Crime and Its Causes by William Douglas Morrison
page 61 of 190 (32%)
page 61 of 190 (32%)
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recurrence, is obliged to admit that the hot weather exercises a
propelling influence on suicidal tendencies, and that the cold weather on the other hand acts in an opposite direction[18]. [18] DISTRIBUTION OF SUICIDES IN LONDON BY MONTHS OF EQUAL LENGTH PER 10,000, 1865-84:-- January, 732. July, 905. February, 714. August, 891. March, 840. September, 705. April, 933. October, 772. May, 1003. November, 726. June, 1022. December, 697. Dr. Ogle, vol. xlix., 117. _Statistical Society's Journal_. The influence of temperature is, however, much less powerful on crime than it is on suicide. It has the effect of raising by one third the number of persons to whom life becomes an intolerable burden, but according to the diagram in the Prison Commissioners' Reports the highest increase in crime between summer and winter does not amount to more than one twelfth. In other words, between six and eight per cent. of the crime committed in this country in summer may with reasonable certainty be attributed to the direct action of temperature. This is a most important result and I should almost hesitate to state it if it were supported by my investigations only. But this is far from being the case. In an important paper contributed to the Revista di Discipline Carcerarie for 1886, Dr. Marro, one of the most distinguished students of crime in Italy, has arrived at similar conclusions. He has shown that in the Italian prisons in the four |
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