The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
JULY 21, 1926
CHAPEL HILL, N C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA FRESS
VOL. xn, NO. 36
Editorial Board: E. C. Branaon, S. H. Hobbs, Jr.. L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight. D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum,
Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914. at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill. N. C.. under the act of August 24. 1912
CHIME IN THE COURTS
The present article has been pre-
ipared with three purposes in mind:
first, to EUin up the main facts re
vealed by the analysis of Superior
Court reports for the two-year period
ending June 30, 1926; secondly, to sug
gest the bearing of these facts on the
crime problem; and finally, to show how
we may be able to learn more about the
situation and how to control it.
Articles have appeared in the News
Letter from time to time describing
various findings made in this study, to
which the reader may turn for further
information on this subject. (See ac
companying Index to articles on crime.)
The News Letter will present further
findings from time to time as they seem
significant.
Most Common Offenses
The following facts are based on the
reports of the indictments disposed of in
the Superior Courts of North Carolina
for the two-year period ending June 30,
1926. These reports were incomplete
in at least fifteen counties. They were
so incomplete in Stanly and Gaston
counties that special trips were made
to obtain the information on the cases
not reported. With these two ex
ceptions the reports were taken as
given. The total number of indict
ments reported and the number for
each of the more common offenses is
given below:
Offense 1923-4 1924-6
All Offenses
Prohibition law viola
tions 3,887 3,872
TiSrceny & receiving 1,773 2,010
Assault with deadly
weapon
Carrying concealed
weapons 831
Assault (inc. A. & B.) 810
Breaking and entering 623
Driving car while drunk 496
Gambling & lottery 661
Murder & manslaughter 376
False pretense (fraud) 280
Fornication and adultery 261
Forgery 233
This leaves 3,280jndictments for vari
ous other offenses in 1923-4 and like
wise 3,417 others in 1924-5. If every
indictment disposed of had been re^
ported, it is probable that the total
would have been increased by a thou
sand cases each year.
Notise that the number of indict
ments for assault with deadly weapon
has increased while the number for
carrying a concealed weapon has de
creased. This may indicate that the
law against carrying a concealed weap
on is becoming less well enforced.
Race and Sex Oifenders
The following table gives the race
and sex distribution of all persons in
dicted:
Race and Sex 1923-4 1924-5
Total Cases _ 14,484 14,929
White Male 8,300 8,186
White Female 317 424
Negro Male 6,160 6,681
Negro Female 392 406
Indian Male 69 82
Indian Female ‘ 2 3
Not Specified 244 148
According to the 1920 census North
Carolina had 1,849,466 whites (includ
ing a few Orientals), 697,843 negroes,
and 11,824 Indians. On the basis of
these population figures we find the in
dictments per 1000 persons of the
whole population and of each race to
be as follows:
Indictments per 1000 Population
R^e" 192^4 1924-5
groes attracted to North Carolina from
states farther south by the better op
portunities for the negro to make a
good living in North Carolina, but we
have not yet found a reliable way of
finding out the facts on this migration.
Race Differences in Offenses
The proportion of indictments against
persons of each race varies greatly
from one kind of offense to another.
The following table shows the number
of indictments against members of the
white and negro races for the more
common offenses in 1924-5. *
Offense Whites Negroes
Prohibition violations
2,469
1,236
Larceny and receiving
Assault with deadly
877
1,110
weapon
Carrying concealed
616
692
weapon
360
408
Breaking and entering
291
363
Assault (inc. A.&B.)
Murder and man
351
318
slaughter
116
216
Gambling and lottery
214
199
Driving car while drunk 464
168
Forgery
193
116
Fornication and adultery 169
107
False pretense
216
83
CRIME STUDY INDEX
The following is an index to pre
vious articles on Superior Court
Crime which have appeared in this
publication.
Crime and the Courts—Superior
Court Convictions—Vol. XII, No.17.
Black and White Crime—Superior
Court Indictments—Vol. XII, No.
19.
Liquor Law Violations—Vol. Xll,
No. 21.
Crime and Sectional Differences
in North Carolina—Vol. XII, No.
24.
Median Age Lower—Vol. XII,
No 26.
Indictments for Homicide —Vol.
XII, No. 27.
Crime and Age Groups—Vol. XII,
No. 32.
1,184 1,242
771
690
649
636
413
337
300
282
311
This table suggests some remarks on
law enforcement. Members of the
which indictments were returned in the
Superior Courts.
Occupation and Offense
It is blear from the table in the lower
right corner that certain sorts of of
fenses are far more common in one
economic group of the population than
in the others. Race differences also
show here. All textile workers are
whites. All negro industrial workers
are classed under some other head such
as factory hand, skilled trade, or un
white race are charged more often 1 skilled labor. About three-fourths of the
with assault with deadly weapon while unskilled laborers are negroes, and the
' same holds true of the domestic and
negroes have more charges for carry-1
ing a concealed weapon chalked up a-
gainst them. It seems improbable
tnat negroes are less prone than whites
to use the w'eapons they carry; there
fore it seems likely that the law a-
gainst carrying a concealed weapon is
more strictly enforced against the ne
groes. It is also probable that the laws
against fornication and adultery are
more strictly enforced against wbit^es
than against negroes, judging from the
greater number of whites indicted for
that offense.
Another factor that affects the pro
portion of indictments against each
race for each offense and therefore
for all offenses is the tendency to dis
pose of a larger proportion of the
cases against negroes in the lower
courts. This tendency is especially
true of such offenses as assault, petty
larceny, and gambling. Just how ex
tensive this tendency is remains to be
found out, but it certainly exists and
affects Superior Court statistics in
many ways.
tion of nol presses and acquittals is
too small. Taking only counties re
porting all forms of dispositions we
get 20.2 percent nol pressed, 11.1 per
cent acquitted, 16.3 percent receiving
suspended sentence (judgment sus
pended), 6.6 percent receiving prayer for
judgment continued, and 46.8 percent
sentenced.
Siftings by Offense
The proportion of convictions re
ported varies greatly for different types
of offenses. In the following table the
figures for convictions include judg
ment suspended, prayer for judgment
continued, and sentences. By subtract
ing from the figures for convictions
given in this table, the reader can ob
tain the proportion of nol presses and
acquittals combined as reported by
the clerks.
Percent Percent
Offense Convicted Sentenced
' 54.2
77.0
79.9
47.9
74.3
48.3
63.7
45.7
62.8
45.1
72.6
65.1
60.3
46.6
62.2
16.7
personal service group.
Farmers form' a larger propor
tion of ^the prohibition violators
than they do of any other offense
type group. They also show an excess
of offenses against the person, both of
those types given here and of types
omitted. Unskilled laborers are an
ignorant and propertyless group. They
form a larger proportion of those in
dicted for breaking and entering and for
larceny and receiving than they do of
those indicted for offenses against the,
person. Textile workers have an
extraordinary tendency to gambling,
perhaps a result of the craving for
excitement due to the dullness and
monotony of their mode of life. Their
violations of the prohibition law con
sist chiefly of drunkenness, or trans
porting or possessing liquor, not so
much its sale and manufacture. This
is reflected in the proportion indicted
for driving while drunk, an extraordi
narily, high percentage when one con
siders the small number of cars owned
by textile workers. Textile workers
also show an excess of cases of larceny.
Occupations of Oifenders
Age variations among those indicted j ^nd breaking and entering, character-
for each type of offense have been dis
cussed in a previous issue, but nothing
has been said about the occupational
distribution. It is here that our
statistics are least reliable, but this
unreliability will be discussed later.
Taking the figures as they stand for
the two years combined we find the
following occupational distribution.
(Note: The table which appears in the
lower right corner presents in detail
the occupational distribution of of
fenders.)
Item Number Percent
of total
For the total population 6.66 5.84
For whites 4.66 4.66
For negroes 7.96 8.71
For Indians 6-01 7.19
The reader may consider the increase
in the number of indictments against
negroes from 1923-4 to 1924-6 to be
significant and serious. On the con
trary, the most remarkable aspect of
the situation is the smallness of the
negro proportion in the former year,
when the negro race furnished only 38.6
percent of the persons indicted in the
Superior Courts. This is the smallest
percentage they have furnished since
the Attorney General’s office began
collecting the statistics of Superior
Court indictments in 1889. In 1924-6
they furnished 40.7 percent or less
than in any year prior to 1922. It
would be interesting to find out how
many of these indictments are of ne-
Total indictments
29,413
100.0
Occupations reported
24,742
Unskilled labor
10,682
43.2
Farmers
7,657
31.0
Textile workers
1,288
4.9
Commercial
939
3.8
Skilled trades
Domestic and personal
932
3.8
service
766
3.1
Transportation
561
2.3
Clerical
314
1.2
“None”
379
1.6
All others
1,284
6.2
It would be interesting
to know
what proportion of the total population
each of these groups forms. We have
the 1920 census figures for the occupa
tional distribution of persons gainfully
employed in North Carolina, but they
cannot be compared with our figures.
We do not know whom the cen
sus-taker called a farmer, laborer,
tradesman, etc., as compared with the
way the clerks of the courts classed
these same persons. The most reliable
figures are for textile workers. Ap
proximately ten percent of the gain
fully employed in North Carolina in
1920 were textile workers and that per
centage is larger now. Undoubtedly
a good many textile workers were not
reported as such by the clerks of the
courts, but it is still safe to say that
they furnished far less than their nu
istic of a propertyless class,
Skilled workers are most of ten caught
for driving while drunk, and yet they
are seldom caught gambling. They
show more offenses against the person
than against property rights. Com
mercially employed are prone to false
pretense. The domestic and personal-
service group is prone to immorality.
Among occupations not listed, the
clerically employed show an excess of
forgery and gambling. Also in the
“all others” group is an excess of
housewives and “none” for fornication
and adultery.
In brief these figures indicate that
the offenses a person commits vary
greatly according to his station in life
—his environmental conditions. In so
far as we can improve his environment
al conditions we can reduce the fre
quency with which he will commit
crime. For instance, if a large pro
portion of the crime among the textile
workers is a result of their craving for
excitement, some way might be found
by the various welfare agencies to see
that they have more healthy forms of
lively amusemetit. At least it is worth
trying.
The Siftings of Justice
The reader should now have some
idea of the sort of crimes committed
and the sort of people committing them
The next question is: What happens to
them in court? The following table
shows in brief how the indictments
were disposed of in 1924-6:
How Disposed of Number Percent
Prohibition violations 76.5
Larceny and receiving 71.3
Assault with deadly
weapon 67.7
Carrying cor\cealed
weapons 76.3
Assault (inc. A.&B.) 74.7
Breaking and entering 84.4
Driving car while
drunk
Gambling and lottery
Murder and man
slaughter
Forgery
False pretense
Fornication and
adultery 62.8 29.4
From this table we see that the
Superior Courts convicted 84.4 percent
of those indicted for breaking and
entering, which means that 16.6 per
cent of the indictments resulted in nol
presses or acquittals. At the other ex
treme of the dozen most common types
of offenses in the proportion of con
victions obtained is false pretense with
only 48.3 percent of convictions and 16.7
percent of sentences. The two main
factors determining percentage differ
ences in convictions and sentences
between different types of cases
on the docket are the difficulty of
obtaining evidence and the seriousness
of the offense. Serious offenses of
course result in a high proportion of
sentences except where it is difficult to
obtain the evidence. Still another
factor is public opinion as it influences
the prosecutor and the judge. In some
counties over 76 percent of the indict
ments for violating the prohibition law
result in sentences, while in other
counties less than 26 percent pay the
penalty. The proportion of nol presses
varies correspondingly.
Sentences
As stated above 7,169 cases, or 48 per
cent of all cases reported, resulted in
sentences. Of these, 2,709 were fined,
but*did not serve time. Of those serv
ing time, 337 were sent to jail. 111
were assigned to be hired out, 620 were
sent to the state penitentiary, and
3,227 were sent to the roads; making a
total of 4,295 sentenced to serve time.
Eighteen were sentenced to be elec
trocuted though of course several of
these escaped it on appeal or pardon.
Various other sentences were imposed
on 147 others, such as being sent to
asylum, or ordered to leave the
county or state, or being put on a
term of probation under special condi
tions.
Indictments disposed of 14,929 100.0
Since ten clerks reported only con
victions and six more reported no nol
medcal proportion of the offenses for I presses, it is evident that the propor-
Nol Pressed
Acquitted
Judgment suspended
Prayer for judgment
continued
Sentenced
2,836
1,463
2,438
1,039
7,169
19.0
9.7.
16.3
7.0
48.0
Severity of Sentences
The severity of the sentence varies
greatly with the offense, the pressure
of public opinion, the financial condition
of the convicted, and the humor of the
judge. At least fifty sentences of one
cent fine and costs were imposed during
the course of theyekr 1924-6, chiefly for
gambling. Half of tbe fines were for
fifty dollars or less and half were for
fifty dollars or more. Six months is
the average sentence for those sent to
jail, or to the roads, or to be hired out.
The median prison sentence is between
three and four years.
A comparison of the severity of
sentences for different offenses is
most interesting, but space is lacking
to make it here. An example of what
such a comparison would show is that
of the comparative severity of fines for
assault with deadly weapon and carry
ing concealed weapon. The median fine
for carrying a concealed weapon is
fifty dollars; that for assault with
aeadly weapon is forty dollars. This
would seem to indicate that the for
mer offense is more serious in the eyes
of the law, although of course other
factors influence the size of fines im
posed.
Repeaters
In preparing these statistics no allow
ance has been made for repeated indict
ments against the same individual. Each
individual is counted over with each ad
ditional indictment made against him. It
is probable that the 14,929 indictments
returned in 1924-6 were returned against
fewer than ]4,000 separate persons. Al
lowances must be made in leases where
judgment is suspended on one charge
when sentence has just been imposed
on another count. In such cases a large
proportion of judgments suspended does
not mean undue leniency on the part of
the judge. In the same way the solici
tor is not impairinjg the efficiency of the
court by nol pressing indictments after
sentence has been imposed for the most
serious charge. However, this problem
of repeaters does complicate the task
of describing the crime situation.
Further Questions
The thoughtful reader probably has
questions like the following in mind.
How reliable are the reports which the
clerks of the Superior Courts in the
various counties turn in to the Attorney
General? How do the offenders reported
compare in kind and amount with those
brought before the lower courts and
with those who escape the arm of the
law? How many of those caught are
repeaters? How do those convicted
behave after tbe machinery of justice
has released them? These are fair
questions to ask, but hard ones to answer.
Any answers given here are incomplete
and inaccurate; and yet we need to
know the answers to these questions
and many more before we can hope to
deal effectively with the crime problem.
The TasK of Investigation
The investigator- does not get very
far in this maze of statistics before he
feels a need of improved methods of
investigation. He wants more and bet
ter information about each court and
each case. Studies of typical criminals
are now being carried on by graduate
students at tbe University; out the
greatest need at present is accurate,
uniform, anfl complete records in the
offices of clerks of court and of the
various public institutions connected
with the administration of justice. Few
states in the Union have a oetter state
wide system of criminal court records
than North Carolina, and with a little
more systematic care the court records
of the state could well be made the best
in the United States. It is hoped that
it is not out of place here to urge tbe
importance of more complete and ac
curate records. The responsibility lies
upon those whose duty it is to record
the facts and report them —F.S. Wilder,
Institute for Research in Social Science,
University of North Carolina.
OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF OFFENDERS
The following table gives the occupational distribution of offenders accord
ing to offense as reported to the Attorney General by the clerks of the Superior
Courts for the two-year period ending June 30, 1926.
For the total number of indictments for each kind of offense listed below,
see the first table in the accompanying article.
Note that only the twelve most common offenses and the seven most numer
ous occupational groups are given below.
Tbe table should be read thus: Of those charged with violations of the
prohibition law 39.2 percent were reported as farmers, 38.0 percent were re
ported as laborers, etc.
Offense
S.2 fi *■>
All Offenses
24,742
31.0
43.2
4.9
3.8
3.8
2.3
3.1
7.9
Prohibition violations
6,426
39.2
38.0
6.0
4.1
3.6
2.4
3.2
4.5
Larceny
3,098
20.0
68.0
6.4
2.6
1.0
2.1
3.7
6-2
Assault with deadly weapon
2,176
37.6
44.6
2.0
3.3
2.4
1.7
2.9
5.5
Carrying concealed weapons
1,354
29.6
65.7
3.3
2.7
1.7
1.1
2.0
3.9
Assault (inc. A.&B.)
1,314
33.0
42.8
6.2
3.7
4.0
1.8
2.3
7.2
Breaking and entering
969
11.4
64.5
8.2
1.2
1.2
2.9
2.4
8.2
Driving car while drunk
964
34.7
33.8
8.3
7.3
6.0
3.7
.8
6.4
Gambling
744
9.5
47.2
14.4
.9
9.7
.5
3.1
14.7
Murder and manslaughter
609
32.4
46.0
1.6
3.0
1.6
4.6
3.2
7.6
False pretense
491
26.6
37.9
.8
6.7
16.9
2.0
8.6
Forgery
Fornication and adultery
437
406
14.9
26.3
62.4
43.6
4.1
6.2
6.0
2.2
3.0
1.0
3.9
1.0
ZA
7.4
13.3
14.3