Historians have commonly portrayed the Pennsylvania backcountry as a lawless, violent region. Many have attributed this these levels of violence to the influx of Scots Irish migrants to the province after the 1720. Examining several eighteenth-century Pennsylvania counties, this article demonstrates that earlier scholars have consistently overestimated levels of crime on the frontier. Moreover, court records shows that Scots-Irish individuals were no more likely to be prosecuted or convicted of crime than other ethnic groups. Overall, frontier settlers embraced the legal system, even as they insisted it be applied in ways that accorded with local conditions.

中文翻译：

---

宾夕法尼亚州偏远地区的法律、法院和社区，约 1750–1800

历史学家通常将宾夕法尼亚州的偏远地区描绘成一个无法无天的暴力地区。许多人将这种暴力程度归因于 1720 年后苏格兰爱尔兰移民涌入该省。本文考察了 18 世纪宾夕法尼亚州的几个县，表明早期的学者一直高估了边境的犯罪水平。此外，法庭记录显示，与其他族裔群体相比，苏格兰-爱尔兰人不太可能被起诉或被定罪。总的来说，边疆定居者接受了法律制度，即使他们坚持要以符合当地条件的方式应用它。