6 In the period from 1657 to 1680, the annual homicide rate in Massachusetts was below 3 per 100,000. In Maryland, it was above 7 per 100,000. Computed from data in William Buttenweiser, “An Examination of Murders, 1630-1692; Frequency, Seasonal Variations, Participants in Maryland and Massachusetts” (unpub. paper, Brandeis, 1978).
7 The first national crime statistics which allow controlled regional comparisons were for robbery of the U.S. mail. This offense was rare in New England and regional disparities were very great:
State |
Number of Offenses, 1790-1827 |
Maine |
|
Massachusetts |
|
Rhode Island |
|
Vermont |
|
New York |
|
New Jersey |
|
Pennsylvania |
|
Maryland |
|
Virginia |
|
South Carolina |
|
Georgia |
|
Tennessee |
|
Kentucky |
|
Ohio |
|
Indiana |
|
Returns were not given for missing states; Returns of … Offences against the Laws of the United-States (Washington, 1828).
8 Mark Saloman found the following patterns of criminal prosecution in the county courts of Essex, Suffolk, and Plymouth from 1636 to 1699:
Crimes |
|
Essex Co. |
Suffolk Co. |
Plymouth |
Plymouth |
Against: |
Total |
1636-41 |
1671-80 |
1651-68 |
1668-99 |
Order |
503(51.3%) |
40 (60.6%) |
251 (44.0%) |
162(66.7%) |
50(51.5%) |
Sexual Morality |
225 (23.0%) |
6 (9.0%) |
144 (25.2%) |
42(17.3%) |
33 (34.0%) |
Property |
175(17.9%) |
16(24.2%) |
131 (22.9%) |
22 (9.0%) |
6 (6.2%) |
The Person |
74 (7.6%) |
4 (6.0%) |
45 (7.9%) |
17(7.0%) |
8 (8.3%) |
Mark Andrew Saloman, “Community and Hierarchy: A Comparative Study of Law, Crime and Punishment in Colonial Massachusetts and Maryland, 1636-1699,” (thesis, Brandeis, 1989), 43.