Generally speaking, criminals may be divided into three classes: first, those who direct crime but who take no active part in the commission of the crime themselves; second, those who commit crimes which require a considerable amount of personal courage; third, those who commit crimes which do not necessarily involve any great amount of personal courage. There might be added a fourth class, which would consist of those who commit crime through ignorance of the law or carelessness in informing themselves of exact legal measures and in heeding this knowledge when once obtained. During the year 1915-16 there was a total of 53,006 arrests in the Island of Porto Rico. Of this number, nearly 47,000 were men and the rest were women. On the basis of a population of 1,200,000, this would give one arrest for every 22 persons in the Island. Of this total number of arrests, however, only 438 were cases of felony. There were a great many arrests for the infraction of municipal ordinances,—something over 11,000 in all,—and more than 8,000 arrests for disturbance of the peace. Over 9,000 were for gambling, and over 2,000 for petty larceny; about 5,000 arrests were for infraction of the sanitary laws, and nearly 2,000 arrests were for infraction of road laws. This shows that the greater number of arrests was for comparatively unimportant crimes; by unimportant meaning, of course, those crimes which do not directly involve the loss of life or of any great amount of property. The felonies committed during the year were as follows:

Murders	41
Homicides	26
Attempt at murder	30
Robbery	5
Rape	15
Seduction	24
Crime against nature	3
Arson	5
Burglary	148
Forgery	6
Counterfeiting	1
Grand larceny	10
Cattle stealing	25
Smuggling	5
Extortion	2
Crime against the public health and security	55
Mayhem	11
Violation of postal laws	5
Violation of graves	1
Conspiracy	8
Falsification	7

giving a total of 438, which includes not only those sentenced but also those indicted and acquitted. From this table it will be seen that a relatively small number of the actual felonies committed are felonies involving loss of life or an attempt against life. In support of this table, and in proof of the fact that crimes of violence are relatively few in Porto Rico, the following table is given, which is a record of the convictions of the district courts of the Island of Porto Rico in criminal cases, for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15, and of the convicts in the penitentiary June 30, 1915:

	Number of convictions		Percentage of crimes		In penitentiary	Per cent in prison
	1913- 14	1914- 15	1913- 14	1914- 15
Violation of laws enacted in exercise of police powers	220	842	.23	.45	142	.10
Against persons	286	432	.30	.23	371	.25
Against property	329	312	.34	.17	779	.53
Against the administration of public justice	29	142	.03	.08	21	.01
Against decency	40	51	.04	.03	97	.06
Against good morals	36	35	.04	.02	20	.01
Against reputation	9	16	.01	.01	...	..
Unclassified	10	7	.01	.01	38	.03
	----	-----			-----
Totals	959	1,837			1,468

From the above table it will be seen that crimes against persons constitute 23 to 30 per cent of the crimes committed. Of the total number of convicts in the penitentiary for the commission of crime, 25 per cent, during the year 1914-15, were there for crimes against persons. Thus we may definitely state that about 25 per cent of the crimes carried to the district courts of Porto Rico are those which involve attempts against the life or well-being of another person. It will be noticed from the above table that with few exceptions the percentages of crimes for the two years are very nearly equal. In 1913-14, 34 per cent of the crimes were against property, which was not strange when we consider that this was a year of financial crisis, due to the sugar situation. In the same year 23 per cent of the crimes were in violation of laws enacted in exercise of police powers. These crimes included breach of the peace.

In the following year, 1914-15, when we had about 17,000 laborers engaged in strikes throughout the Island, and when in addition to this there was a general Insular election, we find that the number of crimes against property dropped to 17 per cent, whereas the number of crimes in violation of laws enacted in exercise of police powers rose from 23 per cent to 45 per cent. This would tend to prove that the average lawbreaker in Porto Rico is easily influenced by economic circumstances and by social surroundings, and that at such a period as that of strikes or elections criminal tendencies take the direction of breach of the peace and violation of municipal ordinances, rather than such crimes as arson, burglary, embezzlement, or forgery.

The influence of the election year is also noticeable in the group of crimes prejudicial to the administration of public justice, which includes contempt of court, bribery, and perjury. During the year 1913-14, 3 per cent of the convictions fell under this head, while during the year 1914-15, the amount was 8 per cent. It will be noticed that of the prisoners in the penitentiary the percentage of those convicted for violation of laws enacted in exercise of police power is only 10 per cent, much less than the percentage of those convicted in the district courts. This, of course, is accounted for by the fact that the great majority of violations of these laws are punishable by fines rather than by imprisonment. In the same way, the percentage of prisoners for crimes against property is much larger than the percentage of convictions in the district courts for this crime, due, of course, to the fact that these crimes are more frequently punished by a prison sentence than by a fine, thus giving an accumulation from year to year of convicts, which overbalances the per cent of the court convictions for any single year.

According to the report of the Insular Chief of Police, the town which had the greatest number of arrests, in proportion to its population, for the year 1915-16, was Arroyo, where there was one arrest for every 8.47 persons. This was followed by Salinas, with one arrest for every 8.82 persons. The town with the best record was Las MarÍas, where there was one arrest for every 162.03 persons. On the basis of the records of the municipal courts for the three years of 1912-13, 1913-14, and 1914-15, the judicial districts stand in the following relation as far as the number of criminal cases presented during that time is concerned. The table given shows one criminal case presented every three years for the number of inhabitants indicated in each judicial district.

San Juan	one	case	for	every	17.79	persons
Rio Piedras	"	"	"	"	18.42	"
Patillas	"	"	"	"	19.94	"
Vieques	"	"	"	"	19.98	"
Salinas	"	"	"	"	23.34	"
Guayama	"	"	"	"	24.62	"
Yauco	"	"	"	"	24.14	"
Mayaguez	"	"	"	"	27.50	"
Vega Baja	"	"	"	"	28.74	"
Humacao	"	"	"	"	27.31	"
San Lorenzo	"	"	"	"	30.66	"
Ciales	"	"	"	"	31.07	"
Fajardo	"	"	"	"	31.40	"
Juana Diaz	"	"	"	"	33.00	"
CÁguas	"	"	"	"	33.01	"
Yabucoa	"	"	"	"	33.24	"
AÑasco	"	"	"	"	36.29	"
Ponce	"	"	"	"	36.92	"
ManatÍ	"	"	"	"	37.89	"
Arecibo	"	"	"	"	38.23	"
Cayey	"	"	"	"	38.29	"
Lares	"	"	"	"	40.83	"
Rio Grande	"	"	"	"	40.90	"
Barros	"	"	"	"	41.09	"
BayamÓn	"	"	"	"	43.87	"
San GermÁn	"	"	"	"	44.70	"
Adjuntas	"	"	"	"	44.97	"
Coamo	"	"	"	"	45.19	"
Camuy	"	"	"	"	47.13	"
San SebastiÁn	"	"	"	"	48.55	"
Aguadilla	"	"	"	"	50.22	"
Utuado	"	"	"	"	54.61	"
Carolina	"	"	"	"	57.63	"
Cabo Rojo	"	"	"	"	64.99	"

The great proportion of crime in San Juan, as compared with the rest of the Island, is of course largely due to social conditions, inasmuch as it is the largest city in the Island and to a great extent the resort of undesirable characters for this reason. In the second place, as a coast town and the most important shipping and commercial center, it has a more or less shifting population, and a population composed to a great extent of an uneducated type among the working classes. Every seaport town offers opportunities for criminal classes which inland towns do not possess. The second town in the list, Rio Piedras, is the natural outlet between San Juan and the rest of the Island, which undoubtedly accounts for its large percentage of crime. The rest of the towns where crime is found in large proportion will be discovered to have a large floating population, people who are day laborers and who have no particular interest in the community, except as it provides them with an opportunity for earning daily wages. This class of population is always unfavorable to a community and is always to be found where large industries exist which employ a great number of men; and this is especially true when little attempt is made on the part of the employer to render the permanence of the job desirable by furnishing well-provided living facilities for the employee. It is noticeable that in Cabo Rojo, where the percentage of criminal cases is lowest, the population depends chiefly upon the hat-making industry for its support. This is added proof of the value of small industries from the point of view of community welfare.

It is noteworthy that there was an immense increase in the number of crimes committed in the following districts: Ciales, where the number of cases increased from 431 in 1912 to 754 in 1915; Lares, where the increase was from 352 to 853; Vieques, where the increase was from 341 to 684; Yabucoa, where the increase was from 589 to 831; Yauco, where the increase was from 867 to 1,490. In the rest of the districts the number of crimes did not vary greatly from year to year, even decreasing in the case of Rio Piedras from 1,101 in 1912 to 911 in 1915. Of course, the difference in crime percentage might depend upon the efficiency of the police force or upon the severity of the Municipal Judge, but undoubtedly it will be found more often to depend upon local conditions such as strikes, or the introduction of large numbers of workingmen from another district to take part in agricultural or industrial work. The change of location and the resulting necessity of accommodation to local surroundings is apt to be dangerous to the morals of the individual.

The great majority of the arrests were for crimes which would be termed city crimes. The average countryman of Porto Rico is a man who has a great deal of respect for the law and is inclined to obey it unless led into trouble in a moment of passion or while under the influence of alcoholic drinks. Throughout the country districts premeditated crime is rare, and from the standpoint of improvement of the community, the cities and large towns should be the chief points of attack. A great deal of carelessness exists as to complying with local laws and municipal ordinances, and it is estimated that on June 30, 1915, there were confined in the Insular jails and detention houses, prisoners in the relation of one to every 7.17 inhabitants of the Island. The chief work of the schools along the line of prevention of crime should be the explanation of laws, both Insular and municipal, and the explanation of the reasons for such laws, in order that the individual may be led by his own volition to avoid lawbreaking. Parents should also be impressed with the necessity of inculcating in their children a respect for constituted authority and the necessary obedience to it in order that as the children develop into men and women they may have the proper respect for the laws and those who have been appointed to enforce them.