# Did the U.S. have a high crime rate during the Great Depression? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119 "2002-06-09T16:48:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Barking\_Spider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Barking\_Spider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Spider)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/1 "2002-06-09T16:48:56Z")
? ---
**Author:** ![Pythagoras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@Pythagoras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pythagoras)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/2 "2002-06-09T17:10:12Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/3 "2002-06-09T17:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > But there’s little evidence to suggest that good economic times have much effect on crime. Crime rates rose every year between 1955 and 1972, even as the U.S. economy surged, with only a brief, mild recession in the early 1960s. By the time criminals took a breather in the early 1970s, crime rates had increased over 140 percent. Murder rates had risen about 70 percent, rapes more than doubled, and auto theft nearly tripled. > > By the same token, a bad economy doesn’t always bring more crime. Crime rates fell about one third between 1934 and 1938 while the nation was struggling to emerge from the Great Depression and weathering another severe economic downturn in 1937 and 1938. [from _The Heritage Foundation_](http://www.heritage.org/views/2000/ed111500c.html) 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](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/economycrime011204.html) > [@](#): > > But criminologists disagree about the connection between a sour economy and spikes in crime and whether aggressive policing strategies introduced in the last decade can prevent a sustained rise in crime… They need only look to history to see that crime rates are often unpredictable. During the Great Depression, for example, crime went up for two years as poverty and desperation ran rampant among the American people, but then fell through the remainder of that era. 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 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/4 "2002-06-09T17:31:53Z")
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. [http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8819/8819.ch01.html](http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8819/8819.ch01.html) ---
**Author:** ![bbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/5 "2002-06-09T17:40:23Z")
Dimly remembered quote from the French Revolution: “Both the rich and the poor are arrested for stealing bread, and for sleeping under bridges.” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/6 "2002-06-09T17:55:09Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/7 "2002-06-09T18:04:07Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/8 "2002-06-09T18:08:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/9 "2002-06-09T18:53:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*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 \*\* 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. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/10 "2002-06-09T19:47:39Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/11 "2002-06-09T19:54:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/12 "2002-06-09T19:55:35Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@Lure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lure)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-u-s-have-a-high-crime-rate-during-the-great-depression/113119/13 "2002-06-09T20:33:01Z")
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.