^
 

CHAPTER IX

A   STUDY   OF   PROSTITUTES   COMMITTED   FROM   NEW   YORK

CITY TO THE STATE REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN

AT BEDFORD HILLS

By Katharine Bement Davis, Superintendent.

Sources: — The materials for this study are found in
the records of 647 prostitutes committed from New York
City to the State Reformatory for Women at Bedford
Hills.* Of these, 279 were in the institution at the time
the study was made. The remainder were either on
parole or had been discharged on completion of sentence.
The data are gathered from the girls' own stories supple¬
mented by information from their families, from corre¬
spondence with previous employers, interviews with of¬
ficials of other institutions, letters received and sent by the
women themselves; from the officers who chaperone all
visits to the girls while in the institution and from per¬
sonal acquaintance extending in every case from three
months to several years. The difficulties inherent in the
compilation of such statistics are obvious. Certain data,
such as birthplace, age, size of family, education, religion
and previous occupation, are probably very'nearly accur¬
ate. When we leave the domain of facts easily verifiable
and come to the question of causes of prostitution, earn¬
ings of prostitution, reasons for coming to New York

1 For purposes of comparison studies were also made of 610 girls
in 7 other New York city and state institutions and of 1106 street
wall^ers.   See pp. 207 etc.