?
I am almost certain of it. So many unemployed with little to do. Large unemployment doesnt just have economic consequences, it has a good deal of social and psychological consequences as well. Think of the effect unemployment, being essentially worthless to society, has on an individual. Moreover that person cant provide for people that he/she love. On top of that imagine not having anything to do all day in the pits of despair. To me that equals a raise in the crime rate. But alas I wish I had statistics to quote on this one.
from The Heritage Foundation I found quite a few sites making this claim, but they were all editorials for staunch conservative publications, so I’d be careful about taking the numbers at face value. But, seeming to back it up at least in part–I found this
from ABC News
Which gives a bit more detailed discussion on crime rates and economy that is pretty interesting.
Then again, IIRC the feds didn’t start tracking national crime stats until the 1930’s, so any comparisons with earlier trends would probably be a bit shaky.
bella
I found a rather scholarly-looking study that just tracked murder rates. While they increased from 1929-1931, they fell through the rest of the depression.
Dimly remembered quote from the French Revolution: “Both the rich and the poor are arrested for stealing bread, and for sleeping under bridges.”
Homicide rate (per 100,000) in the United States:
1910 - 4.6 1920 - 6.8 1933 - 9.7
1911 - 5.5 1921 - 8.1 1934 - 9.5
1912 - 5.4 1922 - 8.0 1935 - 8.3
1913 - 6.1 1923 - 7.8 1936 - 8.0
1914 - 6.2 1924 - 8.1 1937 - 7.6
1915 - 5.9 1925 - 8.3 1938 - 6.8
1916 - 6.3 1926 - 8.4 1939 - 6.4
1917 - 6.9 1927 - 8.4 1940 - 6.3
1918 - 6.5 1928 - 8.6 1941 - 6.0
1919 - 7.2 1929 - 8.4 1942 - 5.9
1930 - 8.8 1943 - 5.1
1931 - 9.2 1944 - 5.0
1932 - 9.0
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office.
Sorry about those misaligned columns. Let’s try that again.
U.S. homicide rate, per 100,000.
1910 - 4.6
1911 - 5.5
1912 - 5.4
1913 - 6.1
1914 - 6.2
1915 - 5.9
1916 - 6.3
1917 - 6.9
1918 - 6.5
1919 - 7.2
1920 - 6.8
1921 - 8.1
1922 - 8.0
1923 - 7.8
1924 - 8.1
1925 - 8.3
1926 - 8.4
1927 - 8.4
1928 - 8.6
1929 - 8.4
1930 - 8.8
1931 - 9.2
1932 - 9.0
1933 - 9.7
1934 - 9.5
1935 - 8.3
1936 - 8.0
1937 - 7.6
1938 - 6.8
1939 - 6.4
1940 - 6.3
1941 - 6.0
1942 - 5.9
1943 - 5.1
1944 - 5.0
Thanks, Walloon. I went and reread my source, and they were quoting NY City murder rates, although they did say that they paralleled the US rates. It would seem they generalized too much.
If they are lined up from highest to lowest they look like this.
1933 - 9.7 1926 - 8.4 1922 - 8.0 1918 - 6.5 1941 - 6.0
1934 - 9.5 1927 - 8.4 1936 - 8.0 1939 - 6.4 1915 - 5.9
1931 - 9.2 1929 - 8.4 1923 - 7.8 1916 - 6.3 1942 - 5.9
1932 - 9.0 1925 - 8.3 1937 - 7.6 1940 - 6.3 1912 - 5.4
1930 - 8.8 1935 - 8.3 1919 - 7.2 1914 - 6.2 1943 - 5.1
1928 - 8.6 1924 - 8.1 1917 - 6.9 1913 - 6.1 1944 - 5.0
Take the years of the great depression as being the ten from 1930-1940, half of the top 12 on the list are during that time. But those ten years are only a third of the total years on the list. So it looks like the murder rate in New York City was generally higher during the depression than other years in the sample.
However, I’m not sure that anyone claims that the murder rate necessarily goes up much during hard times. A much clearer picture would be statistics on petty theft such as shoplifting from groceries or other retail stores, or street crimes such as robbery.
Wouldn’t one problem be comparing it to the 20s? What with Prohibition and bootlegging…
Plus, you still had a lot of gangs, didn’t you? Bonnie and Clyde?
The use of murder rates is generally accepted as a poor diagnostic of crime rates.
One of the greatest distortions on this figure is the advance in availability and ability of medical technology, lord alone know how much higher the murder rate would be if we had 1900’s standards of medical care.
Another problem is the classification of crime, many offences currently recorded were not even crimes, beating up a black man or even killing one was not taken seriously in certain areas pre-war.
Bootlegging hardly exists any more, and yet drug crime was not taken as seriously, certainly not as seriously as today.
In London during the wartime blackout years there was an explosion of crime, but reporting it was not deemed to be conducive to national morale.
And now we have drug prohibition and drug smuggling, plus a lot of gangs. The comparison between then and now doesn’t fail on those particular grounds, it seems to me.
One thing to consider re depression is in the early 30s,the general population had more of a doomsday feeling than later,since FDR’s programs didn’t take hold until about '34.
Love him or hate him,working (previously) people had a sense that FDR could change their lot.
Looking back with the benefit of hindsight The depression should really be classified in 2 segments,raw statistics aside.
There seems to be a marked split in the mood of the working class,which should show up in the misdemeanor class of crime.Probably a class you’d find hard to research.