Prohibition, Why Did America Repeal It?
"Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water” - W.C. Fields
In 1922 over 80% of Americans supported the 18th Amendment, by 1933 less than 20% of Americans supported it. While Americans may not have liked Prohibition, criminals did. Organized criminal, Al Capone, made more than $60 million in one year during Prohibition. Prohibition was fully ratified by early 1920 and lasted 13 years. The question is, why isn’t Prohibition active today? The three main reasons Prohibition isn't active today are; crime, enforcement of the law, and simple economics.
The first reason Americans changed their mind about Prohibition was the increase in crime in the US. The US census and FBI uniform crime unit reports show that the homicide rate before Prohibition was 7 per 100,000 people, during Prohibition the homicide rate was 10 per 100,000 people. After Prohibition the homicide rate dropped to 6 per 100,000 people. (Doc B) This means that Prohibition caused the increased crime rate, there is no other explanation. The …show more content…
As The Inside of Prohibition by Mabel Walker states, "...how do we enforce a law that the enforcers don't follow?" (Doc D) This means that even the people that made Prohibition possible where drinking. Enforcement of the law changed Americans minds about Prohibition because if people didn't follow this law what happens when people don't follow other more important laws? Frederick J Haskins excerpt says that we only have 3,500 agents for every 30,000 Americans. (Doc C) This means that even though we have a lot of people enforcing the law it is still not enough, one man can’t be in charge of 30,000 people. The Americans felt that if the enforcers didn't follow the law, then why would regular Americans follow the
"Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water” - W.C. Fields
In 1922 over 80% of Americans supported the 18th Amendment, by 1933 less than 20% of Americans supported it. While Americans may not have liked Prohibition, criminals did. Organized criminal, Al Capone, made more than $60 million in one year during Prohibition. Prohibition was fully ratified by early 1920 and lasted 13 years. The question is, why isn’t Prohibition active today? The three main reasons Prohibition isn't active today are; crime, enforcement of the law, and simple economics.
The first reason Americans changed their mind about Prohibition was the increase in crime in the US. The US census and FBI uniform crime unit reports show that the homicide rate before Prohibition was 7 per 100,000 people, during Prohibition the homicide rate was 10 per 100,000 people. After Prohibition the homicide rate dropped to 6 per 100,000 people. (Doc B) This means that Prohibition caused the increased crime rate, there is no other explanation. The …show more content…
As The Inside of Prohibition by Mabel Walker states, "...how do we enforce a law that the enforcers don't follow?" (Doc D) This means that even the people that made Prohibition possible where drinking. Enforcement of the law changed Americans minds about Prohibition because if people didn't follow this law what happens when people don't follow other more important laws? Frederick J Haskins excerpt says that we only have 3,500 agents for every 30,000 Americans. (Doc C) This means that even though we have a lot of people enforcing the law it is still not enough, one man can’t be in charge of 30,000 people. The Americans felt that if the enforcers didn't follow the law, then why would regular Americans follow the