The Debate Over Prohibition

 

Crime & Corruption

Once Prohibition came into effect, crime and corruption skyrocketed.

Prohibition proved difficult to enforce since Prohibition agents had little pay; they were easily bribed into protecting speakeasies (Worth 91). Gangsters began to gain power, money, and control by illegally selling alcohol (Slavicek 64). They became more widespread and organized, even cooperating with one another to set prices and start organized crime on a new national level ("Prohibition Life...").

A bootlegger revealing thigh flasks

"I give the public what the public wants. I never had to send out a high pressure salesman. Why, I could never meet the demand." - Al Capone (Okrent 274).

Bootlegging was a new occupation that came about during Prohibition that entailed smuggling and selling alcohol (Stockdale). It became a well-respected title since it satisfied the public demand (Kyvig).

"Prohibition has created a new, a universally respected, a well-beloved, and a very profitable occupation, that of the bootlegger who takes care of the importation of the forbidden liquor ... this profession is beloved because it is essential, and it is respected because its pursuit is clothed with an element of danger." - Count Felix von Luckner, a man who visited the U.S. during Prohibition ("Prohibition, 1927...").


There was criminality going on directly within the government and justice system as well:

"President Harding and his political friends drank alcohol in the White House." - Richard Worth (Worth 97).

"... eight jurors went on trial today ... to show cause why they should not be suspended from further jury service for drinking the evidence ... The jurors all admitted drinking the pint of liquor which was the prosecution's chief exhibit against Beven ... They stated it was sampled to determine whether it was of alcoholic content." - The New York Times, January 7, 1928 ("Prohibition's Supporters...").

The public opinion on Prohibition was negative as they felt the law wasn't made with their interests in mind (Engdahl 62). They also felt that their rights were being violated since police used wiretapping and searched cars without suspicion or warrants (Engdahl 123). In the end, no more than 2,500 people enforced Prohibition ("The Jazz...").

Alcohol being transported through a fake truckload of lumber

"It is therefore a serious impairment of the legal order to have a national law upon the books theoretically governing the whole land and announcing a policy for the whole land which public opinion in many important centers will not enforce and in many others will not suffer to be enforced effectively." - National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement ("Report On...").