
1932
1933
Daily average:
1931... ...
1932
184 8
1933-
Rates of Offenses by Geographic Divisions, First Quarter, 1933
There is shown in table 4 a percentage distribution of population
of the cities reporting during the first quarter of this year, arranged
in nine geographic divisions according to the size of the city. An
analysis of this table discloses that for the New England States only
5.7 percent of the total population represented by the cities whose
returns are included in the tables consists of cities having a population
over 250,000, whereas all of the other geographic groups have a much
larger corresponding percentage. The data of which this table is
composed should be of value to those who desire to examine the rates
for cities subdivided according to geographic location, with a view to
determining whether there is any relation between the variation in
rates and the variation in the composition of the geographic groups
with reference to size of city.
In table 5 there is set forth the rate of offenses per 100,000 for each
month for 1,332 cities subdivided according to geographic location. In
examining the figures reflected by this table it will be noted that the
highest rates for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter and aggra-
vated assault were reported by cities in the East South Central, West
South Central, and South Atlantic States, whereas the lowest number
was reported by the New England States. A further analysis of these
rates indicates that the maximum and minimum figures for the various
offenses vary in different geographic localities. For instance, it will
be seen that for the offense of manslaughter by negligence the highest
rate was indicated by the Middle Atlantic States and the lowest
rate by the Mountain States. Cities in the East North Central States
recorded the maximum rate for robbery and the low^est number was
reported by the New England States. The highest rate for burglary-
was shown by cities in the Mountain States, and comparatively high
figures for this offense were also reported by the East South Central,
West South Central, and the Pacific States. The minimum rate for
the offense was reported by the cities in the Middle Atlantic States.
Cities in the West South Central States recorded the highest rates for
the offenses of larceny-theft, and auto theft, while cities situated in
the Middle Atlantic States reported the lowest figure.
An interesting feature revealed by the table is the fact that the rate
for robbery for cities in the New England States is less than one half
of the next lowest figure reported and is only one ninth of the highest
rate for cities in other geographic groups. With reference to this fact,
it shoidd be noted that table 4 discloses that only 5.7 percent of the
total population of the cities in the New England States included in
these tables consisted of cities having a population in excess of 250,000,
and table 1 shows that the rate for robbery for the larger cities is more
than twice as great as the rate for cities between 100,000 and 250,000
and more than four times as great as the rate for cities under 10,000.
The grouping of the various States according to geographic location
is identical with that employed by the United States Bureau of the
Census in the decennial census of 1930.
Table 4. — Percentage distribution of population according to size of city for
geographic groups, 19SS
Geographic group
All cities included
in tabulation
Population
Cities over 250,000
Population
Cities 100,000 to
250,000
Population
New England States
Middle Atlantic States
East North Central States.
West North Central States
South Atlantic States
East South Central States.
West South Central States.
Mountain States
Pacific States
4, 484, 649
10, 732, 580
12, 414, 745
5, 303, 475
3, 655, 590
1, 185, 123
3,094,347
954, 896
3,892,898
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
256, 400
•4,351,600
6, 875. 700
2, 010, 400
1,313,500
277. 100
1, 081, 500
294, 700
1, 648. 900
5.7
40.5
55.3
37.9
35.9
23.4
34.9
30.9
42.4
1. 586, 605
1.113,300
1, 176, 200
564, 200
670, 507
393, 200
730, 600
145, 300
549,800
35.4
10.4
9.5
10.7
18.3
33.2
23.6
15.2
14.1
Geographic group
Cities 50,000
to 100.000
Popula-
tion
Per-
cent
Cities 25,000
to 50,000
Popula-
tion
Per-
cent
Cities 10,000
to 25,000
Popula-
tion
Per-
cent
Cities under
10,000
Popula-
tion
Per-
cent
7.3
7.5
4.8
6.0
6.5
15.6
New England States
Middle Atlantic States
East North Central States.
West North Central States.
South Atlantic States
East South Central States.
West South Central States.
Mountain States
Pacific States
626, 302
1, 347. 152
409. 500
1.433,310
700, 689
137, 700
456, 000
103, 300
459, 200
, 064, 400
, 596. 655
281. 500
468, 538
107, 944
332, 800
179, 932
354, 900
783, 421
, 898, 335
,451,075
614,775
327, 171
197, 468
292,833
83, 200
515, 057
422, 017
957, 793
905, 615
399, 290
175, 185
71,711
200, 614
148, 464
365, 041
Table 5. — Rate per 100,000, offenses knoivn to the police, 1933
NEW ENGLAND STATES
[147 cities, representing a population of 4,484,649]
Criminal homicide
Rape
Robbery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
breaking
or enter-
ing
Larceny-
theft
Month
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaughter
Man-
slaughter
by negli-
gence
Auto
theft
January
0.11
.11
.07
0.16
.13
.11
0.47
.22
.36
2.16
1.81
2.19
L43
LOO
1.14
28.36
2L32
24.53
35.39
29.92
36.10
16 10
February
13 04
March
Table 5. — Rate 'per 100,000, offenses known to the police, 1933 — Continued
MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES
[351 cities, representing a population of 10,732,580]
January...
February.
March
Criminal homicide
^iS'l^l-^^^-^^
man-
slaughter
by negli
gence
0.76
.61
.64
Rape
Robbery
5.27
3.54
4.81
3.11
2.62
3.73
Bur-
glary-
breaking
or enter-
ing
17.13
20.04
Larceny-
theft
14.85
11.50
14.23
EAST NORTH CENTRAL STATES
[340 cities, representing a population of 12,414,746]
0.46
.42
.58
0.26
.16
.22
0.60
.47
.77
19.51
16.16
3.75
3.33
3.84
36.51
27.53
39.41
67.66
53.07
66.45
35.22
February . . .
24.87
March
35.26
WEST NORTH CENTRAL STATES
[136 cities, representing a population of 5,303,475]
January
0.36
.40
.64
0.26
.15
.09
0.17
.19
.23
10.05
7.62
6.49
1.36
1.51
1.41
24.78
19.21
23.40
47.27
40.05
45.61
26.08
February
21. 55
March
26.57
SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES
cities, representing a population of 3,655,£
1.09
1.15
0.44
.47
.38
0.52
.55
.52
10.91
8.04
8.26
9.60
9.03
10.75
43.17
39.15
41.22
82.59
72.14
77.83
33.15
28.59
March
30.47
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL STATES
[33 cities, representing a population of 1,185,123]
1.94
2.19
1.94
0.42
.68
.68
0.17
.00
.51
12.74
10.04
7.00
11.05
13.59
11.39
54.34
42.19
45.31
63.12
57.12
59.07
32.99
February .
27.85
March
28.27
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL STATES
[74 cities, representing a population of 3,094,347]
January -- 1.39
0.48
.36
.45
...
12.64
8^69
4.78
4.59
5.75
57.30
43.37
45.37
116. 60
95.69
103. 41
40.40
February
March
1.00
1.10
33.25
36.62
MOUNTAIN STATES
[40 cities, representing a population of 954,896]
0.73
.84
.52
0.10
.00
.10
0.94
.31
.84
10.47
8.06
8.06
1.57
1.26
2.09
55.08
45.97
55.08
98.44
81.79
95.61
32.88
25.34
March -
37.49
PACIFIC STATES
[123 cities, representing a population of 3,892,8
0.33
.21
.23
133
0.46
.39
.31
13.25
10.45
8.79
1.93
1.49
1.44
48.68
42.00
44.59
101. 80
97.87
105. 06
39.76
32.37
March -.
35.81
Average Number of Police- Depart meat Employees, 1932
Table 6 shows the average number of police-department employees
per 1,000 population, as reported monthly during 1932 by 29 cities
over 250,000 population and 45 cities having a population between
100,000 and 250,000.
Individual averages for the larger cities ranged from 3.49 to 0.72.
For 50 percent of these cities the average number of police-department
emploj^ees per 1,000 population varied between 2.31 and 1.32. One
fourth of the cities had averages ranging from 0.72 to 1.29, and the
averages for the remaining fourth ranged from 2.32 to 3.49.
Averages for individual cities having a population between 100,000
and 250,000 ranged from 2.80 to 0.70. For one half of the cities the
average number of police employees per 1,000 population varied
between 1.10 and 1.75. Twenty-five percent of the cities in this popu-
lation group had averages ranging from 0.70 to 1.09, while the remain-
ing 25 percent had averages ranging from 1.77 to 2.80.
Table 6.-
—Average number of police-department employees, 1932
Size of city
Employees
per 1,000
population
2.04
100 000 to 250,000
1.4S
Monthly Trends for Cities Over 100,000 Population, 1932
There is reflected in table 7 the daily average number of offenses for
each month of 1932 as reported by 79 cities over 100,000. The total
population represented by these cities is 26,652,312. The variations
in the monthly figures will be seen more readily by referring to figure^l^
where the same data are graphically represented.
Table 7. — Daily average, offenses known to the police, January to December, inclusive^
1932; 79 cities over 100,000
[Total population, 26,652,312]
Criminal homicide
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
breaking
or en-
tering
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Month
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaughter
Man-
Slaughter
by negli-
gence
Auto
theft
January
5.9
6.0
5.6
6.0
5.5
6.2
8.2
6.2
5.5
5.1
5.5
6.4
4.4
5.3
3.7
3.9
4.0
3.4
2.5
3.1
3.9
4.7
4.2
4.5
4.6
4.1
5.2
4.9
4.8
5.2
4.5
5.1
5.1
5.5
4.3
4.4
134.0
115.2
107.6
100.6
93.9
87.5
91.0
94.3
97.8
114.7
124.9
145.5
29.4
33.7
30.7
37.7
39.3
40.1
41.9
39.7
38.2
36.3
35.0
34.3
343.7
332.4
314.2
323.2
300.5
304.4
313.4
316.2
320.5
317.5
334.6
337.3
544.5
534.0
512.5
557.2
527.9
529.8
528.1
562.9
573.7
620.0
627.1
594.8
360 9
February
342 6
March
April
May
341 4
July — .
August
346 0
340.5
November
353 3
323.8
January to December..
6.0
4.0
4.8
109.0
36.4
321.4
559.4
344.7
10
f»v €UUa of 100,000 p<^^p*U4Uioif 4U%b o-Hx.
Jan. Si^. 9|um;. Cifn.*)tuij^June JuU^ (iu0.Stpt, Oct. 9lov. J
Figure 1.
11
ANNUAL RETURNS, 1932
The system of uniform crime reporting includes the submission by
Teporting units of an annual return showing the number of offenses
known and the number of offenses cleared by arrest and in addition
an annual return showing the number of persons charged. As will
be seen by referring to page 1 of this bulletin, the term "offenses
known to the police^' includes all offenses which come to the attention
of the police, regardless of the original source of information. An
offense is cleared by arrest when one or more persons are arrested,
charged with committing it, and held or turned over for prosecution.
Exceptional clearances, such as the suicide of the offender, are also
included. The term "persons charged" refers to those who have
been held to answer criminal charges.
The tables which follow are based on the annual returns for 1932
received from 596 cities throughout the United States. More than
900 such annual returns were received but there have been eliminated
from the tables those which were incomplete or apparently defective
in any respect. Some of the defects requiring exclusion of returns
from the tables prepared were as follows : failure to distinguish between
the number of persons charged and the number of offenses cleared
therebj"; failure to report the number of offenses of auto theft cleared
by arrest (the figures reported showed merely the number of stolen
automobiles which had been recovered) ; and incomplete figures for
one or more of the offense classifications. It is to be expected that
the number of complete annual reports which will be available for
inclusion in tabulations will show considerable increase in years to
come.
Offenses Known and Offenses Cleared by Arrest, 1932
In table 8 are revealed for 596 cities in the United States the number
of offenses known, the number of offenses cleared by arrest, and the
percentage of offenses cleared by arrest during 1932. The figures
for these cities are also shown with the cities divided into six groups
according to their size. The table indicates that the percentage of
offenses cleared by arrest is higher in the case of offenses against the
person than in the case of offenses against property. The highest
percentage of clearances is found for the offense of manslaughter by
negligence and the lowest percentage of clearances occurs in the case
of auto theft. In examining the figures for the offense of auto theft
it should be remembered that, although in many cases the offender
is not arrested and prosecuted, in a high percentage of cases the stolen
automobile is recovered by the police. The figures presented in this
table are limited strictly to the number of offenses cleared by the
arrest of the offender.
It appears generally that the larger cities have a slightly lower
percentage of clearances than the smaller cities. In this connection
it should be kept in mind that the larger cities have on the whole a
higher crime rate than the smaller cities.
An examination of the table shows that the most decided variation
in the percentage of offenses cleared by arrest occurs in the case of
auto theft, where there is a consistent increase in the percentage of
clearances from the larger cities to the smaller cities, cities over
250,000 reporting 13 percent of such offenses as cleared by arrest
12
while the corresponding percentage reported by cities under 10,000
is 27.1.
Table 8. — Offenses known, offenses cleared by arrest, and percentage of offenses
cleared by arrest, 1932, by population groups
Population group
15 cities over 250,000; total population,
9,094,500:
Number of offenses known
Number of offenses cleared by arrest...
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest.
20 cities 100,000 to 250,000; total population,
2,678,405:
Number of offenses known
Number of offenses cleared by arrest...
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest.
48 cities 50,000 to 100,000; total population,
3,319,817:
Number of offenses known
Number of offenses cleared by arrest...
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest.
68 cities 25,000 to 50,000; total population,
2,332,573:
Number of offenses known
Number of offenses cleared by arrest. . .
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest.
164 cities 10,000 to 25,000; total population,
2,640,897:
Number of offenses known
Number of offenses cleared by arrest. . .
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest.
281 cities under 10,000; total population,
Number of offenses known
Number of offenses cleared by arrest...
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest.
Total, 596 cities; total population, 21,661,366:
Number of offenses known
Number of offenses cleared by arrest. . .
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest.
Criminal homi-
cide
Mur-
der,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaugh-
ter
642
493
76.8
228
190
83.3
1,338
1,077
80.5
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
82
95.4
51
44
86.3
Rape
131
115
87.8
144
131
91.0
Rob-
bery
8,203
2,752
33.6
1,744
626
35.9
2,087
779
37.3
1,183
465
39.3
14,892
5,153
34.6
Aggra-
vated
assault
3,098
2,272
73.3
Bur-
glary—
break-
ing, or
enter-
27, 696
7,878
28.4
10, 623
2,710
25.5
11,492
2,981
25.9
7,767
1,813
7,707
2,096
27.2
4,617
1,300
28.2
18, 778
26.9
Lar-
ceny-
theft
62, 693
15, 363
24.5
18, 487
4,602
24.9
25, 541
6,789
26.6
16, 238
3,871
23.8
16, 092
4,363
27.1
7,879
2,429
30.8
146, 930
37,417
25.5
Auto
theft
27, 721
3,613
13.0
8,868
1,487
16.8
5,227
1,083
20.7
1,713
464
27.1
Persons Charged (Held for Prosecution), 1932
In table 9 are shown the number of persons charged and the rates
per 100,000 as reported by 596 cities for the year 1932. As mentioned
previously persons charged are those who have been held for prosecu-
tion. Table 10 is a percentage distribution of persons charged, and an
examination of this compilation discloses that 44.5 percent of all
the persons held for prosecution were charged with violations of traffic
and motor-vehicle laws. Furthermore, 14.1 percent were charged
with drunkenness and 11.2 percent with disorderly conduct and
vagrancy. It is seen that persons charged falling within these three
classifications constituted almost 70 percent of the total number of
persons held for prosecution.
The number of persons charged is generally somewhat greater than
the corresponding number of offenses cleared by arrest as shown m
table 8. The explanation for the difference between the figures
representing the number of ofl'enses cleared by arrest and the figures
indicating the number of persons charged is, of course, that the arrest
of one person who has committed several offenses will clear several
13
crimes, whereas the arrest of several persons who have jointly com-
mitted only one offense will solve only one crime.
In a stuiy of the table it will be observed that the number of persons
charged per 100,000 population varies quite regularly with the size of
the city only in the cases of robbery and gambling. The proportion
of persons charged with manslaughter by negligence is much larger
for cities over 250,000 in population than for any other group of cities.
Approximately the same proportion of persons was held for prosecu-
tion for the offense of robbery in cities over 100,000, but the rate for
these cities was more than twice as great as the figure for cities under
25,000 population. For the offense of aggravated assault the number
of persons charged per unit of population by cities whose population
was between 50,000 and 100,000 was almost twice as great as that
for any other size city. There was held for prosecution for burglary
in cities over 100,000 a larger proportion of persons than in cities
under 100,000, and of the cities under 100,000 the highest rate was
for cities under 10,000. Cities having a population between 50,000
and 250,000 had the highest figures for the offense of larceny- theft.
Another feature shown by these figures is that for the offense of
forgery and counterfeiting, cities having a population between 100,000
and 250,000 held for prosecution 22.9 per 100,000 of population,
whereas cities over 250,000 held only 8.1 for prosecution.
For sex offenses other than rape in cities over 250,000 the rate of
persons held for prosecution was 153.2 which was about five times as
great as the next highest rate reported. The table indicates that the
proportion of persons prosecuted for violation of narcotic drug laws
in cities over 100,000 is from two to three times as large as it is in
cities under 100,000. An interesting observation is that for the
offense of driving while intoxicated, with but a single exception the
rate of persons held for prosecution varies inversely with the size of
the city, the highest rate being for cities under 10,000. For the offense
of drunkenness cities having a population between 100,000 and 250,000
charged a larger proportion of persons than any other cities, while
cities over 250,000 held a proportion which was less than that for all
other groups of cities with the exception of cities having a population
less than 10,000. A larger proportion of persons was charged for
violation of liquor laws in cities over 100,000 than in the smaller cities,
which is also true in the case of persons charged for disorderly conduct
and vagrancy and gambling.
With reference to the classification "suspicion" it should be noted
that the figures submitted by police departments have been carried
in the following table as originally reported, although according to
the procedure outlined in the manual, "Uniform Crime Reporting,"
individuals prosecuted as suspicious persons should be listed opposite
the classification "disorderly conduct and vagrancy."
14
Table 9.
-Persons charged {held for prosecution), 19S
100,000, by population groups
number and rates per
Offense charged
15 cities
over
250,000,
popula-
tion
9,094,500
20 cities
100,000 to
250,000,
popula-
tion
2,678,405
48 cities
50,000 to
100,000,
popula-
tion
3,319,817
68 cities
25,000 to
50,000,
popula-
tion
2,332,573
164 cities
10,000 to
25,000,
popula-
tion
2,640,897
281 cities
under
10,000,
popula-
tion
1,595,174
81
3.5
HI
4.2
75
4.7
58
2.5
72
2.7
.1
147
6.3
144
5.5
99
6.2
467
20.0
426
16.1
251
15.7
642
27.5
682
25.8
336
21.1
1,471
63.1
1.881
71.2
1,281
80.3
3,871
166.0
4,260
161.3
2,437
152.8
682
29.2
31.7
503
31.5
3,216
137.9
2.460
93.2
1,152
72.2
432
18.5
313
11.9
171
10.7
464
19.9
425
16.1
251
15.7
365
15.6
360
13.6
243
15.2
732
31.4
465
17.6
314
19.7
1,160
49.7
1,011
403
25.3
53
2.3
67
2.5
58
3.6
2,209
94.7
2,449
92.7
2,009
125.9
3,167
135.8
3,812
144.3
2,072
129.9
21, 658
928.5
19, 749
747.8
9,655
605.3
7,655
328.2
10,699
405.1
6, 608
414.2
1,332
57.1
924
35.0
411
25.8
53, 488
2, 293. 1
50. 754
1,921.8
39, 528
2, 478. 0
17, 567
753.1
11,451
433.6
6.853
429.6
2,136
91.6
2,947
111.6
• 1,820
114.1
Total, 596
cities;
total pop-
ulation
21.661,366-
Criminal homicide:
a. Murder and nonnegligent man-
slaughter:
Number of persons charged.
Rate per 100,000.. -..
6. Manslaughter by negligence:
Number of persons charged.
Rate per 100,000
Rape:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Robbery:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Aggravated assault:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Burglary — breaking or entering:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000 —
Larceny — theft:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Auto theft:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Other assaults:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000 -
Forgery and counterfeiting:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Embezzlement and fraud:
Number of persons charged-
Rate per 100,000 -.
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc.:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Sex offenses (except rape):
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Offenses against the family and chil-
dren:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Narcotic drug laws:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000.-
Driving while intoxicated:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000 ---
Liquor laws:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Drunkenness:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Disorderly conduct and vagrancy:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000 -
Gambling:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Traffic and motor vehicle laws:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000--
All other oflenses:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
Suspicion:
Number of persons charged
Rate per 100,000
2,219
24.4
7,907
86.9
16, 301
179.2
3,358
36.9
12, 581
138.3
2,738
30.1
2.182
24.0
13, 934
153.2
3,246
35.7
16, 942
186.3
56, 740
733.9
77,966
857.3
13,449
147.9
277, 189
3,047.9
55, 578
611.1
14, 772
162.4
36.1
771
5,343
199.5
3,062
114.3
613
22.9
539
20.1
1,006
37.6
1,283
47.9
5,751
214.7
31, 584
1, 179. 2
23,519
878.1
2,150
80.3
2, 299. 7
18. 660
11, 648
434.9
1,676
50.5
2.295
6,428
193.6
1,356
40.8
3,427
103.2
753
22.7
20.0
663
20.0
2,571
77.4
4,164
125.4
30,640
922.9
17. 305
521.3
86. 826
2, 615. 4
18, 364
553.2
7,231
217.8
15
Table 10. — Percentage distribution of persons charged (held for prosecution),
[596 cities; total population, 21,661,3r)f)]
1932
Offense charged
Criminal homicide:
(a) Murder and nonnegligent
slaughter
(6) Manslaughter by neghgence
Rape --
Robbery...
Aggravated assault
Burglary-breaking or entering
Larceny-theft
.\uto theft
O t her assaults
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud
AVeapons; carrjing, possessing, etc..
Sex offenses (except rape)
Per-
cent
.50
.49
1.36
!63
2.03
.21
.40
.38
1.31
Offense charged
Offenses against the family and children
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws
Drunkenness
Disorderly conduct and vagrancy
Gambling
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
All other offenses
Suspicion
Total
Per-
cent
Percentage of Offenses Cleared by Arrest, 1931 and 1932
A comparison of the figures for nine cities over 250,000 in popula-
tion for 1931 and 1932 as shown in the following table indicating the
percentage of offenses cleared by arrest reveals a decrease in the pro-
portion of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, and robbery-
clearances in 1932. The decrease in the percentage of rapes cleared
was quite substantial, whereas the decrease in the clearances of murder
and nonnegligent manslaughter and robbery was so slight as to be of
little significance.
The following substantial increases were shown in 1932 as compared
with 1931:
Percent
Burglarv-breaking or entering 15. 8
Auto theft 9. 4
Larceny-theft 9. 0
In addition, smaller increases were shown in the clearances for man-
slaughter by negligence and aggravated assault.
Table 11. — Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest, 1931 and 1932
[9 cities over 250,000, total population 5,449,500]
Criminal
homicide
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
as-
sault
Bur-
tekT
ingor
enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Year
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaughter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Auto
theft
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest,
1931
79.7
79.2
94.2
95.2
82.5
69.7
37.0
36.3
69.2
71.3
29.1
33.7
23.3
25.4
10.6
Percentage of offenses cleared by arrest,
11.6
DATA COMPILED FROM FINGERPRINT RECORDS
The data in the tables which follow should be distinguished care-
fully from the data compiled from the uniform crime reports. The
following tabulations were made from fingerprint records received
16
currently by the Identification Division of the United States Bureau
of Investigation.
During the first 3 months of 1933, 80,785 arrest records as evidenced
by fingerprint cards were examined. It has been characteristic of
the figures compiled by the Bureau since February, 1932, that the
distribution of arrests subdivided according to age groups has been
fairly constant. In the past the number of persons arrested who were
19 years of age has exceeded the number of persons arrested for any
other age group, and the same is true for the first quarter of 1933
taken as a unit. However, examination of the figures for the month
of March only, reveals that the number of persons arrested aged 22
is slightly greater than the number of those who were 19 years old.
Persons under 21 years of age account for 1 of each 5 whose arrest
records were examined. The following tabulation shows the per-
centage of the total number of persons arrested who were under 21
years of age and the percentage under the age of 25 in those instances
where the proportion of youthful offenders was high.
O Sense charged
Percentage
under 21
Percentage
under 25
Auto theft
Burglary-breaking or entering.
Robbery
Rape -.-
Larceny
27.9
26.7
26.4
These figures indicate that auto theft is an offense which is particu-
larly characteristic of youth. So also is the offense of burglary, al-
though in a somewhat less pronounced degree.
Persons under 25 years of age constituted 41 percent of those whose
arrest records were examined, and persons between 25 and 29 years of
age accounted for approximately 19 percent of the total number ar-
rested. Persons in this age group were not predominant among the
arrests for any particular offense.
Almost one third of the total arrests were for disorderly conduct,
drunkenness, and vagrancy, or on suspicion and for investigation.
The arrests on these charges total 24,842. Of the remaining arrests
over one half were for the offenses of larceny-theft, burglary, robbery,
and assault. The number of arrests for each of these offenses is as
follows :
Larceny-theft 11,312
Burglarv-breaking or entering 8, 895
Robbery 5,241
Assault 5, 030
Total 30,478
Most of the persons arrested were males, females numbering only
5,221 (6.5 percent). For the offenses of larceny, homicide, and viola-
tions of the liquor laws the percentage of females arrested to the total
number of females arrested exceeded the corresponding percentages
for males. However, the opposite was true with reference to the of-
fenses of burglary, robbery, auto theft, driving while intoxicated, and
miscellaneous violations of motor vehicle and traffic laws.
Approximately 35 percent of the persons arrested had a previous
record in the identification files of the United States Bureau of Investi-
17
gation. As has consistently been the case in previous tabulations
made, those charged with violations of the narcotic drug laws had the
highest percentage of previous records, it being 55 percent. Persons
arrested for embezzlement, fraud, and forgery and counterfeiting
likcAvise had a high percentage of previous records, although the
percentage was somewhat below that found among those charged with
violating the narcotic drug laws. From 34 to 39 percent of the persons
arrested for auto theft, larceny, burglary, and robbery had previous
records.
The data tabulated by the Bureau are based upon the record of
arrests for violations of State laws as evidenced by the fingerprint
cards received from contributors throughout the United States.
Obviously the tabulation should not be interpreted as a measure of
the amount of crime committed, since the fingerprint cards received
do not represent all arrests made throughout the country, nor do they
represent any particular geographic or population group.
At the end of March 1933 there were 3,483,629 criminal fingerprint
records and 4,594,224 index cards containing the names or aliases of
individuals with criminal records on file in the United States Bureau
of Investigation at Washington, D.C. Of each 100 fingerprints re-
ceived dming March, more than 46 were identified with criminal data
in the files of the Bureau. During March 1933, 394 fugitives from
justice were identified through fingerprint records and information as
to the whereabouts of these fugitives was immediately transmitted to
the law-enforcement official or agency desiring to apprehend these
individuals. The number of pohce departments, peace officers, and
law-enforcement agencies throughout the United States and foreign
countries voluntarily contributing fingerprints to the Bureau at the
end of March totaled 5,689.
Table 12. — Distribution of arrests, Jan. 1-Mar. 31, 1933
Number
Percent
Total
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Criminal homicide
1, 502
890
5,241
5,030
11,' 312
2,722
1,274
2,697
1,781
1,696
942
794
1,163
12, 036
732
789
12, 806
1,147
4,948
1,361
890
5,068
4,679
8,744
10, 424
2,695
1,175
2,511
1,740
1,045
894
717
1,135
2,162
11, 220
715
773
11,996
1,061
4,559
141
0
173
351
151
27
99
186
41
651
48
77
28
226
816
17
16
810
86
389
LIO
6.49
6.23
11.01
14.00
3.37
1.58
3.34
2.20
2.10
1.16
.98
1.44
2.96
14.90
.91
.98
15.85
1.42
6.12
1.80
1.18
6.71
6.19
11.57
13.80
3.57
1.56
3.32
2.30
1.38
1.18
.95
1.50
2.86
14.85
.95
1.02
15.88
1.40
6.03
2.70
.00
Robbery
3.31
6.72
2.89
Larceny-theft
17.01
.52
Forgery and counterfeiting
1.90
3.56
.78
Sex offenses (except rape)
12.47
Oflenses against family and children
.92
1.47
Driving while intoxicated
.54
4.33
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and va-
grancy
15.63
.33
.31
Suspicion and investigation
15.51
1.65
7.45
Total
80, 785
75, 564
5,221
100.00
100. 00
100.00
18
Table 13. — Arrests by age groups, Jan. 1-Mar. 31,
Oflfense charged
Not
i known
Under
15
Criminal homicide...
Rape
Robbery...
Assault
Burglary-breaking or entering
Larceny-theft
Autotheft
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc_.
Sex oSenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and children
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness,
and vagrancy
Gambling.. _
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
Suspicion a
Offenses not stated
All other offenses
Total
3,663
Offense charged
50 and
over
Total
all ages
Crimindl homicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary- breaking or entering
Larceny-theft
Auto theft
Forgery and eounterfei ting
Embezzlement and fraud
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
Sex offenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and children
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated..
Liquor laws
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and va-
grancy
Gambling
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Offenses not stated
All other offenses
Total
303
159
1,121
1,049
1,430
1,984
438
248
502
380
385
154
139
198
477
2,252
175
193
2,466
245
917
916
1,420
220
218
496
239
164
205
425
1,764
132
100
1,843
173
682
192
68
285
624
543
1,074
111
181
463
193
191
169
129
194
302
5,241
5,030
8,895
11,312
2,722
1,274
2,697
1,781
1,696
942
794
1,163
2,388
12, 036
732
15, 215
11,229
Table 14. — Percentage distribution of arrests by age groups, Jan. 1-Mar. 31, 1933
Age
Per-
cent
Age
Per-
cent
Age
Per-
cent
Age
Per-
cent
Under 15
.30
.37
1.75
3.31
4.89
5.44
4.71
5.02
5.41
4.89
24
4.54
3.93
3.81
3.96
3.74
3.39
3.20
2.17
3.56
2.83
34
2.14
2.23
1.97
1.85
2.18
1.75
1.93
1.03
1.61
1.19
44
i 01
15
25..
35
45
1.18
16
46
.78
17
27
37
47
.85
18
28
38
48
.91
19
29
39
.68
20
30
40
41
50 and over
Unknown
Total
5.29
21
31
.20
22
32
42
23
100.00
19
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION DY AGE OF PERSONS
ARRESTED - DATA OBTAINED FROM FIHGERPRINT
RECORDS JANUARY TO W\ARCH, 1933
Auro TH£Fr
UMptA 2S frMi Of Aoi
\ eQ.no
Aot 25Aft0 Qyf/f \j/.6'^
Si/z^oiAny
(/f^fie/t 25 yrAAs of Aoe
60.77o
A0£ 25 AAlfi OySA I jg.3%
/^036£fiy
i/A/oe-/i2S //Afis eeAoe
S5.^%
Aot 25 AW ori/f
^¥.6%
^A/fCJTA/y
t/MO£j^ 15 YrARS OFAoe \ 2^^, /%
AO£ 2S ANO Or£A
J S^.3%
Figure 2
Table 15. — Percentage with previous records; arrests, Jan. 1-Mar. 31, 1933
Offense charged
Per-
cent
Offense charged
Per-
cent
Narcotic drug laws _
Embezzlement and fraud
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and
grancy -
Forgery and counterfeiting.
Robbery
Suspicion and investigation
Burglary-breaking or entering
Larceny— theft
Auto theft
All other offenses
55.2
42.2
41.7
40.4
39.5
37.4
35.3
34.9
34.3
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etC--.
Assault
Offenses against family and children
Sex offenses (except rape)
Rape --
Liquor laws
Gambling
Driving while intoxicated _
Criminal homicide
27.9
27.8
27.7
26.2
25.8
24.9
23.6
22.7
19.5
18.0
o
']'^51>.S ^-^
UNIFORM
CRIME REPORTS
FOR THE UNITED STATES
AND ITS POSSESSIONS
Volume IV - Number 2
SECOND QUARTERLY BULLETIN, 1933
Issued by the
United States Bureau of Investigation
Washington, D.C.
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1933
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE ON UNIFORM CRIME RECORDS
OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE
U. S, SUPFRirfTFNDENT OF DOCUMFNr
AUG 17 1933
UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS
J. Edgar Hoover, Director, United States Bureau of Investigation
Washington, D.C.
Volume 4 July 1933 Number 2
CONTENTS
Classification of offenses.
Extent of reporting area.
Monthly returns:
Offenses known to the police — cities divided according to population.
Daily average, offenses knovi^n to the police, 1933.
Daily average, offenses known to the police, 1931-33.
Offenses known to the police — cities divided according to location.
Data compiled from fingerprint cards, 1933:
Sex distribution of persons arrested.
Age distribution of persons arrested.
Race distribution of persons arrested.
Percentage with previous record.
Classification of Offenses
The term "offenses known to the police" is designed to include
those crimes designated as Part I classes of the uniform classification
occurring within the poKce jurisdiction, whether they become known
to the poUce through reports of police officers, of citizens, of prosecut-
ing or court officials, or otherwise. They are confined to the follow-
ing group of seven classes of grave offenses, shown by experience to
be those most generally and completely reported to the police:
criminal homicide, including (a) murder, nonnegligent manslaughter,
and (b) manslaughter by negligence; rape; robbery; aggravated
assault; burglary-breaking or entering; larceny- theft; and auto theft.
The figures contained herein include also the number of attempted
crimes of the designated classes. Attempted murders, however, are re-
ported as aggravated assaults. In other words, an attempted burglary
or robbery, for example, is reported in the bulletin in the same man-
ner as if the crime had been completed.
"Offenses known to the police" include, therefore, all of the above
offenses, including attempts, which are reported by the pohce depart-
ments of contributing cities and not merely arrests or cleared cases.
In order to indicate more clearly the types of offenses included in
each group there follows a brief definition of each classification.
1. Criminal homicide. — (a) Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter — includes
all felonious homicides except those caused by negligence. Does not include
attempts to kill, assaults to kill, justifiable homicides, suicides, or accidental
deaths. (6) Manslaughter by negligence — includes only those cases in which
death is caused by culpable negligence which is so clearly evident that if the
person responsible for the death were apprehended he would be prosecuted for
manslaughter.
2. Rape. — Includes forcible rape, statutory rape, assault to rape, and attempted
rape.
3. Robbery. — Includes stealing or taking anything of value from the person by
force'or violence or by putting in fear, such as highway robbery, stick-ups, robbery
armed. Includes assault to rob and attempt to rob.
4. Aggravated assault. — Includes assault with intent to kill; assault by shoot-
ing, cutting, stabbing, poisoning, scalding, or by use of acids; mayhem, maiming.
Does not include simple assault, assault and battery, fighting, etc.
5. Burglary-breaking or entering. — Includes burglary, housebreaking, safe
cracking, or any unlawful entry to commit a felony or theft. Includes attempted
(1)
burglary and assault to commit a burglary. Burglary followed by a larceny is
entered here and is not counted again under larceny.
6. Larceny-theft {except auto theft). — {a) $50 and over in value (6) Under $50 in
value — includes in one of the above subclassifications, depending upon the value
of the property stolen, pocket-picking, purse-snatching, shophfting, or any steal-
ing of property or thing of value which is not taken by force and violence or by
fraud. Does not include embezzlement, con-games, forgery, passing worthless
checks, etc.
7. Auto theft. — Includes all cases where a motor vehicle is stolen or driven
away and abandoned, including the so-called "joy-riding" thefts. Does not
include taking for temporary use when actually returned by the taker, or unau-
thorized use by those having lawful access to the vehicle.
In publishing the data sent in by chiefs of police in different cities,
the United States Bureau of Investigation does not vouch for its
accuracy. It is given out as current information, which may throw
some light on problems of crime and criminal-law enforcement.
In compiling the tables, returns which were apparently incomplete
or otherwise defective were excluded.
Extent of Reporting Area
The table which follows includes all cities which contributed a
return for one or more months thus far during 1933. The number of
cities reporting in the various groups is shown together with the
population represented by them. The population figures for cities
having 10,000 people or more were obtained from the Bureau of the
Census as estimated July 1, 1932, while figures for cities having less
than 10,000 were taken from the 1930 census, due to the fact that
more recent estimates were not available for this group.
During the first 6 months of 1933 reports were received from 1,606
cities representing a population of 54,208,740. An increase of 70
cities is shown for the first 6 months of 1933 as compared with the
same period of last year. Returns were also received from sheriffs,
State police, and officers in the possessions but they are not included
in the above figures.
As indicated by the table there are 37 cities in the United States
having a population of 250,000 or more. Of this number 34 (92 per-
cent) are contributors of crime statistics to the Bureau. The three
cities which have not contributed returns are Atlanta, Ga. ; Louisville,
Ky.; and New York City. Louisville did, however, contribute
returns during last year, and it is expected that reports for 1933
win be received. Of the 57 cities in the population group of 100,000
to 250,000 only one city does not contribute returns, namely,
Reading, Pa.
Population group
Total
number
of cities
or towns
Cities filing returns
Total pop-
ulation
Population repre-
sented in returns
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
983
826
84
60, 813, 881
49, 728, 288
82
A. Cities over 250 000
37
57
105
192
592
34
56
94
170
472
92
90
89
80
29, 955, 600
7, 908, 112
7, 092, 407
6, 695, 136
9, 162, 626
22, 145, 300
7, 796. 212
6, 429, 175
5, 958, 413
7, 399, 188
74
B. Cities 100,000 to 250,o'o"6
99
91
E. Cities 10,000 to 25,000
81
The above table does not include 780 cities and rural townships aggregating
a total population of 4,480,453. The cities included in this figure are those of
less than 10,000 population filing returns, whereas the rural townships are of
varying population groups.
MONTHLY RETURNS
Offenses Known to the Police — Cities Divided According to Population
In table 1 will be found the number of offenses and rate per 100,000
people as reported during the first 6 months of 1933 by 1,248 cities
throughout the United States, representing an aggregate population
of 43,397,341. The numbers and rates are also shown for the same
cities subdivided according to size. As was evident in the figures
published during 1932, there appears a rather definite tendency for
the crime rates to vary with the size of the city. To this general
trend there are the following exceptions: criminal homicide as reported
by cities having a population of less than 10,000; rape in cities under
25,000 in population; aggravated assault, burglary-breaking or enter-
ing, and larceny-theft as reported by cities having a population in
excess of 250,000.
The amount of variation in the rates reported by the several groups
of cities differs wdth the offense. With the exception of the offense
of rape, the smallest amount of variation occurs in connection with
the figures reported for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter,
burglary-breaking or entering, and larceny-theft, the highest rates
in these instances being approximately twice as great as the lowest.
For the offenses of manslaughter by negligence and aggravated assault
the largest rates are approximately three times as high as the smallest.
It is interesting to observe that the largest amount of variation in
the rates occurs in the figures for robbery and auto theft, where the
highest rates are more than four times as great as the lowest.
Of the 72 cities with a population in excess of 100,000 people, 65
reported larcenies subdivided according to the value of the article
stolen. A separate tabulation was made for these cities with the
followdng result.
Larceny-theft
Population group
$50 and over
in value
Under $50
in value
20 cities over 250,000; total population 14,451,300:
6,634
45.9
3,067
48.8
38, 067
Rate per 100,000
263.4
45 cities, 100,000 to 250,000; total population 6,291,115:
23, 124
Rate per 100,000
367.6
This compilation discloses that there is only a slight difference in
the rates reported by these two groups of cities for offenses of larceny
involving goods valued at $50 or more. However, the difference in
the figures reported for minor larcenies is quite substantial.
Table 1. — Offenses known to the police, January to June, inclusive, 193S; number
and rates per 100,000 by population groups
Population group
25 cities over 250,000; total population,
17,171,200:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
47 cities, 100,000 to 250,000; total popula-
tion, 6,523,115:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
80 cities, 50,000 to 100,000; total popula-
tion, 5,425,453:
Number of offenses known-
Rate per 100,000..
140 cities, 25,000 to 50,000; total popula-
tion, 4,951,900-
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000...
380 cities, 10,000 to 25,000; total popula-
tion, 5,990,386:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
576 cities under 10,000; total population,
3,335,287:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
Total, 1,248 cities; total population,
43,397,341:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
Criminal homi-
cide
Mur-
der,
nonneg
ligent
man-
slaugh-
1,427
3.3
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Rape
:,250
2.9
Rob-
bery
14, 382
83.8
2,437
37.4
2,016
37.2
1,362
27.5
1,317
22.0
614
18.4
22,128
51.0
Aggra-
vated
assault
2,254
34.6
1,025
17.1
392
n.8
10,155
23.4
glary—
break-
ing or
33,291
193.9
14,645
224.5
7,65?
127. f
76. 931
177.3
Lar-
ceny-
theft
56, 129
326.9
27,048
414.6
21, 714
400.2
16, 792
339.1
17, 195
287.]
7,500
224.9
146, 382
337.3
34, 943
203.5
11,544
177.0
7,104
130.9
4,501
75.1
Daily Average, Offenses Known to the Police, January to June, inclusive,
1933
Table 2 has been compiled to disclose the daily average number of
offenses known to the police for the first half of the year 1933. It will
be observed that the figures for robbery show a steady decrease, while
the averages for aggravated assault have increased steadily since
January.
A comparison of the 1933 daily averages for these two offenses with
those for the first 6 months of 1932 indicates that the trends are quite
similar. There is additional similarity in the monthly trends for the
2 years in the fact that the averages for manslaughter by negligence
and for burglary-breaking and entering are on the whole lower during
the second quarter than in the first 3-month period.
The averages for larceny-theft and auto theft do not show any
regular monthly variation. Considering each 3-month period as a
unit, however, the average number of larcenies is slightly higher
during the second quarter, whereas the average number of auto thefts
is definitely lower during the second quarter of the year.
The offense of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter likewise fails
to show any regular fluctuation from month to month but in general
the average is somewhat higher during the second quarter.
Examination of the table shows that the largest amount of variation
occurs in the averages for robbery. For this offense the January
average was 158 as compared with 93.7 for the month of June, a
decrease of 64.3 (41 percent).
Table 2. — Daily average, offenses known to the police, January to June, inclusive
193S; 1,248 miscellaneous cities
[Total population, 43,397,341]
Criminal homicide
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
breaking
or enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Month
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaughter
Man-
slaughter
by negli-
gence
Auto
theft
January
7.8
7.2
8.0
8.3
7.8
8.1
5.8
6.2
4.7
5.0
5.1
5.0
6.4
5.4
7.2
7.3
6.7
8.3
158.0
135.4
129.6
116.7
100.2
93.7
51.0
51.3
52.7
57.4
61.4
62.6
467.3
417.7
444.3
439.5
407.1
372.4
833.6
773.1
817.1
845.0
808.1
774.3
388.9
333.9
March
383.9
April
379.0
May
333.9
June
318.2
January to June
7.9
5.1
6.9
122.3
56.1
425.0
809.1
356.8
MONTHLY TRENDS (M/IY AVERA0£) ROBBERY
JANUARY TO JUNE, 1933
U'^e c/r/£s ■ rozAi popi/i^t/oa/ 43,397,3^/
0 20 40 6P 60 100 laO 140 IfeO 180 200
Daily Average, Offenses Known to the Police, 1931-33
There is shown in the following table the daily average number of
ofiFenses reported by the police departments in 66 cities throughout
the United States for the first half of 1933. Each of the cities has a
population in excess of 100,000 and the aggregate population repre-
sented is 17,735,605. The daily averages for 1933 are presented,
together with the daily averages for the corresponding periods of
1931 and 1932. The table discloses that there has been a substantial
decrease in the number of manslaughters by negligence, robberies,
and auto thefts reported. On the other hand, there is shown an
increase in the number of offenses of murder and nonnegligent man-
slaughter, rape, aggravated assault, burglary-breaking or entering,
and larceny-theft. During the first half of 1932 the number of
offenses of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was slightly less
than the number reported durmg the corresponding period of
1933. However, during 1933 there has been shown a slight increase
over both of the preceding years. In view of the fact that the
aggravated assault classification consists of those assaults wliich
threaten serious bodily injury, including attempted murders, it is
interesting to observe that the variation in the daily average number
of offenses of this type follows in a general way the fluctuation in the
averages for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. During 1932
the number of offenses of burglary-brealdng or entering showed
approximately a 10-percent increase over the preceding year. During
1933 the number of offenses of this type reported was slightly less than
the number reported in 1932 but the daily average shows a very small
increase. This is due to the fact that February 1932 contained 29
days. The average number of offenses of larceny reported during
1932 was only slightly greater than the average for 1931, but there
was a substantial increase in the number of offenses of this type
reported during 1933.
The daily averages for 1933 show the following decreases as com-
pared with the 1931 figures:
Percent
Manslaughter by negligence 22. 9
Robbery 14.2
Autotheft 24.5
A similar comparison discloses the following increases in the 1933
averages:
Percent
Rape 17.9
Aggravated assault 6. 4
Burglary-breaking or entering 9. 2
Larceny-theft 7. 5
Table 3. — Daily average, offenses known to the police, 66 cities over 100,000,
January to June, inclusive, 1931-33
[Total population, 17,73.=),60S]
Number of ofiEenses known:
1931
1932
1933
Daily average:
1931
1932
1933.. _-.
Criminal homi-
cide
Mur-
der,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaugh-
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Rape
Rob-
bery
9,037
8, 421
7,754
4,254
3,622
4,525
Bur-
glary—
break-
ing or
enter-
ing
30, 552
33, 524
33, 377
Lar-
ceny-
theft
64, 643
65, 874
69, 487
357.1
361.9
383.9
Auto
theft
32, 699
29, 374
214.9
179.7
162.3
Offenses Known to the Police — Cities Divided According to Location
In order to comply with requests for crime rates for individual
States throughout the country these rates are shown in table 5. In
accordance with the practice heretofore the crime rates are also given
for the nine major geographic divisions of the country. In table 4
there is shown a hst of the cities, the crime reports of which have
been included in the tabulations in this issue of the bulletin. There
is listed for eacli State the number of cities of each population group.
In this connection it should be observed that caution should be em-
ployed in comparing the crime rate of one State with that of another.
For example, in the case of Delaware the crime rate is based on the
report of only one city having a population of less than 10,000.
Obviously the published rate for Delaware is not necessarily the true
crime rate for the State. It may be much higher or much lower
than the true rate. The same applies with reference to the rates of
other States which are based on the report of only one city or a few
small cities. Nevertheless, the crime rates for these States have
been included in the table, in order that figures may be published for
all States. It should be observed further that the crime rate of one
State may be based on the reports of 100 or more cities, w^hereas
the rate of another State may be based on a much smaller number of
reports. Also the reporting units in one State may consist largely
of small cities, whereas in another State there may be a much higher
proportion of the larger cities. Due allow^ance should be made for
all of these factors in making comparisons of the crime rates for
different States.
No crime reports are received by the Bureau from the police depart-
ments in New York City or in Atlanta, Ga. In addition the reports
from the following cities, having a population in excess of 250,000,
have not been included in the tabulation due to the fact that, at the
time the bulletin was published, reports had not been received for
each of the first 6 months of 1933 or that the returns were incom-
plete or defective in some respect: Los Angeles,- Calif.; Indianapolis
Ind.; Louisville, Ky.; Boston, Mass.; St. Paul, Minn.; Cleveland,
Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; Memphis, Tenn.; Dallas, Tex.; Seattle, Wash.
Likewise reports from the following cities having a population be-
tw^een 100,000 and 250,000 were not included: Long Beach, Calif.;
Wilmington, Del.; South Bend, Ind.; Des Moines, Iowa; Camden
N.J.; Paterson, N.J.; Trenton, N.J.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Tulsa, Okla.
As was observed in the bulletin for the first 3 months of this year,
the East South Central States reported the highest rate for murder
and nonnegligent manslaughter. The next highest rates for this
offense were reported by the West South Central and South Atlantic
States, whereas the lowest figures were reported by the Pacific and
the New England States.
With reference to the offense of manslaughter by negligence, the
highest figures w^ere submitted by the Middle Atlantic and East
South Central States, with the lowest rates being reported by the
New England and Mountain States. Com.parisons of the number of
offenses of rape reported by the various States of the Union should be
made with caution, since the classification includes all oft'enses of
statutory rape, regardless of the age of consent as established by the
legislatures in the various States. In order to make due allowance
for such differences it w^ould be necessary to refer to the several State
statutes to determine the age of consent in each State. The highest
robbery rate was reported by the East North Central States wath the
low^est figure being reported by the New England States.
With reference to the offense of aggravated assault, the table dis-
closes that the East South Central and the South Atlantic States re-
ported the highest number of offenses per unit of population, whereas
the lowest rates were reported by the Mountain and New England
States. The highest burglary rate was reported by the Mountain
States; the highest larceny rate by the Pacific States; and the highest
rate for auto theft by the West South Central States. The lowest
figures for these offenses were reported by the New England and
Middle Atlantic States.
As was mentioned in connection with the figures for indi\'idual
States, it is important in comparing rates for different geographic
sections of the country to observe the proportion of large cities in
each section. This factor is significant, because table 1 shows that
there is a definite tendency for the large cities to report higher crime
rates than those reported by the small cities.
Table 4:.— Number of cities in each State included in the tabulation of uniform
crime reports, January to June, inclusive, 1933
Population
Division and State
Over
250,000
100,000
to
250.000
50,000
to
100,000
25,000
to
50,000
10,000
to
25,000
Less
than
10,000
Total
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION
New England— 142 cities; total population,
4,493,119- - -.
1
6
6
3
2
1
2
1
3
12
6
9
:
\
9
19
:
10
6
6
24
29
43
9
12
2
9
4
8
48
112
44
20
10
16
6
35
48
153
149
38
9
24
24
62
142
Middle Atlantic— 325 cities; total population,
10,153,897
325
East North Central— 317 cities; total popula-
tion, 13,232,100- .
317
West North Central-135 cities; total popula-
tion, 4,040,374
135
South Atlantic '—87 cities; total population,
3,631,180
87
East South Central— 27 cities; total popula-
tion, 1,102,029
27
West South Central— 61 cities; total popula-
tion, 2,601,165
61
Mountain— 37 cities; total population, 871,203
Pacific— 117 cities; total population, 3,272,274.
37
117
New England:
1
1
1
1
1
11
4
6
11
^9
14
5
?
8
5
t
32
1
5
38
27
47
27
12
20
20
10
8
5
5
9
9
1
6
21
3
8
67
55
31
41
10
23
65
10
25
8
10
4
2
8
12
16
New Hampshire
.
7
8
8
i"
3
2
3
i
2
1
"" 5
\
4
2
4
8
77
Rhode Island
1
10
Connecticut
24
Middle Atlantic:
New York . . - .
2
2
2
3
126
New Jersey
98
Pennsylvania
101
East North Central:
Ohio --
92
Indiana
32
Illinois
1
1
.58
103
Wisconsin
32
West North Central:
35
3
4
2
1
22
Missouri
2
23
North Dakota
8
8
Nebraska .
1
14
Kansas
1
1
25
Includes District of Columbia.
Table 4.
-Number of cities in each Stale included in the tabulation of uniform
crime reports, January to June, inclusive, 1933 — Continued
Population
Division and State
Over
250,000
100,000
to
250,000
50,000
to
100,000
25.000
to
50,000
10,000
to
25,000
Less
than
10,000
Total
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION— Continued
South Atlantic:
Delaware
1
io"
7
2
1
Maryland
1
2
4
1
2
1
5
2
6
4
Virginia
2
1
2
3
3
1
22
West Virginia
12
North Carolina
13
South Carolina
1
2
2
4
2
3
5
13
4
3
2
1
2
11
10
5
3
1
6
3
4
1
3
7
52
13
Florida ...
3
20
East South Central:
10
3
6
Alabama
1
1
2
5
2
2
5
7
1
8
Mississippi
5
West South Central:
Arkansas
1
1
2
2
4
1
5
Louisiana
1
7
1
3
.-
19
1
Mountain:
Montana
7
Idaho—
3
Wyoming
1
Colorado
1
1
1
4
13
2
Arizona
3
Utah
1
1
i"
8
3
24
6
Nevada
2
Pacific:
Washington
2
2
1
5
15
1
2
12
California
1
6
90
Table 5. — Rate per 100,000, offenses known io the police, January to June, in-
elusive, 1933
Criminal homi-
cide
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
sault
Bur-
glary-
break-
ingor
enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Division and State
Mur-
der,
non-
negli-
gent
man-
slaugh-
ter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negU-
gence
Auto
theft
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION
0.9
2.2
a
6.0
10.7
7.4
3.3
1.5
0.9
4.1
1:1
2.7
3.6
2.0
211
2.6
2.6
3.3
2.2
3.5
1.2
3.3
2.8
2.7
9.5
21.2
89.5
52.1
46.7
50.3
51.5
50.4
47.8
7.0
19.4
21.3
10.9
70.9
74.3
29.9
8.7
10.8
142.6
104.2
187.3
161.6
229.8
263.2
256.1
316.1
243.1
233.7
147.5
365.0
347.1
448.2
331.8
529.1
520.0
621.4
96.7
Middle Atlantic
75.7
East North Central
180 2
West North Central.
176.9
East South Central
168 6
West South Central
205.3
Pacific.
200 9
New England:
Maine
'.6
0
1.0
1.0
.8
1.2
.9
.8
1.1
.8
3.4
0
3.3
0
2.5
9.0
5.7
L3
10.4
5.9
10.6
14.3
.6
0
6.6
6.7
8.1
113.0
68.2
25.2
149.1
124.9
163.8
176.4
134.6
98.1
197.6
337.5
309.2
New Hampshire
40 3
26.5
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
107.4
63 9
Coimecticut
107.2
Includes report of District of Columbia.
10
Table 5.
-Rate per 100,000, offenses known to the police, January to June, in-
clusive, 1933 — Continued
Criminal homi-
cide
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
as-
sault
Bur-
iSkT
ing or
enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Division and State
Mur-
der,
non-
negli-
gent
man-
slaugh-
ter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Auto
theft
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION— Continued
Middle Atlantic:
New York
1.2
3.2
2.4
3.1
1.5
4.4
1.6
.5
1.7
1.8
6.6
0
0
2.4
4.3
0
2.8
5.9
2.5
9.7
4.8
8.2
10.9
9.6
6.1
17.0
6.4
14.0
6.0
3.1
8.6
0
0
11.7
3.6
0
5.1
3.8
11.9
1.6
.7
1.7
1.5
6.6
4.7
1.5
.8
1.7
.8
.2
0
.2
2.7
1.0
0
.3
.9
0
.8
3.1
.4
9.4
0
1.5
3.0
4.1
2.0
5.8
0
d
0
0
0
o"
0
0
0
0
.2
2.9
2.3
3.4
2.5
1.9
4.1
2.4
6.5
1.3
1.1
.4
3.7
3.0
1.0
.6
1.9
79.0
5.3
5.0
2.9
3.2
1.6
2.1
1.4
1.4
1.0
1.3
1.3
.6
1.9
2.4
4.4
2.3
3.7
11.7
3.5
0
0
1.9
0
.7
.9
3.4
9.2
29.5
24.9
38.5
41.3
189.9
38.5
11.4
38.6
37.7
64.5
16.8
55.8
36.0
65.3
39.5
31.0
36.3
30.6
31.3
138.1
21.2
60.3
81.7
39.0
51.2
16.6
104.6
29.8
72.5
48.6
20.6
37.0
0
67.6
23.8
26.6
35.3
61.7
40.2
76.0
44.3
14.0
33.2
16.5
22.5
33.8
28.8
13.9
2.6
6.0
7.6
15.6
0
1.9
10.7
11.7
0
3.0
83.9
24.4
S229.6
41.8
39.2
2 147. 1
76.4
77.6
72.7
62.7
30.6
18.9
15.8
38.6
4.6
11.1
0
6.7
3.0
46.0
4.8
71.5
11.6
6.1
11.5
82.6
174.1
86.2
161.3
150.7
281.0
129.4
86.6
148.3
209.8
147.1
80.2
146.3
129.4
220.9
0
147.6
234.9
153.0
233.6
35.3
177.1
402.3
237.9
283.9
290.7
87.0
262.3
126.1
262.4
306.7
106.5
114.7
46.9
379.2
279.8
266.0
316.5
282.1
280.2
375.2
213.2
177.1
197.9
106.5
371.0
335.9
277.4
520.2
278.2
136.4
281.2
424.6
188.0
301.2
362.3
530.0
79.0
222.8
581.0
300.7
406.3
1, 023. 0
671.5
551.8
411.5
427.1
214.5
202.0
616.4
165.0
586.0
651.7
738.8
303.3
316.3
511.5
626.9
616.7
411.8
1,112.7
717.6
681.0
593.5
59.7
101.3
74.2
East North Central:
Ohio
104 4
128.6
Illinois
326.4
Michigan
102.0
67.5
West North Central:
Minnesota
221.6
Iowa
122 9
Missouri
167.9
North Dakota
64.3
South Dakota
106.8
Nebraska
302.9
Kansas
171.1
South Atlantic:
0
170.8
Virginia . .
121.0
West Virginia
131.1
176.7
24.1
Georgia
114.0
174.8
East South Central:
Kentucky
132.0
Tennessee
165.6
216.6
Mississippi
44.8
West South Central:
301.2
108.4
Oklahoma
118.6
Texas
269.5
Mountain:
Montana
147.8
Idaho
44.4
11.7
Colorado
173.8
New Mexico
128.0
30.7
Utah
218.8
Nevada
194.7
Pacific:
193.6
133.3
California
214.2
s The unusually high rate may possibly be due to the inclusion of simple assaults in the reports received
from this State. The classification should include only those offenses which threaten serious bodily harm .
11
DATA COMPILED FROM FINGERPRINT RECORDS
The data in the tables which follow should be distinguished care-
full}^ from the data compiled from the uniform crime reports.
During the month of June 1933, 27,555 arrest records as evidenced
by fingerprint cards received by the United States Bureau of Investi-
gation were examined, and it was found that the records of persons
23 years of age were more numerous than those of individuals of any
other single age-group. However, the records of persons aged 19
and of those aged 22 were almost as numerous as those of persons
aged 23.
For the entire first half of the calendar year 1933, individuals aged
19 exceeded in number those of any other age-group, although those
of other ages between 18 and 24 were not greatly outnumbered.
During the 6-month period 159,493 arrest records were examined.
The continuing predominance of youthful offenders is indicated by
the fact that 1 of each 5 arrested was under 21 years of age, while an
additional one fifth of those arrested was aged between 21 and 24
inclusive. A slightly smaller proportion of the total was between
25 and 29 years of age. In other words, almost three fifths of the
persons arrested were under 30 years of age.
The offenses with which youths were most frequently charged
include vicious crimes as is evidenced by the following table.
Table 6. — Number and percentage nf arrests of persons under 25 years of age
January 1-June SO, 1933
Offense charged
Total
number
of
persons
arrested
Number
under 21
years of
age
Total
number
under 25
years of
age
Percent-
under 21
years of
age
Total
percent-
age
under 25
years of
age
2,979
2,008
9,015
10, 839
16, 672
22, 410
5,432
2,345
5,325
3,213
3,349
1,890
1,604
2,450
4,320
26, 310
1,438
1,778
23, 393
2,191
10, 532
309
499
2,459
1,143
6,253
5,835
2,458
274
254
494
415
113
73
111
347
3,961
261
4,165
355
2,130
782
916
4,941
9^882
10, 191
3,676
654
866
1,124
1,131
363
252
452
1,071
8,796
254
737
8,979
792
4,138
10.4
24.9
27.3
10.5
37.5
26.0
45.3
11.7
4.8
15.4
12.4
6.0
4.6
4.5
8.0
15.1
6.1
14.7
17.8
16.2
20.2
26.3
45.6
Robbery
54.8
27.5
59.3
Lareeny-theft
45.5
Auto theft
67.7
27.9
Embezzlement and fraud
16.3
35.0
33.8
Offenses against family and children
19.2
Narcotic drug laws..
15.7
18.4
liiquor laws - -- -
24.8
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and vagrancy
33.4
17.7
41.5
Suspicion and investigation
38.4
36.1
39.3
Totals
159, 493
31, 997
62,977
20.1
39.5
It wall be observed that during the first 6 months of this year 6,253
persons under 21 years of age were arrested and charged with burglary-
breaking or entering, 5,835 mth larceny-theft, 2,459 with robbery,
and 2,458 with auto theft. In addition, 309 persons under 21 years of
age and 473 individuals aged between 21 and 24 were arrested and
charged with criminal homicide.
12
The total number of records of persons aged 19 was 10 percent
greater than the number of records of those aged 18. The tabulation
shows, however, a much larger proportion of 19-year-olds in the
following instances:
Offense charged
Number
aged 18
Number
aged 19
Number
aged 19
exceeds
those
aged 18
50
111
237
557
87
152
318
714
Percent
74
37
Assault
34
28
These figures tend to indicate that youthful offenders quickly turn
to the more serious crimes.
On the whole, there were fewer arrests for robbery during the second
quarter of 1933 than during the first 3 months of the year. Of 80,785
arrests during the first quarter, 5,241 were for robbery, whereas of
78,708 arrests during the second quarter of the year, only 3,774 were
for that offense. The decrease in the number of arrests for robbery
during the second quarter of the year is no doubt due largely to the
fact that the number of offenses of that type shows a downward trend
during the second quarter. It is beheved desirable in this connection
to point out that the number of arrests reported as reflected by finger-
print records should not be treated as an index to the amount of crime,
since it is perfectly possible that there be an increase in the number
of arrests although there is an actual decrease in the number of offenses
committed, or vice versa.
Arrests for disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and vagrancy showed
an increase during the second quarter of the year, there being 14,274
such arrests as compared with 12,036 during the first 3 months. Dur-
ing June the number of arrests on these charges was greater than dur-
ing any one of the preceding months of the year.
The majority of the persons arrested were males. Of the 159,493
arrest records examined, 11,029 (6.9 percent) were those of females.
Negroes consitituted 23 percent of all the persons whose records
were received. Of the total persons charged with homicide, 34 per-
cent were colored, and this race contributed a correspondingly high
proportion of individuals in the following instances: assault (40 per-
cent), carrying and possessing weapons (33 percent), and gambUng
(44 percent). Negroes constituted a comparatively small proportion
of those charged with forgery and counterfeiting, embezzlement and
fraud, offenses against the family, driving while intoxicated, and viola-
tion of narcotic drug laws.
Of the 159,493 persons arrested, 35 percent had a previous record
in the files of the Bureau. This does not mean that they were pre-
viously convicted, nor does it mean that they were previously charged
with committing the same offense. It means merely that at some
previous time they were arrested and fingerprinted and copies of
13
the fingerprint records were forwarded to the Bureau at Washington,
D.C. Six of each 10 arrested for violation of the narcotic drug laws
and approximately 4 of each 10 charged with forgery and counter-
feiting; disorderly conduct, drunkenness and vagrancy; robbery;
or embezzlement and fraud had previous records. A slightly smaller
proportion of those charged with burglary-breaking or entering,
larceny-theft, or auto theft had previous fingerprint records on file.
Approximately^ 2 of each 10 charged with driving while intoxicated
or criminal homicide had similar records.
It should be borne in mind that the data compiled from fingerprint
records do not represent all offenses committed during the month,
since there are ofl'enses perpetrated for which no one is arrested, and
there are persons arrested for whom no fingerprint records are for-
warded to the Bureau.
At the end of June 1933 there w^ere 3,780,584 fingerprint records
and 4,901,443 index cards containing names or aliases of individuals
with records on file in the United States Bureau of Investigation at
Washington, D.C. Of each 100 fingerprints received during June,
more than 47 were identified with criminal data in the files of the
Bureau. During June 1933, 347 fugitives from justice were identified
through fingerprint records and information as to the whereabouts
of these fugitives was immediately transmitted to the law enforce-
ment officers or agencies desiring to apprehend these individuals.
The number of police departments, peace ofiicers, and law enforce-
ment agencies throughout the United States and foreign countries
voluntarily contributing fingerprints to the Bureau at the end of
June totaled 5,941.
Table 7. — Distribution of arrests, Jan. 1-June SO, 1933
Offense charged
Number
Percent
Total
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Crimiiial homicide
2,979
2,008
9,015
10. 839
16, 672
22, 410
5,432
2,345
5,325
3,213
3,349
1,890
1,604
2,450
4,320
26, 310
1,438
1,778
23, 393
2,191
10, 532
2,' 008
8,649
9,977
16, 365
20,500
5,371
2,147
4,961
3,122
2,013
1,781
1,463
2,395
3,917
24, 347
1,401
1,743
21, 874
2,025
9,711
285
1.87
1.26
5.65
6.80
10.45
14.05
3.41
1.47
3.34
2.01
2.10
1.18
1.01
1.54
2.71
16. 50
.90
1.11
14.67
1.37
6.60
1.82
1.35
5.83
6.72
11.02
13.81
3.62
1.45
3.34
2.10
1.36
1.20
.99
1.61
2.64
16.40
.94
1.17
14.73
1.36
fi.54
2 58
Rape-
366
862
307
1,910
61
198
364
91
1,336
109
141
55
403
1,963
37
35
1,519
166
821
Assault
7 82
Larceny-theft
17 32
Forgery and counterfeiting .
1 80
Embezzlement and fraud
3 30
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
Sex offenses (except rape)
.82
12 11
Offenses against famUy and children
.99
Driving while intoxicated
60
3.65
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and
17.80
.32
13.77
Not stated
1.51
7.44
159, 493
148, 464
11.029
100.00
100.00
14
Table 8. — Percentage distribution of arrests by age groups, Jan. 1-June
Table 9. — Arrests by age groups, Jan. 1-June 30, 1933
1933
Age
Percent
Age
Percent
Under 15
0.29
.36
1.67
3.19
4.73
5.23
4.59
4.84
5.19
4.90
24
15
16 .. .
30-34
14.06
10.32
6.97
4 55
17
35-39
18
40-44 . .
19
45-49
20
50 and over
5.61
.27
21
22
Total
23
100.00
Offense charged
Criminal homicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary-breaking or entering _
Larceny-theft „
Auto theft
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc.—
Sex offenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and children .
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, anc
vagrancy
Gambling
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated...
All other <
Totals..
Not Un
cnown der 15
4f.
62
354
145
1,274
1,026
475
32
29
61
43
19
^82
50
126
557
237
1,473
1,404
628
66
50
111
90
17
18
16
75
972
19
56
1,011
70
87
140
714
318
1,337
1,393
577
83
86
152
145
24
22
39
101
1, 166
31
76
1,223
94
526
8,334
7,323
613
406
1,005
1,179
356
91
145
146
151
38
140
1,201
30
121
1,170
116
1, 185
312
98
144
173
174
8,273
Offense charged
Criminal homicide.
Robbery.
Assault...
Burglary-breaking or entering
Larceny-theft
Auto theft
Forgery and counterfeiting...-
Embezzlement and fraud
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
Sex offenses (except rape)...
Offenses against family and children
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated.
Liquor laws
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and
vagrancy
Oambling
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated
All other offenses
Totals 7,823 7,157
Age
1,025
327
92
155
151
215
70
49
91
196
1,207
34
130
1,2.34
126
512
160
176
83
42
87
205
1,137
45
628
354
1, 936
2,196
2,821
3,902
861
456
982
676
711
327
4, 846
301
413
4,549
466
1,822
485
231
1,077
1,777
1,773
2,900
470
384
987
454
502
380
310
433
726
3, 844
249
244
3, 459
• 325
1,415
22, 425
171
531
1,382
1,007
2, 126
225
349
905
389
376
334
283
380
549
2,930
231
166
2,397
247
194
75
148
705
288
856
46
142
403
150
153
115
124
188
293
1,495
115
64
1,080
102
527
7,263
50
and
over
242
142
99
832
302
1,015
37
139
539
178
249
130
141
231
350
Total
all ages
2,979
2,008
9,015
10, 839
16, 672
22, 410
5,432
2,345
5,325
3,213
3,349
1,890
1,604
2,450
4,320
26, 310
1,438
1,778
23, 393
2,191
10, 532
15
NUMBER OF YOUTHFUL PERSONS ARRESTED
DATA OBTAINED FROM FINGERPRINT RECORDS
JANUARY TO JUNE , 1933 _
1000
H UMBER OF PERSONS
4000 6000 5000
10.000
Larcenx Theft
Burctlarv
RoBBERV
W//////////M,
Autotheft
WKttMMk
UNOER 21 YEARS
AbE 21-2^
Table 10. — Distribution of arrests according to race and previous record,
Jan. 1-June SO, 193S
Race
Previous record
Offense charged
Un-
known
White
Black
All others
Yes
No
1,920
1,606
7,050
6,317
12,815
16, 190
4,684
2,113
4,677
2,084
2.668
1,689
1,166
2,250
3,300
20,623
703
1,272
17, 088
81427
1,010
372
1,868
4,408
3,737
6,030
715
208
596
1,068
653
183
145
168
5,392
640
473
6,108
336
2,002
49
30
97
114
120
189
33
24
51
61
18
293
32
25
290
95
33
197
26
103
544
462
3,698
2,965
5,942
7,950
1,829
950
2,294
921
861
467
946
495
1,037
10, 730
318
497
9,106
827
3,049
2,435
Rape
1,546
Robbery
5,317
7,874
10, 730
Larceny-theft
1
14, 460
Auto theft
1,395
Embezzlement and fraud
1
3,031
Weapons' carrying, possessing, etc
2,292
2,488
1,423
Narcotic drug laws
658
1,955
2
5
3,283
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and va-
15, 580
1,120
1.281
Suspicion and investigation
14, 287
1,364
7,483
Totals
9
120, 471
37, 105
1,908
55,888
103, 605
16
Table 11. — Percentage ivith previous records, arrests, Jan. 1-June 30, 1933
Offense charged
Offense charged
Narcotic drug laws
Embezzlement and fraud --.
Robbery...
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and va-
grancy
Forgery and counterfeiting
Suspicion and investigation
Burglary-breaking or entering
Larceny-theft
Auto theft
All other offenses
59.0
43.1
41.0
40.8
40.5
38.9
35.6
35.5
33.7
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc..
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
Assault
Sex offenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and children
Liquor laws
Rape
Gambling
Driving while intoxicated
Criminal homicide
28.7
28.0
27.4
25.7
24.7
24.0
23.0
22.1
20.2
18.3
o
UNIFORM
CRIME REPORTS
FOR THE UNITED STATES
AND ITS POSSESSIONS
Volume IV — Number 3
THIRD QUARTERLY BULLETIN, 1933
Issued by the
Division of Investigation
United States Department of Justice
Washington, D.C.
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1933
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE ON UNIFORM CRIME RECORDS
OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE
(U)
NOV 1319^
UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS
J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Division of Investigation, United States Department
of Justice, Washington, D.C.
Volume 4 October 1933 Number 3
CONTENTS
Classification of offenses.
Extent of reporting area.
Monthly returns:
Offenses known to the police — cities divided according to population.
Daily average, offenses knovi^n to the police, 1933.
Daily average, offenses known to the police, 1931-33.
Offenses known to the police — cities divided according to location.
Data compiled from fingerprint cards, 1933:
Sex distribution of persons arrested.
Age distribution of persons arrested.
Race distribution of persons arrested.
Percentage with previous fingerprint records.
Number with records showing previous convictions.
Classification of Offenses
The term ''offenses known to the police" is designed to include those
crimes designated as Part I classes of the uniform classification occur-
ring within the police jurisdiction, whether they become known to the
police through reports of police officers, of citizens, of prosecuting or
court officials, or otherwise. They are confined to the following group
of seven classes of grave offenses, shown by experience to be those
most generally and completely reported to the police: Criminal
homicide, including (a) murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, and (b)
manslaughter by negligence; rape; robbery; aggravated assault;
burglary — breaking or entering; larceny — theft; and auto theft.
The figures contained herein include also the number of attempted
crimes of the designated classes. Attempted murders, however,
are reported as aggravated assaults. In other words, an attempted
burglary or robbery, for example, is reported in the bulletin in the
same manner as if the crime had been completed.
"Offenses known to the police" include, therefore, all of the above
offenses, including attempts, which are reported by the police depart-
ments of contributing cities and not merely arrests or cleared cases.
In order to indicate more clearly the types of offenses included in
each group, there follows a brief definition of each classification.
1. Criminal homicide. — (o) Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter — includes
all felonious homicides except those caused by negligence. Does not include
attempts to kill, assaults to kill, justifiable homicides, suicides, or accidental
deaths. (6) Manslaughter by negligence — includes only those cases in which
death is caused by culpable negligence which is so clearly evident that if the
person responsible for the death were apprehended he would be prosecuted for
manslaughter.
2. Rape. — Includes forcible rape, statutory rape, assault to rape, and attempted
rape.
3. Robbery. — Includes stealing or taking anything of value from the person
by force or violence or by putting in fear, such as highway robbery, stick-ups,
robbery armed. Includes assault to rob and attempt to rob.
(1)
4. Aggravated assault. — Includes assault with intent to kill; assault by shooting,
cutting, stabbing, poisoning, scalding, or by use of acids; mayhem, maiming.
Does not include simple assault, assault and battery, fighting, etc.
5. Burglary — breaking or entering. — Includes burglary, housebreaking, safe-
cracking, or any unlawful entry to commit a felony or theft. Includes attempted
burglary and assault to commit a burglary. Burglary followed by a larceny is
entered here and is not counted again under larceny.
6. Larceny — theft {except auto theft). — (a) Fifty dollars and over in value.
(6) Under $50 in value — includes in one of the above subclassifications, depending
upon the value of the property stolen, pocket-picking, purse-snatching, shop-
lifting, or any stealing of property or thing of value which is not taken by force
and violence or by fraud. Does not include embezzlement, "con-games," forgery,
passing worthless checks, etc.
7. Auto theft.— Includes all cases where a motor vehicle is stolen or driven
away and abandoned, including the so-called "joy-riding" thefts. Does not
include taking for temporary use when actually returned by the taker, or unauthor-
ized use by those having lawful access to the vehicle.
In publishing the data sent in by chiefs of poHce in different cities,
the Division of Investigation does not vouch for its accuracy. It is
given out as current information, which may throw some hght on
problems of crime and criminal-law enforcement.
In compiling the tables, returns which were apparently incomplete
or otherwise defective were excluded.
Extent of Reporting Area
In the table which follows, there is shown the number of cities in
each population group which contributed one or more monthly crime
reports during the first 9 months of 1933. The population figures
employed for cities with a population in excess of 10,000 are estimates
of the Bureau of Census as of July 1, 1932. Similar estimates are not
available for cities with a population less than 10,000, and for them
the 1930 census figures have been used.
Crime reports for one or more of the first 9 months of 1933 have
been received from the police departments in 1,638 cities, represent-
ing an aggregate population of 62,041,342. The number of cities
contributing reports to the Division of Investigation during this period
is 92 greater than the number of contributors for the corresponding
period of 1932. Eighty-five percent of the cities with a population in
excess of 10,000 submit uniform crime reports, and it will be observed
that of the 94 cities with a population in excess of 100,000, only 2 do
not contribute uniform crime reports, namely, Atlanta, Ga., and
Reading, Pa. A monthly report for September has been received
from the New York City Police Department, and it accordingly has
been included in the reporting area.
Population group
Total
number
of cities
or towns
Cities filing returns
Total pop-
ulation
Population repre-
sented in returns
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
983
840
85
60, 813, 881
57, 466, 395
94
A Cities over 250 000
37
57
105
192
592
36
56
94
171
483
97
98
90
82
29, 955, 600
7,908,112
7, 092, 407
6, 695, 136
9, 162, 626
29, 672, 100
7, 796, 212
6, 429, 175
6,001,913
7, 566, 995
99
B. Cities 100,000 to 250,000..
99
C. Cities 50,000 to 100,000
91
D Cities 25 000 to 50,000
90
E. Cities 10,000 to 25,000
83
Note.— The above table does not include 798 cities and rural townships aggregating a total population of
4,574,947. The cities included in this figure are those of less than 10,000 population filing returns, where-
as the rural townships are of varying population groups.
MONTHLY RETURNS
Offenses Known to the Police — Cities Divided According to Population
In table 1 there is presented the number of offenses reported during
the first 9 months of 1933 by the police departments in 1,274 cities
throughout the United States with an aggregate population of
49,505,611. The number of offenses and crime rates are also shown
for these cities, subdivided according to size.
There appears a general tendency for the crime rates to vary with
the size of the cities. To this general tendency, there are certain
exceptions. The figures for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter
and manslaughter by negligence are higher for cities with population
less than 10,000 than for certain groups of larger cities. For the
offense of rape, the rate for cities having less than 10,000 inhabitants
is higher than for any other group, and for cities with a population
between 10,000 and 25,000 it is higher than the figures for cities rang-
ing in population from 25,000 to 100,000. The rate for robbery for
cities wdth a population between 50,000 and 100,000 is slightly higher
than for cities having a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Cities with a population between 50,000 and 100,000 have the highest
proportion of offenses of aggravated assault; and for the offenses of
burglary — breaking or entering, and larceny — theft, cities with a
population between 100,000 and 250,000 have higher rates than cities
with a population in excess of 250,000.
The amount of variance in the crime rates for cities of different
sizes differs with the offense. The highest figures for robbery and
auto theft are more than four times as great as the lowest ones reported
for those offenses. For the offenses of manslaughter by negligence
and aggravated assault, the highest rates are more than twice as
great as the lowest figures. Less variation is found in the rates for
murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, burglary— breaking or enter-
ing and larceny— theft. For those offenses, the highest rates are
slightly less than twice as great as the lowest ones. The smallest
amount of variation in crime rates for cities divided according to size
occurs in the figures for rape.
It is probable that major larcenies are more nearly reported with
complete uniformity than are minor offenses of larceny. Accord-
ingly a separate tabulation was made for cities with population in
excess of 100,000 which reported separate figures for offenses of lar-
ceny— theft where the value of the goods stolen was greater than $50
and those in which the value of the material was less than $50.
Larceny
—theft
Population group
$50 and over
in value
Under $50
in value
28 cities over 250,000; total population, 19,169,700:
Number of offenses known
15,901
82.9
5,275
74.6
94,154
491.2
50 cities, 100,000 to 250,000; total population, 7,070,512:
Number of offenses known - -
40,494
572.7
The above compilation shows that the rate for major larcenies
reported by cities with population in excess of 250,000 is 11.1 percent
higher than that reported by cities with population between 100,000
and 250,000. On the other hand, the rate for minor larcenies is
16.6 percent greater for the smaller cities than for those with popula-
tion in excess of 250,000.
Table 1. — Offenses known to the police, January to September, inclusive, 1933;
number and rates per 100,000 by population groups
Population group
35 cities over 250,000; total population
22,454,000:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
62 cities, 100,000 to 250,000; total popu
lation, 7,302,512:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
80 cities, 50,000 to 100,000; total popU'
lation. 5.440,453:
Number of offenses known
Rate per lOO.OOO....
141 cities, 25,000 to 50,000; total popu-
lation, 4,997,713:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
371 cities, 10,000 to 25,000; total popu-
lation, 5,8.33,950:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
695 cities under 10,000; total popula-
tion, 3,476,9^3:
Number of offenses known..
Rate per 100,000_.
Total, 1,274 cities; total popula-
tion, 49,505,611:
Number of offenses known. .
Rate per 100,000
Criminal
homicide
negli-
gent
man-
slaugh-
ter
1,490
6.6
2,614
.5.3
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
11,555
3.2
1,172
5.2
2,324
4.7
Rob-
bery
25, 764
114.7
3,791
51.9
3,035
55.8
1,855
31.8
901
2,5.9
3,505
48.0
2,847
52.3
1,580
27.1
682
19.fi
19, 157
38.7
Bur-
glary—
break-
ing or
enter-
ing
71, 525
318.5
24, 499
335.5
14, 758
271.3
11,879
237.7
10, 962
187.9
6,365
18.3. 1
139,98!
282. J
Lar-
ceny-
theft
127,709
576.5
47, 042
644.2
34, 520
634.5
26, 175
523.7
24,394
418.1
11,645
334.9
<271,485
551.7
70,661
314.7
19, 234
263.4
10, 827
199.0
7,280
145.7
2,577
74.1
116, 938
236.2
1 The number of offenses and rate for manslaughter by negligence are based on reports of 34 cities with
a total population of 21,069,000.
s The number of offenses and rate for larcency— theft are based on reports of 34 cities with a total popu-
lation of 22,153,100.
3 The number of offenses and rate for manslaughter by negligence are based on reports of 1,273 cities with
a total population of 48,120,611.
* The number of offenses and rate for larceny— theft are based on reports of 1,273 cities with a total popu-
lation of 49,204,711.
Daily Average, Offenses Known to the Police, January to September,
Inclusive, 1933
The daily average number of offenses as reported by the police
departments in 1,274 cities with a population of 49,505,611 is shown
in table 2. Examination of the tabulation reveals that the number
of offenses of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter and aggravated
assault was greater in the third quarter than in preceding portions of
the year. The monthly averages for those offenses are showing a
variation similar to that which occurred in 1932, The averages for
robbery and burglary — breaking or entering show a low point in the
third quarter. This trend was likewise evidenced by the robbery
figures for 1932.
The averages for the remaining offenses fluctuate in an irregular
manner.
Table 2.
■Daily average, offenses known to the ■police, January to Septembery
inclusive, 1933; 1,274 miscellaneous cities
[Total population, 49,505,011]
Criminal homicide
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
breaking
or enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Month
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaughter
Man-
slaughter
by negli-
gence
Auto
theft
January
9.2
8.8
9.2
9.8
9.0
9.4
10.1
10.3
10.4
6.5
0.5
5.2
5.5
5.6
5.3
5.4
6.3
6.1
7.8
7.1
8.7
8.1
8.2
10.0
8.2
10.3
8.1
191.9
165.9
155.6
139.8
120.3
112.6
117.5
112.0
114.6
61.0
62.5
63.0
67.3
73.2
74.6
79.3
76.1
77.5
571.1
519.2
540.1
539.4
501.0
458.6
490.8
499.4
494.1
1. 016. 3
958.9
i.osai
987.5
958.7
972.6
1, 007. 4
1. 026. 4
477.5
413.3
March
462.5
April
459.0
May
408.5
June
388.8
Julv
412.8
400.4
September
430.6
January to September..
9.6
5.7
8.5
136.5
70.2
512.7
994.8
428.3
Ja/ntLOAXy to SAptcnfn$c/Zy, 1933
1274 (HUUd - S^eUtt S&^uC<xtl<m.49,S05,6U
O 20 40 60 80 too 120 140 I60 \60 200
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 1
III
'''ill
1 1 1 1 I
mk
Daily Average, Offenses Known to the Police, 1931-33
In table 3, there is shown the number of offenses reported during
the first 9 months of the years 1931, 1932, and 1933 by the police
departments in 70 cities with population in excess of 100,000. The
data are also presented in the form of daily averages. Examination
of the table discloses that there has been a decrease in the number of
offenses of manslaughter by negligence reported from 1,024 in 1931
to 940 in 1933, a decrease of 8.2 percent. However, the figure for
1933 is larger than that for 1932. For the offenses of auto theft and
robbery, the table shows yearly decreases. For the offense of auto
theft, the decrease is from 64,381 in 1931 to 51,845 in 1933, a substan-
tial decrease amounting to 19.5 percent. The decrease in the number
of robberies was not so large, being 7.5 percent.
The total population of the 70 cities included in table 3 is 18,716,038,
according to the 1930 census. The population for this same group
of cities was estimated to be 20,294,502, as of July 1, 1932. This
represents an increase of 8.4 percent. This increase in population
should be taken into consideration when interpreting the figures in
the following table, since it contains the number of offenses reported
by the 70 cities during the 3 years without reference to changes in
population.
The compilation for the 3-year period shows that the number of
offenses reported for several offenses was greater in 1933 than in 1931.
The amount of increase in each case is as follows:
Percent
M urder and nonnegligent manslaughter 10. 0
Rape 8. 7
Aggravated assault 10. 9
Burglary — breaking or entering 15. 8
Larceny — theft 7. 4
It should be noted that in each of the above cases, with the excep-
tion of the offenses of burglary and larceny, the proportion of increase
is only slightly larger than the amount of increase in the population
of the cities included in the tabulation. The increase in the number
of burglaries reported is substantially larger than the increase in
population, whereas the increase in larcenies is slightly less.
Table 3. — Daily average, offenses known to the police, 70 cities over 100,000,
January to September, inclusive, 1931-33
[Total population
, 20,294,502]
Criminal homicide
Rape
Robbery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
breaking
or enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
Year
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaughter
Man-
slaughter
by
negli-
gence
Auto
theft
Number of offenses
known:
1931 -
1,077
1,094
1,185
3.9
4.0
4.3
1,024
787
940
3.8
2.9
3.4
908
964
987
3.3
3.5
.3.0
13, 724
12. 782
12, 693
50.3
46.6
40.5
7,417
6,587
8,227
27.2
24.0
30.1
50, 128
54, 930
58.044
183.6
200.5
212.6
109, 719
111,176
117. 787
401.9
405.8
431.5
64. 381
1932
54, 033
1933
51, 845
Daily average:
1931
235.8
1932
197.2
1933
189.9
Offenses Known to the Police — Cities Divided According to Location
In table 5 there are presented crime rates for individual States and
rates for the States grouped into 9 geographic divisions. There
are obviously several factors which affect, to some degree, the com-
parability of the rates for States. One of these is the variation in
the size and the composition of the population represented by the
reports. For instance, the rates for Alabama, Colorado, Delaware,
Idaho, Nevada, South Carolina, and Wyoming are based on reports
from a very small number of cities, ranging from 1 to 3. The
rates for several other States are based on a number of reports almost
as small. It is apparent that in such instances the rates published for
those States are not necessarily the true rates, but may be higher or
lower than the rates would be if they were based on reports from all
communities in each State. The same is true to some extent of the
rates for all States, but serious variance from the true rate becomes
less probable as the number of reporting units in the State approaches
the maximum.
Another factor which bears on the comparability of rates is the
proportion of reports from large cities which has been used in the
calculation of the rates, since examination of table 1 disclosed a general
tendency for the larger cities to have higher crime rates than the
smaller communities. It is possible to determine the number of
cities of each of six population groups, the reports of which have been
used in calculating the crime rate for a State or a geographic division
by referring to table 4.
Table 5 reveals considerable variation in the rates for 9 geo-
graphic divisions of the country. For murder and nonnegligent man-
slaughter the lowest rate, 1.3, is for the New England States, and the
highest, 17.7, for the East South Central group. The figures for man-
slaughter by negligence vary from 0.3 for the Mountain States to 6.3
for the Middle Atlantic States. For the offenses of rape, burglary —
breaking or entering, larceny — theft, and auto theft the rates vary
within a considerably narrower range than for the offenses previously
mentioned. However, the figures for robbery are 19.1 for the New
England States and 121.8 for the East North Central group, and for
aggravated assault they range from 14.3 for the New England States
to 155.4 for the East South Central States.
18372-33 2
Table 4.
-Number of cities in each State included in the tabulation of uniform
crime reports, January to September, inclusive, 1933
Population
Division and State
Over
250,000
100,000
to
250,000
50,000
to
100,000
25,000
to
50,000
10,000
to
25,000
Less
than
10,000
Total
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION
New England: 142 cities; total population,
6 312 253 -
2
6
9
4
2
3
3
1
5
12
9
5
6
3
5
1
4
10
19
21
5
10
2
5
2
6
24
27
45
8
13
2
9
4
9
43
HI
95
40
19
8
16
5
34
51
154
159
65
34
10
25
28
69
142
Middle Atlantic: 324 cities; total population,
324
East North Central: 338 cities; total popula-
tion 15 069 507
338
West North Central: 127 cities; total popula-
127
South Atlantic: 84 citias; total population,
84
East South Central: 28 cities; total population,
1644 735
28
West South Central: 63 cities; total population.
63
Mountain: 41 cities; total population, 923,375.
Paciflc: 127 cities; total population, 5,276,225-.
41
127
New England:
1
1
11
6
10
9
8
14
7
10
7
5
4
1
28
1
4
38
25
48
28
11
22
21
13
8
2
6
4
8
63
54
37
42
7
26
72
12
22
8
10
4
2
12
1
&
5
2
15
8
8
Massachusetts - - -
1
8
" 4"
4
1
2
3
3
1
1
1
6
1
1
6
4
9
4
2
5
7
3
77
Rhode Island
11
23
Middle Atlantic:
New York
2
2
2
5
1
1
1
2
123
95
106
East North Central:
Ohio -
96
31
Illinois . - . .
65
110
36
West North Central:
32
3
2
4
2
1
1
22
Missouri - - -
2
23
8
South Dakota
7
1
12
23
South Atlantic:
2
1
2
4
2
4
Virginia
2
2
4
2
1
20
West Virginia
10
13
1
3
2
2
3
12
6
3
1
3
11
10
4
3
2
9
3
5
1
4
7
58
13
3
3-
20
East South Central:
1
1
1
13
7
1
3
5
2
6
6
5
West South Central:
1
1
3"
1
2
5
1
5
Louisiana
1
3
8
21
2
29
Mountain:
5
Idaho
3
2
Colorado --
1
1
1
4
16
2
1
4
1
1
7
4
23
7
2
Pacific:
1
3
2
1
6
16
13
California
2
6
98
Includes District of Columbia.
Table 5.
-Rate per 100,000, offenses known to the police, January to September,
inclusive, 19SS
Division and State
Criminal homicide
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaughter
Man-
slaughter
by negli-
gence
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary—
break-
ing or
enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION
New Encland
Middle Atlantic
East North Central i
West North Central
South Atlantic ^
East South Central
West South Central
Mountain.
Pacific 3
New England:
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont.-.
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Middle Atlantic:
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
East North Central:
Ohio *
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
West North Central:
Minnesota
Iowa
Missouri
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
South Atlantic:
Delaware
Maryland...
Virginia
West Virginia
North Carolina...
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
East South Central:
Kentucky
Tennessee..
Alabama..
Mississippi
West South Central:
Arkansas
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Texas
Mountain:
Montana
Idaho
Wyoming . —
Colorado .'.
New Mexico
.Arizona
Utah
Nevada
Pacific:
Washington
Oregon
California «
19.1
30.6
121.8
76.2
65.4
94.6
71.3
79.2
87.6
14.3
32.0
33.2
17.3
115. 0
155. 4
49.4
14.4
215.0
163.0
279.3
253.4
338. 5
404.8
408.7
490.1
431.5
408.4
236.7
586.7
533.8
676.7
494.1
852.1
811.5
936.2
2.5
0
0
2.3
1.4
1.5
2.0
10.0
7.5
5.2
1.3
11.0
.0
2.8
4.1
2.6
4.9
5.2
3.0
5.4
1.0
3.9
10.1
7.5
8.5
4.7
5.4
3.2
2.8
2.3
4.3
2.4
2.0
2.6
2.8
2.6
6.0
3.1
11.1
11.7
5.3
0
11.2
1.9
0
2.0
2.5
7.5
2.5
23.1
6.6
17.0
13.1
41.7
37.5
72.3
69.0
259.3
51.8
13.8
65.5
55.7
95.8
24.7
67.1
48.6
92.7
33.0
44.1
51.7
52.8
47.9
181.5
34.0
73.5
104.4
106.5
73.2
21.7
132.7
42.0
100.6
66.4
6.1
37.0
17.5
106.1
32.7
88.4
58.1
67.6
95.0
100.6
23.0
3.8
8.8
14.9
14.8
12.2
22.6
56.0
27.7
32.2
47.6
45.3
23.5
4.3
10.0
10.6
23.7
2.0
1.1
27.7
21.1
50.4
4.3
146.1
41.2
411.8
86.7
65.6
167.3
155.4
186.9
105.1
111.3
42.1
34.9
35.2
60.8
1.5
18.5
11.7
11.3
3.0
44.9
8.9
79.5
12.3
9.4
18.6
184.2
112.0
41.4
223.8
184.3
240.6
146.0
275. 3
124.3
306.1
399.5
193. 5
137.9
287. 8
286.6
214.6
118.8
217.5
188.7
350.7
273.1
206.5
356.0
232.1
347.0
36.9
281.6
569.3
388.7
403.2
497.6
110.0
368.2
218.4
422.7
481.6
69.0
166.4
87.5
584.4
431.7
534.8
472.0
544.4
525.4
571.3
397.4
290.9
207.6
14.5. 6
393.3
528.8
299.9
319.9
156.1
632.2
678.1
422.0
792.5
433.2
316. 7
531.5
631.3
304.8
436.2
332. 3
875.0
468.1
604.8
1, 530. 6
1, 1.50. 9
830.1
676.9
460.8
325.8
282.6
859.5
309.8
868.7
1, 056. 4
904.3
473.4
350.0
794.2
729.4
1,381.1
635. 0
1. 565. 7
1,111.4
1, 043. 1
889.3
1 The rate for larceny— theft is based on reports of 337 cities with a total population of 14,768,607.
' Includes report of District of Columbia.
' The rate for manslaughter by negligence is based on reports of 126 cities with a total population of
3,891,225.
* The rate for larceny— theft is based on reports of 95 cities with a total population of 3,923,072.
« The rate for manslaughter by negligence is based on reports of 97 cities with a total population of
2,642,345.
10
DATA COMPILED FROM FINGERPRINT RECORDS
The data in the tables which follow should be distinguished carefully
from the data compiled from uniform crime reports. It should be
noted that the tabulation of data from fingerprint records does not
include all persons arrested, since there are individuals arrested for
whom no fingerprint records are forwarded to Washington. Further-
more, the number of persons arrested should not be treated as equiva-
lent to the number of offenses known to have been committed, since
one person may have committed several offenses, while, on the other
hand, several persons may have been involved in- the joint commission
of a single offense.
During the first 9 months of 1933 the Division of Investigation
examined the arrest records of 240,871 individuals whose fingerprint
cards were received from local law enforcement officials throughout
the country. There was quite a large number of extremely youthful
individuals included in the total, 774 who were under 15 years of age
and 925 aged 15. The following tabulation shows that many of
them were charged with serious offenses.
Offense charged
Under 15
Age 15
4
15
249
221
39
18
Robbery
31
252
227
Auto theft
61
There were 12,418 individuals 19 years of age and 12,040 persons
aged 22 who were arrested during the 9-month period. The number
of those arrested who were 19 years old was greater than the number
for any other single age group, and the following serious oft'enses
were among those with which they were most frequently charged:
Larceny— theft 2, 102
Burglary — breaking or entering 1, 917
Robbery 967
Auto theft 850
Assault 503
Rape 215
Criminal homicide 129
Similarly large proportions of youthful offenders of other ages were
charged with those offenses.
One of five persons arrested was under 21 years of age and an
additional one was between 21 and 24 years of age. The third of
each five arrested and fingerprinted was aged between 25 and 29
years. In other words three of each five arrested were under 30 years
of age.
For the first 9 months of this year the daily average number
of persons arrested and fingerprinted for certain serious offenses was
as follows:
u
Daily
average
Criminal homicide 16. 6
Rape 11.6
Robbery 46. 1
Assault 64. 1
Burglary — breaking or entering 88. 3
Larceny — theft 123. 5
Auto theft 29.5
Of the total of 240,871 arrest records examined, 17,315 (7.2 percent)
were those of females. The following charges are those on which
they were most frequently arrested:
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and vagrancy 3, 284
Larceny— theft 2,781
Suspicion 2,394
Sex offenses 2, 186
Assault 1,470
Negroes constituted 23.7 percent of the total whose arrest records
were examined. However, the percentage of negroes arrested in the
following instances was considerably higher:
Criminal homicide 33. 2
Assault 40. 6
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc 34. 0
Gambling 1 44. 7
Expressed in terms of the number per 100,000 of the general popu-
lation, the proportion of whites and negroes arrested for certain
offenses is as follows:
Number per 100,000 of the general population
[Exclusive of those under 15 years of age]
OSense charged
Whites
Negroes
231.4
3.8
13.0
3.8
711.4
18.7
Assault - - - - -
88.4
19.9
Thirty-five percent of the 240,871 individuals whose arrest records
were examined during the first 9 months of this year had previous
fingerprint records on file in the Division of Investigation. This
means that in 84,776 cases the individuals had been previously
arrested and fingerprinted and copies of the prints had been for-
warded to Washington. It does not mean, however, that the indi-
viduals had been previously convicted of the same offense or of any
other crime. On the other hand, many of the individuals of whom
the Division had no previous fingerprint record had no doubt been
previously arrested. This fact is frequently noted on fingerprint
cards received. The percentage having previous criminal records
varies from 58.6 for those charged with violation of narcotic drug
laws to 19.2 for those arrested on a charge of criminal homicide.
It is possible to determine for each individual offense the number
with previous criminal records by referring to table 8.
12
Table 6. — Distribution of arrests, Jan. 1-Sept. 30, 19S3
Offense charged
Number
Percent
Total
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Criminal homicide
4,537
3,175
12, 596
17, 496
24, 115
33.711
8,058
3,480
7,957
4,691
5,321
2,930
2,472
3,881
5,911
40,928
2,192
2,851
34,431
3,187
16, 951
4,106
3,175
12, 047
16, 026
23, 656
30, 930
7,947
3,182
7,439
4,540
3,135
2,774
2,221
3,794
5,349
37,644
2,141
2,802
32, 037
2,953
15, 658
431
0
549
1,470
459
2,781
111
298
518
151
2,186
156
251
87
562
3,284
51
49
2,394
234
1,293
1.88
1.32
5.23
7.26
10.01
14.00
3.35
1.44
3.30
1.95
2.21
1.22
1.03
1.61
2.46
16.99
.91
1.18
14.29
1.32
7.04
1.84
1.42
5.39
7.17
10.58
13.84
3.56
1.42
3.33
2.03
1.40
1.24
.99
1.70
2.39
16.84
.96
1.25
14.33
7;oo
2.49
0
Robbery ...
3.17
Assault
8.49
2.65
Larceny — theft
16.06
Auto theft
.64
1.72
Embezzlement and fraud
2.99
Weapons' carrying possessing, etc
.87
12.63
.90
1.45
.50
Liquor laws
3.25
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and vagrancy..
18.97
.29
TraflBc and motor vehicle laws
13.83
1.35
All other offenses
7.47
240,871
223, 556
17, 315
100.00
100.00
100.00
Table 7. — Arrests by age groups, Jan. 1-Sept. SO, 1933
Age
Offense charged
Not
known
Un-
der
15
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
11
8
24
34
51
12
4
8
9
6
8
4
3
15
9
249
221
39
3
5
6
1
6
18
10
31
15
252
227
61
1
2
9
7
10
40
45
184
125
1,146
869
414
i'.
48
33
'\
;
7
351
43
303
71
101
471
211
1,826
1,614
690
46
39
98
77
23
8
12
51
'\l
46
833
527
87
185
755
376
2,065
2,087
922
91
82
161
141
22
41
90
1,479
108
797
129
215
967
503
1,917
2,102
850
113
138
220
216
38
28
63
140
1,833
48
128
1,771
13C
121
200
925
542
1,534
1,756
624
125
138
179
175
41
71
161
1,629
42
133
1,474
129
763
147
190
824
640
1,407
1,764
538
136
213
218
246
61
49
104
207
1,789
188
1,718
163
810
203
201
908
678
1,372
1, 773
466
133
214
249
260
97
81
123
241
1,899
86
206
1,871
146
833
196
162
836
773
1,264
1,579
453
134
241
226
327
107
73
141
1,875
61
196
1,767
165
801
195
Rape
133
Robbery
740
773
Burglary— breaking or entering
1,045
1,431
328
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud
Weapons; carrying, possessing,
etc
145
240
225
Sex offenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and
children
276
127
71
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws
6
14
243
5
1
62
13
26
144
3
33
3
"""94
11
71
774
2
49
6
3
111
15
96
271
Disorderly conduct, drunken-
ness, and vagrancy
1,803
Gambling
78
TraflBc and motor vehicle laws..
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated
152
1,591
144
752
Total
545
925
4,012
7, .%!
11,148
12,418
10, 821
11,469
12, 040
11,640
10, 670
13
Table 7. — Arrests by age groups, Jan. 1-Sept. SO, 1933 — Continued
Offense charged
50 and
over
Total al
apes
Criminal homicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary— breaking or entering
Lnneny— theft -
Auto thpft
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fra;;d
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc
Sex offenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and children..
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated..
Liquor laws.. -
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness,
vagrancy
Gambling
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated
All other offenses
752
3fi6
1, 593
2,839
2,565
4,2S0
790
582
511
707
971
5,9S1
413
5, 097
481
2,291
558
261
778
2,281
1,511
3,208
353
501
1,365
581
607
500
414
590
756
4,665
335
278
3,585
367
1,748
421
182
402
1,598
893
2,063
162
323
9.52
331
348
363
308
484
3,372
236
148
2,432
225
1,274
307
128
201
1,135
464
1,315
81
210
602
217
244
197
190
300
412
179
102
1,584
151
865
341
221
149
1,414
471
1,578
71
216
787
257
438
184
217
367
505
1,865
150
1,175
4, azr
3.175
12, 596
17,496
24,115
33.711
8,058
3.480
7.957
4,691
5.321
2,930
2,472
3,881
5,911
40,928
2,192
2, 851
34, 431
3,187
16, 951
Total.. 45, 129
34, 069
25, 242
17, 075
Table 8. — Distribution of arrests according to race and previous record,
Jan. 1-Sept. 30, 1933
Offense charged
known ^^^^^ ^^^^^ All others
Previous record
Criminal homicide
Rape...
Robbery
Assault
Burglary— breaking or entering
Larceny— theft
Auto theft
Forgery and counterfeiting...
Embezzlementand fraud
"Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc..
Sex offenses (except rape)..
Offenses against family and children.
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness,
vagrancy
Gambling
Traffic and motor vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated
All other offenses
Total
2,943
2,487
9,713
10, 052
18, 288
24, 187
6,907
3.152
6,968
2,957
4,174
2,603
1,730
3,522
4,534
31, 162
1,071
2,028
24,765
2,631
13, 293
1, 506
594
2,679
7,105
5.533
8,942
1,077
287
904
1,597
1,084
276
215
257
1,323
754
9,224
3,382
870
732
5,252
4,839
8.745
12, 063
2. 755
1,407
3,452
1,361
1,392
705
1,449
807
1,418
16, 423
562
811
13, 524
1,223
4,986
3,667
2,443
7,344
12. 657
15, 370
21, 648
5,303
2,073
4,505
3,330
3,929
2,225
1,023
3,074
4,493
24, 505
1,630
2.040
20, 907
1,964
11, 965
179, 167
84, 776
156,095
14
Table 9. — Percentage with previous records; arrests, Jan. 1-Sept. SO, 1933
Offense charged
Percent
Offense charged
Percent
58.6
43.4
41.7
40.4
40.1
39.3
36.3
35.8
34.2
29.4
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
29.0
28.4
27.7
Sex offenses (except rape)
26.2
25.6
vagrancy
Offenses against family and children
Liquor laws
24.1
Suspicion and investigation
24.0
Driving while intoxicated
23.1
Larceny— theft
20.8
Auto theft
Criminal homicide
19.2
During September 1933, the Division of Investigation examined
27,429 arrest records as indicated by the fingerprint cards received
from law-enforcement officials throughout the country. Of the total,
9,818 already had fingerprint cards on file in the Division of Investi-
gation, Of the latter number, the records of 6,576 (67%) indicated
that the individuals concerned had previously been convicted of
some offense. The convictions for the more serious offenses are:
Criminal homicide, 64; rape, 60; robbery, 421; assault, 378; bur-
glary— breaking or entering, 1,073; larceny — theft, 1,431; auto
theft, 309; forgery and counterfeiting, 239; embezzlement and
fraud, 259; weapons (carrying, possessing, etc.), 94; and narcotic
drug laws, 166.
The total of 4,494 convictions for serious offenses listed above
constitutes 68 percent of the total number of convictions which were
disclosed by the fingerprint cards. Of the 64 individuals who had
previously been convicted of criminal homicide, 1 was arrested and
charged during September with criminal homicide, 2 with robbery,
5 with assault, 5 with burglary, and 7 with larceny — theft. Similarly,
over one half of those previously convicted of rape, robbery, assault,
burglary, larceny, or auto theft were arrested during September on
some one of the same group of serious charges. In other words,
although they were not necessarily charged with the same type of
offense as that of which they had been previously convicted, a large
portion of the individuals whose fingerprint records showed that they
had been previously incarcerated for serious offenses was arrested
during September on charges which are generally considered as
being among the more serious offenses against the person or against
property.
The tendency for individuals who have previously been convicted
of serious crimes to continue exhibiting vicious criminal tendencies
is further illustrated in the following figures. Of the 6,576 whose
records showed previous convictions, 47 were arrested and charged
with criminal homicide during September. Thirty of them had pre-
viously been convicted of criminal homicide, rape, robbery, assault,
larceny, or auto theft. Approximately one fourth of the individuals
whose arrest records were examined during September had previously
been convicted on some criminal charge, as indicated by information
appearing in the fingerprint files of the Division of Investigation.
Undoubtedly, some of the remaining persons for whom no convictions
appear in the records of the Division had likewise been previously
15
convicted of some law violation but such information is not in the
files of the Division at Washington.
In connection with the tabulation showing previous convictions,
it should be noted that the period covered is only 1 month. It is
possible that the tabulation of this type of information over a longer
period of time will reveal substantial variations from the data tabu-
lated during September.
Table 10. — Previous convictions of persons arrested and fingerprinted,
September, 1933
Offense charged
Criminal homicide -.
Rape
Robbery
Assault --
Burglary— breaking or entering
Larceny— theft
Autotheft
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud — _..
Stolen property, buying, receiving, possess-
ing
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
Prostitution and commercialized vice
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution).
Offenses against family and children
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws..
Drunkenness
Disorderly conduct
Vagrancy
Gambling
Road and driving laws
Parking violations
Other traffic and motor vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated..
All other offenses _
Total.
Offense of which previously convicted
16
Table 10. — Previous convictions of persons arrested and fingerprinted,
September, 1933— Continued
Offense of which previously convicted
Offense charged
1
Q
£
11
1
•5
a
° o
Q
1
a
3
a
03
o
>
III
Is
II
5-s
1
2
0
5
2
11
20
25
,
\
9
30
11
29
8
3
6
1
3
17
23
24
28
4
2
2
1
3
15
17
25
42
4
1
12
2
""2
2
3
1
1
2
J
3
1
1
1
1
6
2
4
4
1
47
3
12
24
13
28
10
6
7
72
Robbeyry
5
8
6
14
1
2
3
4
2
2
365
Assault
396
692
Larceny — theft
321 992
Auto theft
5
4
2
4
222
113
3
2
1
1
....
241
Stolen property; buying, receiving, possess-
ing
30
5
5
....
1
8
24
21
11
20
3
7
2
3
2
""l
5
128
24
41
2
2
2
3
2
2
4
"is
19
4
4
5
4
7
4
32
24
143
4
1
1
1
1
107
Prostitution and commercializefi vice
2
-1
52
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution),..
6
3
2
2
4
7
8
32
4
51
39
63
1
7
3
17
1
"is
"ib
3
4
....
132
Driving while intoxicated
-
1
70
83
9
3
1
3
5
......
438
Disorderly conduct
2
4
287
Vagrancy
678
60
3
15
Parking violations
3
55
2
16
1
44
"'ii
1
27
4
14
""71
6
26
1
4
2
4
4
6
6
4
41
1
29
58
24
1
6
7
17
2
950
Not stated
63
1
1
3
Total . . .. —
166
58
281
378
250
455
33
31
44
45
4
264
6,57(5
0 \00 200 300 400 500
ditto J^e
z
m^m^m
\
1 . 1
! 1
t i 1
^^m
^^^^^^^^\
17
During the third quarter of 1933, the arrest records of 81,378
individuals were examined Of the total, 51,429 were native whites,
7,267 were foreign-born whites and 20,101 were Negroes. The signifi-
cance of these numbers is probably best shown by stating the number
of each of the three types of persons arrested in proportion to the num-
ber of such persons in the general population of the country. Com-
paring the number in each group with the total number in the country
(exclusive of those under 15 years of age), there were 43 percent more
native whites arrested during the third quarter of 1933 than foreign-
born whites. The Negroes arrested were more than three times as
numerous as native whites and almost five times as numerous as
foreign-born whites.
In the following instances, the proportion of foreign-born whites
exceeded that of native whites and the proportion of Negroes was much
larger than that of foreign-born whites: Criminal homicide, assault,
weapons (carrying, possessing, etc.), stolen property (buying, receiv-
ing, possessing).
For the following major oft'enses, the number of native whites ex-
ceeded the number of foreign-born whites, and the number of Negroes
exceeded the number of native whites: Robbery, burglary — breaking
or entering, larceny — theft, auto theft.
Only in two instances was the proportion of Negroes less than the
proportion of native whites arrested, namely, forgery and counterfeit-
ing, and driving whOe intoxicated.
At the end of September there were 3,914,228 fingerprint records
and 5,042,123 index cards containing names or aliases of individuals
w4th records on file in the Division of Investigation at Washington.
Of each 100 fingerprint cards received during the 9-month period
January to September, more than 45 were identified with data in the
files of the Division. During the same period, 3,118 fugitives from
justice were identified through fingerprint records and information as
to the whereabouts of these fugitives was immediately transmitted to
the law enforcement officers or agencies desiring to apprehend these
individuals.
The number of police departments, peace officers, and law enforce-
ment agencies throughout the United States and foreign countries
voluntarily contributing fingerprints to the Division at the end of
September totaled 6,226.
18
Table 11. — Arrests, July 1-September SO, 19S3
[Number per 100,000 of population, excluding those under 15 years of age]
Offense charged
Criminal homicide
Rape. -
Robbery
Assault -
Burglary— breaking or entering
Larceny— theft
Auto theft
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud
Stolen property; buying, receiving, possessing
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc... _
Prostitution and commerciahzed vice
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)
Offenses against family and children
Narcotic drug laws
Driving while intoxicated...
Liquor laws.
Drunkenness
Disorderly conduct
Vagrancy
Gambhng
Road and driving laws
Parking violations.
Other traffic and motor vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated
All other offenses
Total
Native
white
4.1
7.9
11.1
3.3
1.4
3.1
.7
1.1
10.8
1.2
6.7
Foreign-
born
white
1.1
1.1
.4
1.0
1.3
3.3
3.5
3.1
.9
.2
)
.6
5.6
.5
5.0
Negro
6.2
2.g
10.1
33.5
22.3
36.2
4.5
1.0
3.8
2.1
6.6
3.3
2.1
1.2
.9
1.1
4.1
12.6
15.0
17.1
4,2
1.2
.1
2.2
38.8
2.1
15.1
Less than one tenth of 1 per 100,000.
o
'^93b'3. ^^
O
UNIFORM
CRIME REPORTS
FOR THE UNITED STATES
AND ITS POSSESSIONS
//
Volume IV — Number 4
FOURTH QUARTERLY BULLETIN, 1933
Issued by the
Division of Investigation
United States Department of Justice
Washington, D.C.
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON: 1934
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE ON UNIFORM CRIME RECORDS
OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE
(11)
FEB 19 ^934
UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS
J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Division of Investigation, United States Department
of Justice, Washington, D.C.
Volume 4 January 1934 Number 4
ANNOUNCEMENT
Pursuant to the recommendation of the Committee on Uniform
Crime Records of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the
Division of Investigation will begin in the issue of the bulletin Uniform
Crime Reports for the first quarter of 1934, the publication of crime rates
for individual cities with population in excess of 100,000.
CONTENTS
Classification of offenses.
Extent of reporting area.
Monthly returns:
Offenses known to the police — cities divided according to population.
Daily average, offenses known to the police, 1933.
Daily average, offenses known to the police, 1931-33.
Offenses known to the police — cities divided according to location.
Daily average, offenses of robbery and burglary, 1930-33.
Data compiled from fingerprint cards, 1933:
Sex distribution of persons arrested.
Age distribution of persons arrested.
Race distribution of persons arrested.
Percentage with previous fingerprint records.
Number with records showing previous convictions.
Classification of Offenses
The term "offenses known to the police" is designed to include
those crimes designated as part I classes of the uniform classification
occurring within the police jurisdiction, whether they become known
to the police through reports of police officers, of citizens, of prose-
cuting or court officials, or otherwise. They are confined to the fol-
lowing group of seven classes of grave oflenses, shown by experience
to be those most generally and completely reported to the police:
Criminal homicide, including (a) murder, nonnegligcnt manslaughter,
and (b) manslaughter by negligence; rape; robbery; aggravated
assault; burglary — breaking or entering; larceny — theft; and auto
theft. The figures contained herein include also the number of at-
tempted crimes of the designated classes. Attempted murders,
however, are reported as aggravated assaults. In other words, an
attempted burglary or robbery, for example, is reported iti the bulletin
in the same manner as if the crime had been completed.
"Offenses known to the police" include, therefore, all of the above
offenses, including attempts, which are reported by the police depart-
ments of contributing cities and not merely arrests or cleared cases.
In order to indicate more clearly the types of offenses included in
each group, there follows a brief definition of each classification.
(1)
1. Criminal homicide. — (a) Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter — includes
all felonious homicides except those caused by negligence. Does not include
attempts to kill, assaults to kill, justifiable homicides, suicides, or accidental
deaths, {h) Manslaughter by negligence — includes only those cases in which
death is caused by culpable negligence which is so clearly evident that if the
person responsible for the death were apprehended he would be prosecuted for
manslaughter.
2. Rape. — Includes forcible rape, statutory rape, assault to rape, and attempted
rape.
3. Robbery. — Includes stealing or taking anything of value from the person by
force or violence or by putting in fear, such as highway robbery, stick-ups,
robbery armed. Includes assault to rob and attempt to rob.
4. Aggravated assault. — Includes assault with intent to kill; assault by shooting,
cutting, stabbing, poisoning, scalding, or by use of acids; mayhem, maiming.
Does not include simple assault, assault and battery, fighting, etc.
5. Burglary — breaking or entering. — Includes burglary, housebreaking, safe
cracking, or any unlawful entry to commit a felony or theft. Includes attempted
burglary and assault to coinmit a burglary. Burglary followed by a larceny is
entered" here and is not counted again under larceny.
6. Larceny — theft {except auto theft). — (a) Fifty dollars and over in value.
(b) Under $50 in value — includes in one of the above subclassifications, depending
upon the value of the property stolen, pocket-picking, purse-snatching, shop-
lifting, or any stealing of property or thing of value which is not taken by force
and violence or by fraud. Does not include embezzlement, "con-games",
forger^', passing worthless checks, etc.
7. Auto theft. — Includes all cases where a motor vehicle is stolen or driven
away and abandoned, including the so-called "joy-riding" thefts. Does not
include taking for teinporary use when actually returned by the taker, or unauth-
orized use by those having lawful access to the vehicle.
In publishing the data sent in by chiefs of police in different cities,
the Division of Investigation does not vouch for its accuracy. It is
given out as current information, which may throw some Ught on
problems of crime and criminal-law enforcement.
In compiling the tables, returns which were apparently incomplete
or otherwise defective were excluded.
Extent of Reporting Area
In the following table there is shown the number of police depart-
ments which contributed one or more crime reports during the cal-
endar year 1933. The cities are listed according to size, and for each
group the total population represented is shown. Population figures
in excess of 10,000 are the estimates of the Bureau of the Census as
of July 1, 1932. Similar estimates were not available for cities with
less than 10,000 inhabitants, and, accordingly, for them the 1930
census figures were employed.
Since the inception of uniform crime reporting in 1930, there has
been a continuous growth in the size of the reporting area. The
number of reporting cities and the population represented thereby,
are shown below for each calendar 3^ear to date.
Year
Cities
Population
1930... --
1,127
1,511
1,578
1,658
45, 929, 965
51, 145, 734
1932
53, 212, 230
1933
62, 357, 262
It will be observed that during 1933 the reporting area showed an
increase of 80 cities with an aggregate population of 9,145,032.
Furthermore, one or more reports were received during 1933 from
86 percent of all cities with over 10,000 inhabitants. These cities
included 95 percent of the population of all cities in that group.
Population group
Total
number
of cities
or towns
Cities filing returns
Total popu-
lation
Population repre-
sented in returns
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
Tot^l
983
849
86
GO, 813, 881
57. 728, 845
95
1. Cities over 250,000..
37
57
105
192
592
36
57
94
173
489
97
100
90
90
83
29, 955, 600
7,908,112
7, 092, 407
6.695,136
9, 162, 626
29. 672. 100
7,908.112
6. 429. 175
6. 062. 513
7, 656. 945
99
100
3. Cities 50 000 to 100,000
91
4. Cities 25,000 to 50.000..
5. Cities 10,000 to 25,000
91
84
Note.— The above table does not include 809 cities and rural townships aggregating a total population
of 4.628,417. The cities included in thi.s figure are those of less than 10,000 population filing returns,
whereas the rural townships are of varying population groups.
MONTHLY RETURNS
Offenses Known to the Police — Cities Divided According to Population
There is shown in table 1 the number of offenses reported by the
police departments in 1,264 cities with an aggregate population of
49,470,686. The figures are subdivided into six groups according to
size of city, and are also expressed in the form of rates per 100,000
people. On the whole, the compilation shows that cities with popu-
lation in excess of 100,000 have higher crime rates than the smaller
communities. It appears further that with certain exceptions, the
crime rates vary among the six groups of cities according to size of
city. The exceptions to this general variation are as follows: Murder
and manslaughter for group VI, robbery for group II, aggravated
assault for groups I and II, and burglary and larceny for group I.
For the offense of rape there are several exceptions to the tendency
noted above, but there is a rather small variation in the crime rates
reported for the six groups of cities.
The amount of variation in the crime rates for cities divided
according to size differs with the offense. For murder and larceny-
theft, the highest rate reported is two times as great as the lowest,
and for manslaughter by negligence and aggravated assault, the
highest figure is more than 2^ times as great as the lowest. The
highest burglary rate is slightly less than twice the lowest figure.
The greatest amount of variation in the rates reported is found in the
figures for robbery and auto theft.
Offenses of burglary — breaking or entering, larceny— theft, and
auto theft account for nine tenths of the reported offenses included
in table 1 . Offenses of robbery constitute 6 percent, and the remain-
ing 4 percent consists of offenses of murder, manslaughter by negli-
gence, rape, and aggravated assault.
Seventy-eight of the cities with population in excess of 100,000
people reported larcenies classified according to the value of the
article stolen. A tabulation of that information is shown below:
Larceny— theft
Population group
$50 and over
in value
Under $50 in
value
28 cities over 250.000; total population. 19,169,700:
22, 235
116.0
7,295
103.2
130, 150
Rate per 100,000
678.9
50 cities, 100,000 to 250,000; total population, 7",070,5i2:
56,517
799.3
It will be observed that for major larcenies the larger cities report
the higher rate, but for the minor larcenies the opposite is true.
Table 1. — Offenses known to the police, January to December, inclusive, 1938]
number and rates per 100,000 by population groups
[Population as estimated July 1, 1932, by the Bureau of the Census]
Population group
Criminal homi-
cide
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaugh-
ter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Rape
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
break-
ing or
enter-
ing
Lar-
ceny-
theft
GROUP I
35 cities over 250,000; total population,
22,454,000:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000...-
GROUP n
52 cities, 100,000 to 250,000; total popula-
tion, 7,302,512:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
GROUP III
80 cities, 50,000 to 100,000; total popula-
tion, 5,446,443:
Number of oSenses known
Rate per 100,000
QROUP IV
141 cities, 25,000 to 50,000; total popula-
tion, 4,975,881:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000....
GROUP V
370 cities, 10,000 to 25,000; total popula-
tion, 5,820,789:
Number of offenses known
Rate per 100,000
GROUP VI
586 cities under 10,000; total population,
3,471,061:
Number of offenses known.
Rate per 100,000
Total 1,264 cities; total popula-
tion, 49,470,686:
Number of ofTenses known..
Rate per 100,000
1 1,435
6.8
1,470
6.5
34,90
155.
5,173
70.8
4,238
77.8
2,772
55.7
2, 475
42.5
1,152
33.2
4,543
62.2
2,070
41.6
2,113
36.3
875
25.2
96, 120
428.1
32, 844
449.8
19, 295
354.3
15, 853
318.6
15, 025
258.1
2176,436
796.4
65, 656
899.1
46, 509
853.9
36, 330
730.1
95. 131
423.7
26, 556
363.7
14,933
274.2
10, 014
201.3
8,617
148.0
3.257
93.8
3 2, 285
4.8
50, 719
102.5
25, 082
50.7
187, 683
379.2
<374,662
762.0
158.508
320.4
1 The number of offenses and rate for manslaughter by negligence are based on reports of 34 cities with a
total population of 21,069,000.
2 The number of ofTenses and rate for larceny— theft are based on reports of 34 cities with a total popula-
tion of 22,1,53,100.
5 The number of offenses and rate for manslaughter by negligence are based on reports of 1,263 cities with a
total population of 48,085,686.
* The number of offenses and rate for larceny— theft are based on reports of 1,263 cities with a total popula-
tion of 49, 169,786.
Daily Average, Offenses Known to the Police, January to December,
inclusive, 1933
Table 2 shows the daily average number of offenses reported by
the 1,264 cities included in table 1. It should be noted, however,
that the averages for manslaughter by negligence and larceny — theft
are based on the reports of 1,263 cities with population as indicated
in the footnotes to the table. The compilation discloses that the
daily average number of offenses of murder and aggravated assault
is highest during the third quarter of the year. Offenses of man-
slaughter by negligence, larceny^theft, and auto theft are most
frequent during the fourth quarter of the year. On the other hand,
the daily averages for robbery and burglary show a high point in
the first quarter of the year with a secondary high in the fourth
period. The figures for these two offenses are observed to be further
similar in that the lowest points are found in the third quarter.
Table 2.
-Daily average, offenses known to the police, January to Decetnber,
inclusive, 1933; 1,264 miscellaneous cities
[Total population, 49,470,630, as estimated July 1, 1932, by the Bureau o( the Census]
Criminal homicide
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaugh-
ter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
breaking
or enter-
ing
Larceny-
theft
Auto
theft
January
February..
March
April
May
June
July
August.
September
October
November
December
January to December
9.1
9.4
10.2
10.3
10.2
9.1
10.1
10.2
7.9
7.3
8.8
8.3
8.2
9.7
8.1
10.0
8.2
7.1
193.4
165.7
155.6
140.1
121.0
112.9
117.3
111.4
114.5
132.0
139.3
165.5
60.3
62.0
62.1
65.1
70.7
72.4
78.4
75.6
77.8
69.3
62.5
67.9
570.8
519.7
539.4
537.5
501.5
459.4
490.4
499.5
497.2
502.4
507.0
541.3
1, 014. 4
956.2
1, 035! 6
970^5
1, 004. 7
1, 022. 9
1,131.8
1,151.2
1, 088. 6
139.0
513.9 1,026.5
' The daily averages for manslaughter by negligence are based on reports of 1,263 cities with a total popu-
lation of 48,085,686.
3 The daily averages for larceny— theft are based on reports of 1,263 cities with a total population of
49,169,786.
In table 3 are shown the daily averages for 87 cities with popula-
tion in excess of 100,000. It will be observed that the general trend
of the averages is the same as that evidenced in table 2. The figures
included in table 3 are graphically presented in figure 1 .
Table 3. — Daily average, offenses known to the police, 87 cities over 100,000,
January to December 1933
[Total population, 29,756,512, as estimated July 1
1932, by the Bureau of the Census]
Criminal homicide
Rape
Rob-
bery
1
Larceny-
theft
Month
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaugh-
ter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Aggra-
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
breaking
or enter-
ing
Auto
theft
January
6.4
6.8
6.6
6.9
6.4
6.3
7.4
7.0
7.2
6.3
7.2
7.6
14.9
4.0
3.9
4.0
4.1
4.0
4.3
4.6
4.4
6.2
5.7
6.0
5.0
5.0
6.3
5.3
6.8
6.1
4.3
5.9
4.9
4.2
4.1
3.5
151.9
131.6
124.3
110.7
95.9
91.0
94.4
87.5
102! 2
110.0
131.0
39.1
41.4
42.3
41.9
47.4
50.4
51.0
49.8
49.9
44.3
39.6
42.5
388.2
353.3
373.5
369.6
347.7
317.8
336.1
339.9
338.8
344.7
351.8
377.5
2 649. 5
602.8
629.2
671.9
637.5
627.5
626.5
648.0
660.5
729.1
75L9
720.7
362 1
March
356 8
AprU
350.4
May _
July
323 0
October
364 3
November
341.2
January to December. .
6.8
4.7
5.0
109.8
45.0 353.3
663.3
333.4
> The daily averages for manslaughter by negligence are based on reports of 86 cities with a total popu-
lation of 28,371,512.
' The daily averages for larceny— theft are based on reports of 86 cities with a total population of 29,455,612.
lOQO
Chart efMonthti^ G/tlme Jyv&wuU
for- CUl€6 of 100,000 p^^fiulatiffn cMid oi/er^
§<i/njua/rti to >deae^nlie^ 1935
87 CiUe^ -- P4fri^ila±l<nt ZOJSC.SIZ
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70C
60(
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no
3O0
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90
80
70
60
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5
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I
Daily Average, Offenses Known to the Police, 1931-33
Table 4 contains the number of offenses reported by the police
departments in 70 cities with population in excess of 100,000 during
the 3-year period 1931 to 1933. The figures are also expressed in
the form of daily averages. The tabulation shows that there has
been an increase 'in the number of offenses of murder reported during
the period covered, from 1,418 in 1931 to 1,602 in 1933. Offenses
of aggravated assault have likewise shown an increase from 9,724 in
1931 to 10,766 in 1933. There has been a similar increase in the
figures reported for burglary and larceny. Expressed in terms of
percentages, the 1933 figures have shown the following increases as
compared with those for 1931: Murder 12.8, aggravated assault 10.9,
burglary — breaking or entering 14.9, larceny — theft 8.5.
There have been substantial decreases in the reported offenses of
robbery and auto theft; for robbery, from 19,198 in 1931 to 17,523 in
1933; and for auto theft, from 87,342 in 1931 to 71,387 in 1933.
Expressed in terms of percentages, these decreases are 8.7 and 18.3
for robbery and auto theft, respectively.
In presenting the averages in table 4, no attempt has been made
to take into account the changes which have undoubtedly occurred
in the population of the cities whose reports have been included
therein. Although some cities may have shown a decrease in popula-
tion during the period covered, it is reasonable to assume that on the
whole, the population of the 70 cities has shown a slight increase.
Taking such an increase into consideration would have the effect of
minimizing the amount of increase in reported crime, and of enlarging
the extent to which offenses of robbery and auto theft have decreased,
as shown in the following table.
Table 4.- — Daily average, offenses known to the police, 70 cities over 100,000,
January to December, inclusive, 1931-33
[Total population, 20,294,602, as estimated July 1, 1932, by the Bureau of the Census]
Criminal homicide
Rape
Rob-
bery
vated
assault
Bur-
breaking
or enter-
ing
Larceny-
theft
Year
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaughter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Auto
theft
Number of ofienses known:
1931
1,418
1,446
1,602
3.9
4.0
4.4
i;092
1,371
3.8
3.0
3.8
1,178
1,247
1,227
3.2
3.4
3.4
19, 198
18, 270
17, 523
52.6
49.9
48.0
9,724
8,725
10, 766
26.6
23.8
29.5
68, 407
74, 079
78, 600
187.4
202.4
215.3
152, 705
153, 638
165, 614
418.4
419.8
453.7
87, 342
1932
73, 230
1933
71, 387
Daily average:
1931
239.3
1932
200.1
1933
195.6
Offenses Known to the Police — Cities Divided According to Location
Crime rates for individual States and geographic divisions of the
country are shown in table 6. The number of cities the reports of
wliich have been employed in compiling these figures is shown in
table 5. This information is obviously of considerable significance
in view of the fact that there is a rather large variance in the number
of reporting cities and the population represented thereby in the
several States. To illustrate, the rates for Delaware, Idaho, Nevada,
8
New Mexico, South Carolina, and Wyoming are based on the reports
of only from 1 to 3 cities. Because of the restricted reporting areas
in those States the rates should be used with caution.
Another factor which may affect the comparability of figures for the
several States is the proportion of large cities included in the report-
ing area. Tliis factor should be given consideration in view of the
fact that table 1 discloses a tendency for large cities to have higher
crime rates than the smaller communities.
Table 6 discloses that the East South Central States have the
Hghest rates for murder and aggravated assault, whereas the New
England States report the lowest figures for those offenses. The
Middle Atlantic group reports the highest figures for manslaughter
by negligence and the lowest for burglary, larceny, and auto theft.
The Mountain States show the liighest rate for burglary, but report
the lowest figures for manslaughter by negligence.
Table 5. — Number of cities in each State included in the tabulation of uniform crime
reports, January to December, inclusive, 1933
Population
Division and State
Over
250, 000
100,000
to
250,000
50,000
to
100,000
25,000
to
50,000
10,000
to
25,000
Less
than
10,000
Total
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION
New England: 144 cities; total population,
5 203 965
2
6
4
2
3
1
5
12
7
9
5
6
3
5
1
4
9
18
22
6
10
2
5
6
1
21
48
»9
11
10
5
10
1
1
1
9
4
5
9
9
8
14
7
11
7
9
47
107
92
41
20
9
14
4
36
5
3
2
31
1
5
39
25
43
28
11
22
19
12
6
6
7
3
5
5
9
53
151
157
62
36
10
22
67
7
2
6
24
4
10
66
52
33
43
8
24
70
12
22
8
9
4
2
7
10
io'
6
2
144
Middle Atlantic: 315 cities; total population,
315
East North Central: 337 cities; total popula-
tion 15 213 963
337
West North Central: 127 cities; total" popula-
tion 4,403,079
127
South Atlantic: 85 cities; total population.
85
East South Central: 29 cities; total popula-
tion 1 656 803
29
West South Central: 59 cities; total popula-
Mountain: 41 cities; total population, 935,901.
Pacific: 128 cities; total population, 5,314,539..
New England:
Maine
41
128
14
New Hampshire
7
9
1
1
8
6
79
Rhode Island
10
4
4
1
2
3
2
1
1
1
4
4
10
4
6
8
3
25
Middle Atlantic:
New York
2
2
2
5
1
1
1
1
2
124
New Jersey
93
98
East North Central:
Ohio
97
31
65
Michigan
107
37
West North Central:
31
Iowa
3
4
2
3 1
1
r
22
2
22
8
South Dakota
8
Nebraska
1
2
1
_ \_
14
22
South Atlantic:
2
Maryland
1
2
4
1
5
3
5
4
2
1
4
22
12
North Carolina
13
1 Only 8 of the 9 cities are included in tables 1 and 2.
2 Includes District of Columbia.
3 Not included in tables 1 and 2.
Table 5. — Number of cities in each State included in the tabulation of unifortn crinn
reports, January to December, inclusive, 1933 — Continued
Population
Division and State
Over
250,000
100,000
to
250,000
50,000
to
100,000
25,000
to
50,000
10,000
to
25,000
Less
than
10,000
Total
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION— Continued
South Atlantic— Continued.
2
1
1
Georgia
.
1
1
2
3
3
3
5
12
5
3
1
9
5
3
2
8
1
3
5
1
3
56
11
Florida
3
--
19
East South Central:
Kentucky
1
1
1
12
Tennessee
7
1
4
6
1
6
5
6
West South Central:
1
1
2
5
1
4
1
5
Oklahoma
2
3
" i'
22
2
28
Mountain:
6
3
2
Colorado
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
i'
8
4
24
14
New Mexico
2
]_
5
Utah .
1
7
Nevada
2
Pacific:
1
1
3
2
2
1
7
16
14
California
2
6
98
Table
-Rate per 100,000, offenses known to the police, January to December,
inclusive, 1933
Criminal homicide
Rape
Rob-
bery
vated
assault
Bur-
glary-
breaking
or enter-
ing
Larceny-
theft
Division and State
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaugh-
ter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Auto
theft
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION
New England
2.0
4.5
6.1
7.1
14.6
23.4
15.7
7.4
4.5
1.7
.6
0
2.5
1.7
1.2
2.4
6.0
5.3
2.8
9.3
2.7
3.2
6.0
7.4
4.9
.7
3.8
2.9
0
0
3.4
1.9
2.2
2.7
14.5
11.4
5.3
5.6
6.2
4.1
7.3
4.0
5.3
5.8
7.6
3.7
6.2
LO
6.5
.2
4.2
5.6
6.2
5.4
25.5
43.2
164.2
101.1
92.7
128.4
94.0
108.6
117.3
20.4
8.0
2.1
31.2
7.4
2L3
18.0
56.9
53.5
18.0
4L9
43.0
22.0
156.2
200.1
61.5
21.0
23.8
35.8
4.9
7.2
17.8
21.0
16.3
29.9
71.7
36.5
285.5
222.1
373.4
346.9
44 LO
550.3
531.9
647.6
584.8
227.8
160.9
73.9
293.0
250.8
328.6
200.1
375.7
167.7
552.0
327.7
814.1
754.3
918.3
706.5
1, 148. 3
1, 158. 0
1, 272. 9
395.6
300.3
174.4
543.3
636.0
655.7
417.0
443.7
217.5
262.0
164.2
East North Central i
West North Central
358.1
365.5
340.3
East South Central
309.5
West South Central
410.6
402.9
Pacific '
452.4
New England:
Maine
184.9
102.4
50.3
Massachusetts
317.1
Rhode Island
98.9
218.6
Middle Atlantic:
New York
m.i
218.5
Pennsylvania
16L6
' The rate for larceny— theft is based on reports of 336 cities with a total population of 14,913,063.
» Includes report of District of Columbia.
3 The rate for manslaughter by neghgence is based on reports of 127 cities with a total population of
;,929.539.
10
Table
-Rate -per 100,000, offenses known to the police, January to December,
inclusive, 1933 — Continued
Division and State
Criminal homicide
Murder,
nonneg-
ligent
man-
slaugh-
ter
Man-
slaugh-
ter by
negli-
gence
Rob-
bery
Aggra-
vated
assault
bSing Larceny-
or enter- i ^'^^"'
Auto
theft
GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION— COn.
East North Central:
Ohio <-. ,
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin.
West North Central:
Minnesota
Iowa
Missouri
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
South Atlantic:
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
West Virginia
North Carolina
South Carohna _.
Georgia
Florida
East South Central:
Kentucky...
Tennessee
Alabama
Mississippi
West South Central:
Arkansas
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Texas
Mountain:
Montana
Idaho...
Wyoming...
Colorado..
New Mexico
Arizona
Utah
Nevada
Pacific:
Washington
Oregon
California s
7.8
4.9
8.4
3.3
1.1
2.1
2.9
13.1
2.0
1.9
4.1
8.0
9.2
5.7
16.3
7.2
23.4
8.0
19.7
20.8
19.0
22.6
34.5
11.8
17.6
13.5
10.5
18.2
0
0
11.7
6.6
3.0
19.8
4.7
19.9
3.2
1.8
5.1
9.0
2.3
16.6
3.8
6.5
15.0
4.3
3.0
6.7
1.2
5.0
10.1
9.6
11.2
6.7
7.2
3.2
6.2
2.9
5.8
3.3
2.5
4.3
2.9
7.0
6.6
14.8
11.7
6.2
0
10.4
2.3
0
2.0
2.7
9.3
97.5
102.2
339.7
75.1
19.3
86.5
73.0
128.5
54.4
82.8
66.2
121.8
42.2
63.4
74.3
73.3
67.9
263.4
47.6
107.1
156.6
136.3
23^6
179.3
50.8
133.7
87.9
27.9
37.0
23.3
149. S
38.7
92.5
80.1
43.0
52.3
58.8
32.0
6.4
11.6
15.6
31.7
3.0
2.9
26.7
25.0
64.1
6.2
193.9
50.9
566.6
126.9
97.2
233.3
209.7
229.1
140.3
165.4
17.6
33.4
40.7
82.1
8.2
22.2
11.7
15.7
3.0
54.7
15.0
87.4
17.9
15.0
26.0
330.5
419.0
528.5
267.8
175.7
391.8
384.5
286.5
403.8
293.5
263.3
479.9
353.7
265.6
479.0
279.6
470.0
36.9
393. 0
727.2
562.9
518.8
673.9
229.9
526.8
241.8
576.3
616.6
272.3
233.0
110.8
769.3
532.9
578.6
629.8
774.9
713.7
828.6
532.1
865.3
981.5
566.9
1, 130. 8
619.0
440.8
754.1
64l!3
701.5
741.1
1, 123. 7
340.4
615.3
206.1
134.0
478.4
293.9
307.1
155.4
240.6
562.4
305.3
604.8
208.0
457.5
323.2
1, 244. 2
250.7
596.3
257.9
846.0
376.3
2, 258. 1
67.5
1, 657. 8
221.6
957.4
302.6
987.9
284.9
623.4
308.0
488.2
413.0
545.6
61.2
1, 146. 1
477.5
315.6
201.0
1, 195. 8
299.6
1, 418. 4
616.3
1, 164. 5
126.3
569.6
144.2
408.3
35.0
1, 172. 6
393.4
1, 104. 5
247.1
1,619.7
591.8
924.4
487.0
2, 133. 9
472.9
1, 504. 6
508.1
1, 491. 2
303.0
1, 202. 2
457.6
* The rate for larceny— theft is based o n reports of 96 cities .
6 The rate for manslaughter by negligence is based on reports of 97 cities.
Offenses of Robbery and Burglary, 1930-33
In order to indicate variations in the amount of robbery committed,
there is included in table 7 the daily average number of offenses re-
ported during 1930 to 1933 by the police departments in 616 cities
representing a population of 33,276,222. The averages are also shown
for the same cities subdivided into two groups according to size. For
the total of 616 cities, the compilation discloses a large increase from
1930 to 1931, with a slight increase from 1931 to 1932 which is followed
by a decrease in 1933. The increase in 1931 is quite substantial,
amounting to 21 percent. It should be noted in this connection,
however, that 1930 was the first year during which uniform crime
11
reports were compiled, and it is possible that the increase m 1931 is
partially due to more complete reporting.
The increase during 1932 is so slight as to be without significance,
and the decrease during 1933 amounts to 8 percent. In connection
with the decrease shown during 1933, it is probably of significance
to note that the averages for November and December of that year
are lower than for the corresponding months of 1930, 1931, and 1932.
The variations in the daily averages for cities with population in
excess of 100,000 are quite similar to those referred to for the group
of 616 cities. In examining the figures for cities with less than 100,000
inhabitants, however, the situation is found to be somewhat different.
The increase in 1931 was much smaller, amounting to only 6.7 percent
and was followed by a decrease of 11.5 percent in 1932, and an addi-
tional decrease of 2.4 percent in 1933. For this group of cities the
averages for both 1932 and 1933 are lower than either 1930 or 1931.
The tabulation shows a rather definite seasonal trend for each year,
the averages for the first and fourth quarters being considerably higher
than those for the second and third periods.
The figures contained in table 7 are graphically presented in figure 2.
Table 7. — Daily average, offenses of robbery known to the police, 1930-33
[Population as estimated July 1, 1932, by the Bureau of the Census]
January
February
March
April
May -
June
July
August
September
October
November.
December.
January to
December..
616 cities (population
33,276,222)
114.2
105.0
90.7
75.3
70.3
68.1
73.1
81.9
84.6
92.6
113.1
131.0
119.4
129.4
111.2
134.1
118.2
110.0
103.9
96.4
87.6
97.5
97.2
105.3
117.0
124.6
148.8
139.5
124.9
116.9
103.4
92.4
83.4
87.2
81.6
82.1
96.4
103.8
122.0
62 cities over 100,000
(population 21,715,215)
1930 1931 1932 1933
96.1
87.2
74.2
60.1
57.2
54.7
59.1
63.4
65.7
72.4
90.4
104.5
95.4
107.8
93.5
77^4
71.3
76.0
81.5
84.2
113.5
98.8
92.9
88.5
81.7
73.8
83.1
83.3
88.6
99.6
107.6
126.7
116.3
104.6
99.4
88.1
77.9
71.8
73.7
67.5
66.9
79.2
87.6
102.9
554 cities under 100,000
(population 11,561,007)
1930 1931 1932 1933
18.1
17.9
16.5
15.2
13.1
13.4
14.0
18.5
18.9
20.2
22.7
26.5
24.1
21.6
17.8
15.1
15.5
14.8
17.9
20.0
19.4
19.9
19.7
23.4
23.2
20.3
17.5
15.3
14.5
11.6
13.5
14.1
15.2
17.2
16.2
19.1
12
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13
In table 8 is shown the daily average number of offenses of burglary
as reported by the police departments in the same 616 cities included
in table 7. For the entire group of cities, the compilation shows an
increase of 25.8 percent during 1931, which was followed by an addi-
tional increase of 12.5 percent during 1932. However, a decrease of
3.1 percent was shown for 1933. The trends for cities divided into
two groups, according to size, are similar to those shown by the total
of 6f6 cities.
As was observed in the case of robbery, the daily averages for bur-
glary tend to show a seasonal fluctuation with the figures for the first
and fourth quarters being higher than those for the second and third
portions of the year. However, the seasonal variations are not as
regidar as in the case of robbery.
The burglary averages included in table 8 are likewise presented in
figure 3.
Table S. — Daily average, offenses of burglary known to the police, 1930-33
[Population as estimated July 1, 1932, by the Bureau of the Census]
Month
616 cities (population
33,276,222)
62 cities over 100,000
(population 21,715,215)
554 cities under 100,000
(population 11,561,007)
1930
1931
1932
1933
1930
1931
1932
1933
1930
1931
1932
1933
January
227.7
261.1
261.2
241.1
236.0
226.4
234.7
243.4
251.8
244.8
279.8
289.4
287.8
305.9
308.8
294.9
288.3
soil
322.8
315.5
319.0
359.9
374.8
383.1
373.9
348.1
360. 4
338.6
330.0
344.8
348.9
350.5
346.7
360.2
359.1
379.0
339.0
363.3
364.2
330.7
300.1
319.5
333.9
329.5
33915
370.1
162.4
185.8
185.6
173.4
167.9
160.1
163.6
165.9
167.8
163.5
190.6
196.5
197.5
210.3
221.3
210.3
206.1
205.1
211.5
232.1
227.5
234.5
257.8
275.0
272.4
266.3
251.7
259.0
238.4
233.1
240.4
244.1
247.3
245.7
255.8
258.5
272.0
241.3
262.7
260.7
238.8
213.8
227.0
235.8
231.1
243.2
247.4
265.0
65.3
75.4
75.6
67.7
68.1
7i;o
77.5
83.9
81.3
92! 8
90.2
95.6
87.5
84.7
82.1
84.8
90.6
90.7
88.0
84.5
102.1
99.8
110.8
107.6
96.4
101.3
100.3
96.9
104.4
104.8
103.2
101.1
104.4
100.5
107.0
97.7
March
100.6
April
May
103.5
91.8
June
July.-.
92.6
98.2
September
98.3
October
96.3
92.1
December
105.1
January to
December—
249.7
314.2
353.6
342.5
173.5
224.2
251.0
245.0
76.2
90.0
102.6
97.5
14
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15
Offenses Known to Sheriffs and State Police, 1933
It has not been possible to determine crime rates for rural areas
based on uniform crime reports due to the difficulty of ascertaining?
the population area covered by reports received from law enforcement
officials policing rural territory. However, there is presented in
table 9, the number of offenses reported during 1933 by 37 sheriffs
and 7 State police troops. The Division of Investigation receives
monthly crime reports from a larger number of law enforcement
agencies policing rural areas. However, the tabulation includes the
reports of those who have submitted a complete set of reports which
apparently have been prepared in conformity with the system of
uniform crime reporting.
It is, of course, possible that in some few instances there is a
duplication of offenses reported. In other words, a single offense may
be reported both by the sheriff's department and the local police
department in an instance where they have dual jurisdiction.
It should be noted that the reports included in the tabulation below
represent only a very small portion of the rural area of the United
States.
Table 9. — Offenses known, January to December, inclusive, 1933, as reported by
37 sheriffs and 7 State police troops
Criminal homicide:
Murder, iionnegligent manslaughter 98
Manslaughter bv negligence 80
Rape 1 183
Robbery 389
Aggravated assault 428
Burglary — breaking or entering 2, 985
Larceny— theft 5, 623
Autotheft 1,070
DATA COMPILED FROM FINGERPRINT RECORDS
The data in the tables which follow should be distinguished care-
fully from the data compiled from uniform crime reports. It should
be noted that the tabulation of data from fingerprint records does not
include all persons arrested, since there are individuals arrested for
whom no fingerprint records are forwarded to Washington. Further-
more, the number of persons arrested should not be treated as equiva-
lent to the number of offenses known to have been committed, since
one person may have committed several offenses, while, on the other
hand, several persons may have been involved in the joint commission
of a single offense. The tabulations are based on fingerprint cards
received from local law-enforcement officials throughout the United
States. They have, however, been limited to records representing
arrests for violations of State laws and local ordinances. Fingerprint
cards received from penal institutions or those representing arrests
for violation of Federal laws have not been employed in this tabula-
tion.
During the calendar year 1933, 320,173 fingerprint records were
examined. Of these, 297,225 represented males and 22,948 (7.2 per-
cent) were those of females. A large proportion of youthful individ-
uals was included. Thus, 62,625 (19.6 percent) of the records repre-
sented individuals under 21 years of age; 60,272 (18.8 percent) were
those of persons between 21 and 24 years old; and 59,766 (18.7 percent)
16
were those of individuals aged between 25 and 29. In other words^
sHghtly less than 6 of 10 persons arrested and fingerprinted were less
than 30 years old.
Examination of the arrests by age groups indicates a rapid increase
from age 16 to age 19, at which position a high point was reached.
The number of persons arrested at this age was 16,307 and was greater
than that for any other single age group. For males, it likewise was
true that the number of persons arrested was greatest at age 19. How-
ever, for females the highest frequency of arrests occurs at age 23.
Of the^ 320,173 arrest records examined, 55,978 were those of indi-
viduals charged with disorderly conduct, drunkenness, or vagrancy
and 45,038 were those of persons arrested on suspicion or for investi-
gation. (It is probable that in many instances a substantive charge
was later placed without the Division of Investigation being advised
thereof.) Excluding arrests on the above charges, there were 219,157
records examined. Seventy percent of these were arrests on the fol-
lowing serious charges:
Larceny— theft 45, 620
Burglary — breaking or entering 31, 161
Assault 23, 185
Robbery 16,369
Auto theft 10,547
Embezzlement and fraud 10, 423
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc 6, 183
Criminal homicide 6, 125
Rape 4, 151
Total 153,764
Table 10. — Distribution of arrests, Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1933
Offense charged
Criminal homicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary— breaking or entering
Larceny — theft
Auto theft -.
Forgery and counterfeiting...
Embezzlement and fraud
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
Sex offenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and children
Narcotic-drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and vagrancy
Gambling
TraflBc and motor-vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated
All other offenses
Total
Total Male
320,173 297,225 22,948 100.0 100.0
Total Male Female
1.9
1.3
5.1
7.2
9.7
14.2
3.3
1.4
3.3
1.9
2.3
1.3
1.1
1.7
2.3
17.5
.9
1.2
14.1
1.4
6.9
1.9
1.4
5.3
7.1
10.3
14.0
3.5
1.4
3.3
2.0
1.4
1.3
1.0
1.8
2.3
17.3
1.0
1.3
14.1
1.4
6.9
3.1
8.4
2.6
16.7
.7
1.7
3.0
.9
13.0
.9
1.5
.6
3.0
18.9
.3
.3
13.3
17
Table 11. — Arrests by age groups, Jan. l~Dec. 31, 1933
Offense charged
Criminal homicide
Kape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary— breaking or enter-
ing
Larceny— theft—
Autotheft
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud
Weapons; carrying, possessing,
etc
Sex offenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and
children
Narcotic-drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws. _ _.
Disorderly conduct, drunken-
ness, and vagrancy
Gambling..
Traffic and motor- vehicle laws.
Suspicion and investigation...
Not stated
All other offenses
Total.
Not
known
53
,55
234
161
1,491
1,176
541
30
24
57
2,309
2,177
924
112
243
953
503
2.712
2,814
1,185
111
116
212
191
42
125
67
127
1,912
141
14, 621
183
282
1,246
656
2,481
2,840
1,066
146
172
52
45
87
182
2,477
65
16, 307
169
265
1,174
1,946
2,351
2,395
703
177
2,412
74
251
2,235
220
1,027
15, 184
253
250
1,176
883
1,799
2,302
325
364
121
107
181
295
2,549
110
263
2,367
207
1,085
15, 697
1,088
1,029
150
103
196
332
2,502
87
252
2,307
215
1,027
15, 433
951
1,010
1,338
1,925
430
185
322
2,375
108
194
2,062
202
Offense charged
50 and
over
Total, all
Criminal homicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary— breaking or entering
Larceny— theft
Auto theft...
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
Sex offenses (except rape)
Offenses against family and children...
Narcotic-drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and
vagrancy
Gambling
Traffic and motor-vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated
All other offenses
Total
1,275
743
3,650
4,708
5,273
7,828
1,673
1,893
1,289
1,549
746
617
1,036
1,506
10, 065
595
883
3,865
1,019
474
2,084
3,781
3,287
5,808
965
790
1,940
908
1,102
784
698
1,022
1,216
8,245
559
574
758
356
1,037
3,058
1,985
4,385
458
371
4,767
492
2,324
561
231
522
2,129
1,149
2,771
219
428
1,227
445
476
471
413
667
682
4,682
332
163
280
1,488
657
1,787
107
282
790
284
349
287
243
422
485
3,357
229
136
2,124
206
1,138
205
1,867
626
2,169
88
304
610
260
297
537
649
4,849
237
142
2,543
230
1,555
6,125
4,151
16, 369
23,185
31, 161
45,620
10,547
4,572
10,423
6,183
7,287
3,988
3,370
5,512
7,387
55, 978
3,033
3,866
45, 038
4,363
22, 015
34, 042
15, 192
19, 296
In 113,545 instances (35 percent), the individuals involved had
previous fingerprint records in the files of the Division of Investi-
gation. The proportion having such previous fingerprint records
varies from 58.9 percent for persons charged with violation of nar-
cotic-drug laws to 19.6 percent for those charged with criminal
homicide. Over 40 percent of those charged with embezzlement
and fraud, robbery, and forgery and counterfeiting, had such pre-
vious records, whereas, this was true of only 21.2 percent of those
18
charged with driving while intoxicated. Examination of the finger-
print cards for the individuals separated according to sex reveals
that 36.6 percent of the males and 21.2 percent of the females had
previous fingerprint cards on file.
Table 12. — Arrests, Jan. 1-Dec. SI, 1933
Offense charged
Previous record
Yes
No
Criminal homicide
1,203
950
6,925
6,438
11,473
16,454
3,689
1,914
4,491
1,815
1,955
964
1,986
1,170
1,848
22, 299
799
1,078
L672
4,922
3,201
9,444
16 747
Rape.-.
Robbery..
Assault
Larceny— theft .
29 166
.Autotheft
6 858
Embezzlement and fraud
5 932
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
4,368
5,332
Offenses against family and children ....
3 024
Narcotic-drug laws.
1 384
Driving while intoxicated .
5,539
33, 679
2,234
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and vagrancy
Gambling .. ...
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated .
27, 279
2,691
Total
113,545
Table 13.- — Percentage with previous records; arrests, Jan. 1-Dec. 31,
Offense charged
Percent
Offense charged
Percent
Narcotic-drug laws
58.9
43.1
42.3
41.9
36! 8
36.1
35.0
30.3
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
TrafQc and motor-vehicle laws
29 4
Embezzlement and fraud
27 9
Robbery
Assault
27 8
Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and
Gambling
26 3
vagrancy..
Liquor laws
25 0
Suspicion and investigation
Offenses against family and children
24 2
Larceny— theft- .
Driving while intoxicated
21 2
Auto theft
19 6
All other offenses
During the last 4 months of the year, 106,731 records were ex-
amined and of these, 26,945 (25 percent) showed that the individuals
involved had been previously convicted of some offense. Convic-
tions on the more serious charges were as follows:
Criminal homicide 245
Rape 261
Robbery 1, 544
Assault 1, 407
Burglary — breaking or entering 4, 123
Larceny" — theft 6, 029
Auto theft 1, 117
Forgery and counterfeiting 998
Embezzlement and fraud 911
Narcotic-drug laws 681
Total 17,316
19
It will be observed that the above total of 17,316 prior convictions
constitutes almost two thirds of the total convictions disclosed by
the fingerprint cards. In addition, the tabulation indicates that
over one half of those previously convicted of some one of the above
serious charges were currently charged with some one of that same
group of offenses. The table discloses further that during the
4-month period under examination six individuals currently charged
with criminal homicide had previous convictions for the same type
of offense.
Table 14. — Previous convictions of persons arrested and fingerprinted,
Sept. 1-Dec. 31, 1933
Offense charged
Criminal homicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary— breaking or entering
Larceny^theft
Auto theft__.
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud
Stolen property; buying, receiving,
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
Prostitution and commercialized vice
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) .
Offenses against family and children
Narcotic-drug laws..
Driving while into.\icated
Liquor laws ,.._
Drunkenness
Disorderly conduct
Vagrancy
Gambling
Road and driving laws
Parking violations
Other traffic and motor-vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated
All other offenses
Total 245 261 1,544
Offense of which previously convicted
44
50
330
234
626
1,645
223
78
175
60
407 4,123 6,029 1,11'
26
5
4
2
2
19 26
17
27
•20
Table 14. — Previous convictions of persons arrested and fingerprinted,
Sept. 1-Dec. 31, 1933 — Continued
Offense charged
Criminal homicide
Rape -
Robbery
Assault
Burglary— breaking or entering
Larceny— theft
Autotheft-
Forgery and counterfeiting
Embezzlement and fraud —
Stolen property; buying, receiving,
possessing--
Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc
Prostitution and commercialized vice- .
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitu-
tion)
Offenses against family and children. - .
Narcotic-drug laws
Driving while intoxicated
Liquor laws - -.
Drunkenness— ---
Disorderly conduct --.
Vagrancy -
Gambling
Road and driving laws
Parking violations
Other traffic and motor- vehicle laws
Suspicion and investigation
Not stated --
All other offenses
Total.
Offense of which previously convicted
333 1, 782 1, 074 1, 743 187 144
© O !*
53.2
o
261 196 138 1,118 26,945
276
218
1,555
1,536
2,794
4,262
195
449
215
223
198
546
347
356
1,817
1,053
2,627
172
79
172
3,821
Of the 320,173 records examined during the calendar year, 236,125
were those of whites and 76,224 (23.8 percent) were those of Negroes.
The proportion of Negroes among the males was substantially the
same, but among the females was 34.7 percent.
It is believed that figures pertaining to the number of Negroes
and foreign-born whites who were arrested and fingerprinted can
most fairly be presented by showing them in proportion to the
number of such individuals in the general population of the country.
Expressed in such terms, the Negroes arrested were three times as
numerous as native whites and more than four times as numerous
as foreign-born whites. It is further interesting to observe that on
this basis the number of native whites arrested was 47 percent greater
than the number of foreign-born whites. However, for the offense
of criminal homicide, foreign-born whites exceeded native whites by
24 percent, and for assault by 100 percent. With reference to these
two classifications, Negroes arrested were more than four times as
numerous as foreign-born whites. The preceding figures are based
on a 6-month tabulation involving an examination of 160,680 finger-
print cards.
At the end of December 1933, there were 4,060,174 fingerprint
records and 5,186,899 index cards containing names or aliases of
individuals with records on file in the Division of Investigation, at
Washington. Of each 100 fingerprint cards received during the
calendar year 1933, more than 45 were identified with data in the
files of the Division. During the same period, 4,290 fugitives from
21
justice were identified from fingerprint records and information as
to the whereabouts of these fugitives was immediately transmitted
to the law enforcement officers or agencies desiring to apprehend
these individuals. The number of police departments, peace officers,
and law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and
foreign countries voluntarily contributing fingerprints to tlie Division
at the end of December totaled 6,394.
Table 15. — Arrests, Jan.
1-Dec
SI, 1933
Race
Offense charged
Not
known
White
Black
All others
3,955
3,210
12, 529
13, 165
23, 477
32, 372
8,947
4,145
9,111
3,804
5,683
3,525
2,251
4.913
5,586
42, 230
1,480
2,704
32,275
3,579
17, 184
2,025
784
3,513
9,430
7,167
12, 202
1,445
363
1,196
2,171
1,489
368
362
398
1,696
12, 156
1,343
1,019
12,008
687
4,402
145
Robbery
327
590
Larceny — -theft
1
1 045
155
Embezzlement and fraud
1
115
208
Offenses against family and children
95
757
Driving while intoxicated . . . - -
201
Liquor laws
2
5
103
1,587
Gambling . . .
210
Traffic and motor-vehicle laws
143
755
Not stated
1
1
96
428
Total
11
236, 125
76,224
7,813
Table 16. — Arrests, July 1-Dec. 31, 1933
[Rate per 100,000 of population, excluding those under 15 years of age]
Offense charged
Native
white
Foreign-
born
white
Negro
Criminal hnmicidfi
2.5
2.1
7.9
7.5
15.2
22.3
6.3
2.8
6.1
1.3
2.1
L7
2.3
2.4
L6
3.7
3.1
10.2
5.9
13.2
.9
.7
20.9
2.4
9.9
3.1
L7
2.4
15.1
6.0
12.8
1.4
1.5
3.8
2.2
2.7
.7
2.4
2.3
.6
2.1
2.1
6.3
6.3
6.3
1.6
.4
11.7
1.2
8.6
12.6
Rape
5 1
20.5
Assault
62.5
Burglary — Breaking or entering
42 7
76.8
Auto theft
9.1
1.9
7.5
Stolen property; buying, receiving, possessing
4.2
13.7
6.1
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)
4.3
2.3
2.7
Driving while intoxicated
2 9
8.7
Drunkenness. ... . .
25.8
Disorderly conduct
26 3
32.1
Gambling
8.7
Road and driving laws
2.7
.1
Other traffic and motor-vehicle laws
4.0
Suspicion and investigation
73.4
4.4
All other offenses
25.6
Total
156.1
106.5
486.5
' Less than Ho of 1 per 100,000.
o
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