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

0

Massachusetts

5

Rhode Island

1

Vermont

0

New York

1

New Jersey

3

Pennsylvania

10

Maryland

11

Virginia

14

South Carolina

2

Georgia

4

Tennessee

10

Kentucky

6

Ohio

8

Indiana

0

Returns were not given for missing states; Returns ofOffences 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.