Rules And Regulations In Society

In every society there are rules and regulations that should be followed and where the rules are not followed then restrictions should be put into place. The restrictions may or may not benefit the society as intended depending on how they are enacted.

In the 1920`s, America was characterized by a period of cultural conflicts where was rising optimism and deadening cynicism, increased and decreased  faith while to some it was an era of great hope while to others an era of despair. It is an era where the nation became more urban and commercial, a decade of rising intolerance and isolation, hysteria of palmer raids, restrictive immigration laws and prohibition.

Prohibition of the 1920`s

The prohibition was meant to reduce the rate at which alcohol was consumed as it was seen by some like the `devils` alcohol. Therefore, it was meant to reduce crime, poverty levels, and death rates, improve on the quality of life and also to reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poor houses. The eighteenth Amendment was put into effect to control the importing, exporting, transporting, selling and manufacture of all liquor regarded as intoxicating. This was followed by the enactment of the National Prohibition Act (Volstead Act).

This Act became very ineffective and therefore not enforceable leading to the rise in crime tremendously together with the consumption of alcohol. The Federal Prohibition Bureau was also set up to help in the enactment of the law but the laws were still flouted by the bootleggers and commoners. Alcohol was smuggled from overseas and Canada, stolen from government warehouses while some produced their own liquor. They hid it in hip flasks, false books and hollow canes and therefore there was no control in the consumption of illegal alcohol (Florala H. L. 1998).

Eventually alcohol fell under organized criminals who secured their businesses by bribing the federal agents and people of high political stature. Due to the rise in the gangs, there was increased rivalry amongst the gangs which fuelled warfare leading to increased crime rates and death rates. Due to the restrictions on the importation and manufacturing of alcohol, prices of beer went up and this led to people turning to hard liquor. Eventually, the illegal drinks led to the rise of deaths from liquor poisoning.

In conclusion, the prohibition Act led to tremendous rise of crimes, increase in homicide, assault and battery. The level  of federal convicts increased by 561%.The reasons behind all these were because the act destroyed legal jobs, it increased black market violence and it diverted resources from enforcement of the law. Therefore the prohibition was very ineffective to the people and society it was meant to help,

It is important for the government to be careful when choosing the policies that are being implemented so that they can bring about development into a country and avoid chaotic and uncalled for situations.

Reference

Florala H. L. (1998). “American Prohibition in the 1920s.” 1926. Online. Netscape. 23

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