ontact with adults and become initiated into evil practices, of which
these poor little victims of stupid laws were previously quite ignorant.

_Education._ Contrary to general belief, the influence of education on
crime is very slight.

The number of illiterates arrested in Europe is less, proportionally,
than that of educated individuals. Nevertheless, although a certain
degree of instruction is often an aid to crime, its extension acts as a
corrective, or at least tends to mitigate the nature of crimes
committed, rendering them less ferocious, and to decrease crimes of
violence, while increasing fraudulent and sexual offences.

_Professions._ The trades and professions which encourage inebriety in
those who follow them (cooks, confectioners, and inn-keepers), those
which bring the poor (servants of all kinds, especially footmen,
coachmen, and chauffeurs) into contact with wealth, or which provide
means for committing crimes (bricklayers, blacksmiths, etc.) furnish a
remarkable share of criminality. Still more so is this the case with the
professions of notary, usher of the courts, attorneys, and military men.

It should be observed, however, that the characteristic idleness of
criminals makes them disinclined to adopt any profession, and when they
do, their extreme fickleness prompts them to change continually.

_Economic Conditions._ Poverty is often a direct incentive to theft,
when the miserable victims of economic conditions find themselves and
their families face to face with starvation, and it acts further
indirectly through certain diseases: pellagra, alcoholism, scrofula, and
scurvy, which are the outcome of misery and produce criminal
degeneration; its influence has nevertheless often been exaggerated. If
thieves are generally penniless, it is because of their extreme idleness
and astonishing extravagance, which makes them run through huge sums
with the greatest ease, not because poverty has driven them to theft. On
the other hand the possession of wealth is frequently an incentive to
crime, because it creates an ever-increasing appetite for riches,
besides furnishing those occupying high public offices or important
positions in the banking and commercial world with numerous
opportunities for dishonesty and persuading them that money will cover
any evil deed.

_Sex._ Statistics of every country show that women contribute a very
small share of criminality compared with that furnished by the opposite
sex