“The reign of tears is over. The slums will soon be a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile and children will laugh. Hell will be forever for rent.”

 --Reverend Billy Sunday

 These words, spoken at the beginning of Prohibition, gave the Noble Experiment much credit and showed the public opinion of Prohibition.  Unfortunately, these words were also proved wrong by just how much crime and poverty Prohibition caused.  Before Prohibition, the rate of serious crimes had been gradually decreasing.  Before the Harrison Narcotics Act was passed, the number of homicides in a large city was 5.6 murders per 100,000 people.  As soon as the Harrison Narcotics Act was passed, World War I starting, and State Prohibitions, the homicide rate rose to 8.4 murders per 100,000.  As soon as national prohibition took effect, the homicide rate rose to 10 per 100,000, a 78 percent increase over pre-prohibition America. 

Prohibition had an impact on the crime rate of America.  According to a study taken in 30 US cities, there was a 24 percent increase in crime rate between 1920 and 1921.  The rate of arrests on account of drunkenness rose 41 percent, and arrests for drunken driving increased 81 percent.  Thefts rose 9 percent, and assault and battery incidents rose 13 percent.  Before Prohibition, there had only been 4000 federal convicts, and less than 3000 were housed in federal prisons.  By 1932, the number of federal convicts had increased 561 percent and the federal prison population increased by 361 percent.  Over 2/3 of all prisoners in 1930 were convicted on alcohol and drug charges.

 

 Although small crimes, such as public swearing, decreased over 50 percent, was it worth the price of the crime rate of Prohibition?