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How Did Prohibition Cause Crime

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How Did Prohibition Cause Crime
Prohibition
With crime rates reaching new lengths and drugs replacing alcohol, the Prohibition Era created more problems than it solved. The Prohibition Era began in 1920 and continued through 1933. It was intended to “decrease the evils of alcohol” (“The Prohibition Era”). Its main goal was to lower crime by bettering our society. Prohibition was suppose to improve the overall health of America. Unfortunately, it caused several more issues to arise.
Prohibition commenced with the 18th amendment in 1919 (“1920s Prohibition”). Some states had already set local bans. By 1916, 26 of the 48 states already had prohibition into effect. The amendment banned manufacture, transport, and the sale of alcohol (“1920s Prohibition”). It was a great …show more content…
Americans began discovering new ways to enjoy a drink or a few. Many people were willing to illegally drink, and soon bootlegging started (The Editors of Enclopaedia Brittanica). As a result, even more conflicts were created. Soon after the amendment was put into effect “courts and prisons systems became overloaded; and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred” (“1920s Prohibition”). With the rise of crime came the rise of strong crime syndicates, which used bribery of police officers in order to distribute and receive their alcohol (“The Prohibition …show more content…
Gangs were formed and controlled several of the chains of bootlegging. The gangsters became richer and brought violence with them. The gangs only made the problems worse. They used the nightclubs and the speakeasies as transport channels to sell and distribute alcohol. Soon, several gangs joined together and became even stronger, expanding their efforts to gambling rackets, prostitution, and extortion (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). Also, drugs became an immense problem.The drugs were replacing the alcohol (“The Prohibition Era”).
Not only was alcohol being sold in clubs, it was being sold directly over the counter. Bootleggers would sell millions of what they called “medicinal whiskey” over the counter at drug stores. This was dangerous, but very easy for them to do. Also, Speakeasies would sell a filtered denatured alcohol to their individual customers, and it was made from corn (“The Prohibition Era”). Home brewing became very popular as well. (“1920s Prohibition”). Prohibition was not working for America. The people were finding ways to get around the
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