International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 9

The Cyclical Evolution of Homicides and Security
1900–1930: Homicide Growth, the Roaring Twenties, and Police Corruption
During this period, the United States recorded a homicide rate that rose from 2
per 100,000 inhabitants to 9 per 100,000. In the United States, historians use the
term the “Progressive Era” for the first twenty years of the twentieth century.
During that time, standards of living improved, the economy boomed, social reforms
were introduced, and major technological advances were made, such as the automobile
(Tindall and She 2004). Growing wealth and industrialization brought about the mass
production of consumer goods, providing plenty of items for potential thieves to steal.
Household incomes increased. People could afford to go out in the evening, drink
alcohol, and have fun, which is known to be one of the features of a criminal lifestyle
(Cusson 2005).
The next ten years, from 1920 to 1930, extended this earlier period as economic
activity accelerated in an atmosphere of euphoria remembered as the “Roaring
Twenties”: a booming economy, the mass production of radios and cars. Sexual taboos
were overturned. Divorce became increasingly common. Economic players on the
financial markets were gripped by speculative fever.
In 1919, the prohibition movement in the United States drove federal lawmakers
to pass an amendment to the Constitution, the Volstead Act, banning the manufacture,
sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages. However, police officers enforced the law
erratically, and were inclined to look the other way when offered bribes by the owners
of drinking establishments. People continued to drink alcoholic beverages that were
illegally produced and distributed by criminal gangs. Prohibition made the fortunes
of the criminal gangs. Already thriving from running prostitution and gaming
houses, these gangs underwent substantial expansion. Gang warfare bathed in blood
a few major cities. In Chicago, Al Capone took control of the city’s illegal breweries,
distilleries, and drinking establishments. He also controlled prostitution, the gaming
houses, and racketeering. Corrupt or intimidated, police officers and politicians left
him to it (Kenney and Finckenauer 1995).
In Canada, as in the USA, the period between 1900 and 1929 was a time of
economic expansion and prosperity. The country industrialized and urbanized. The
rich became richer and spent lavishly.
The increase in the number of homicides at the time had nothing to do
with poverty. On the contrary, this was a phase of economic expansion and social
effervescence. If property crime was on the rise, it was because there were ever more
consumer goods that could be stolen. People had the resources to go out and have fun
in the evening. Some drank too much and became aggressive. Income from stealing
enriched the underworld, which expanded.
In the US cities, police officers were hired through the influence of politicians
or else bought their positions. Corruption reigned, and bribes ensured that police
officers and their captains protected gaming houses, brothels, and illegal drinking
establishments. When a citizen needed a police officer, there would be no one on duty.
Lacking authority, the police chiefs of the day proved powerless to control their forces.
4