Statistics to illustrate the connexion between ignorance and crime

Abstract

I purpose, on the present occasion, to bring before the Society some facts in relation to education, that I have obtained from a few authentic documents which have come under my notice. From these it will appear that there is a striking coincidence between the crimes which are committed in our country, and the ignorance which too generally prevails among our population. If it would be unwise, from such premises, to arrive at the conclusion that ignorance ? or the absence of intellectual cultivation?is the main cause of crime in Ireland; it will, at least, be seen that a large proportion of our criminal offenders are unacquainted with the rudiments of school education; and that even of those who have made any progress in such knowledge, the small amount they have arrived at is designated by the terms, "could read and write" or "could read and write imperfectly."