International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 10

International Journal on Criminology
They could not recruit good candidates, rid themselves of the wildly incompetent, or
crackdown on corruption (Fogelson 1977).
1931–1955: Decline in Homicide, Crash, and Recession
As of 1931 in Canada and 1933 in the United States, homicide rates declined
drastically until 1942 to then remain at relatively low levels between 1943 and
1960.
The Great Depression of 1929 put a stop to the crazy years. The crash was followed
by a long and harsh recession that lasted until 1942. Individuals’ private incomes were in
free fall, as was their purchasing power. Almost a quarter of the working-age population
was unemployed. There were thirteen million unemployed in the United States in 1933
(Tindall and Shi 2004). The “New Deal” introduced a system of social protection, and
the Welfare State came into being. In Canada, unemployment was rife, as it was in the
United States, and salaries fell by 40 percent. Penury spread (Linteau, Durocher and
Robert 1986).
As of 1939, under the pressure of the war raging in Europe, industries were
mobilized to support the war effort. Full employment returned. Even so, the economic
recovery did not translate into any tangible improvement of living standards, since
resources were channeled into military production as a priority.
For nearly fifteen years (between 1930 and 1945), then, Canadians and
Americans produced and purchased relatively few consumer goods, whether because
of recession or the war economy. This meant that, during this period, would-be thieves
had fairly few opportunities to make off with consumer durables. Teenagers and young
adults could no longer afford to go out and have fun in the evening. Parents had no
option but to stay in and look after their children.
In the United States, the criminal gangs that had called the shots in the 1920s
were weakened by police operations and the end of prohibition. In Chicago, citizens,
politicians, and honest police officers lost patience with Al Capone’s celebrity status
and his ostentatious display of power. Capone was declared “public enemy.” In 1931,
tax investigators managed to have Capone sentenced to eleven years in jail. In New
York, one of the leading mafia bosses, “Lucky Luciano,” found himself in police sights.
He was arrested and sentenced to between thirty and fifty years in jail. He would be
released during the war (Kenney and Finckenauer 1995). Such renewed police vigor,
combined with the lifting of the prohibition laws, left US organized crime impoverished
and disorganized.
On the police side, the unemployment brought about by the depression,
surprisingly, helped improve recruitment of policemen. With restricted opportunities
for work in trade and industry, a great many young people applied to be police officers.
Candidates with little education or dubious morals were no longer hired. At the same
time, police officers were better paid than before.
Between 1930 and 1955 in the United States and Canada, newspapers reported
scandals in several city police forces, and journalists condemned corruption (Sherman
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