Urban and Rural Crime in Germany, 1871-1914 (From Civilization of Crime: Violence in Town and Country Since the Middle Ages, P 217-274, 1996, Eric A. Johnson and Eric H. Monkkonen, eds. - See NCJ-169788)

• NCJ Number: 169798
• Author(s): E A Johnson
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 58 pages
• Sale Source: University of Illinois Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A quantitative analysis of census and criminal justice data tested sociological theories about the impact of urbanization, population growth, human hardship, and ethnicity on the incidence of criminal behavior in Imperial Germany between 1882 and 1912.

Abstract

The data came from coroners' records for murder and manslaughter and court records for assault and battery and theft in more than 1,000 localities. The data revealed how criminal behavior varied among different regions, ethnic groups, large cities, towns, and rural communities in Imperial Germany. Results demonstrated that violent crime was not a common characteristics of German cities during the period of that country's great urban and industrial expansion. Violent crime was much more often associated with the Polish and Lithuanian minorities who were poor, experienced discrimination, and usually lived along Germany's eastern borders. Findings strengthened the argument that cities are not necessarily dangerous or highly crime-prone settings. Results also indicated that crime is rooted in detrimental social and economic conditions and discrimination rather than in irrational attitudes or biological influences in incorrigible ethnic groups. Figures, tables, and reference notes