New York State Jews, 17% of Population, Contributed Only 10% of Prison Inmates from 1915 to 1925

The Jews of New York State, who constitute a bit more than 16 percent of the total population, furnished little more than ten percent of the inmates of all of the penal institutions in the state during the decade from 1915 to 1925, it was learned today by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, investigating the matter of Jews and crime in connection with the recent statement of Judge Nathan Cayton of the Municipal Court of the District of Columbia that there is a “Jewish crime wave” and that the “Jews of America have produced far more than their share of criminals.” The above figures are the result of a study of Jewish prisoners in the penal institutions of New York, made in 1928 by the statistical department of the American Jewish Committee.

This study was based on the official reports of all the penal institutions in the entire state, covering the ten years from 1915 to 1925. The official statistics as to the inmates in these institutions were analyzed on the basis of both their nativity and religious faith.

Briefly stated, the results of the investigation were: whereas the Jews constitute something more than 16 percent of the population of the state of New York, only a little over ten percent of the inmates of all the penal institutions of the state taken together are Jews, and in New York City, where the Jews comprise over 27 percent of the population, only 19 percent of the inmates of the penal institutions of the city are Jews.

Though no similar studies for other states and cities have been made by