USA: +1(669)289-8683 
Sign in
Read the article attached and write a response mini-essay of at least 150 to 250 words on the discussion topic identified below. Take a position and defend it. (Specify a thesis and support it very briefly with evidence)
The response essay should provide one example from the contemporary world to support your
Position. Ideally you have a source reference for your example. You must have a source reference if you
Refer to any material which is neither common knowledge nor personal experience. essay should be typed using APA style feature with a title page and list of references if any are used.
Topic:
-Crime and economic conditions Huzel makes a strong case that some kinds of crime rose while others fell during the Great Depression in Vancouver. If we assume that young men (age 16-26) carried out the bulk of the crime, what do these changing types of crime suggest about the changing conditions for young men in the city at that time?
T h e Incidence of Crime in Vancouver During
the Great Depression*
J A M E S P . H U Z E L
“Crime Wave Sweeps Vancouver” ran the headline in the Vancouver
Sun on 7 January 1930.1 Two days later an editorial followed that
claimed most offences were not the work of professional criminals but
rather of “men whom hunger and poverty had made desperate.”2 On
1 November 1930 another editorial linked crime conditions to unemploy-
ment and suggested solving both problems by hiring a large squad of
extra policemen.3 A more violent crime wave was referred to in March
1932, when it was claimed that 575 major crimes in which revolvers had
figured4 had occurred in Vancouver since the beginning of that year.
Concern was again voiced on 21 July 1932, the headline in the Sun
proposing another possible solution: “City May Operate Jobless Shelters
to Restrict Crime”5 Even the Victoria Colonist, in the same year, noticed
the “Reign of Crime” in Vancouver, claiming that the B.C. police were
intent on coming to the aid of the local force to “Clean Up” crime in the
city.6
The press was not alone in linking the sudden onslaught of Van-
couver’s depression in October 1929 to increased criminal activity. The
* I would like to thank the H.S.S. Grants Committee of U.B.C. for providing fund-
ing which aided, in part, the research on which this article is based. I would also
like to thank Elaine Fairey and Logan Hovis for their valuable research assistance,
and especially Virginia Green of the Arts Computing Centre, who performed the
computer programming without which this study could not have come to fruition.
My thanks, as well, to the staff of the Vancouver City Archives for their valuable
assistance, and to Staff Sergeant Swan of the Vancouver Police D e p a r t m e n t for
providing important information. I would also like to thank M u r r a y Greenwood
and DeLloyd G u t h for reading an earlier draft of this paper. Some of the latter’s
suggestions must await elaboration in forthcoming work. I owe a special debt of
gratitude to my wife Gail for her painstaking research over the years.
1 Vancouver Sun, 7 J a n u a r y 1930, p . 1.
2 Ibid., 9 J a n u a r y 1930, p . 6.
3 Ibid., 1 November 1930, p . 6.
4 Ibid., 23 M a r c h 1932, p . 6.
5 Ibid., 21 July 1932, p . 1.
6 Cited in ibid., 6 May 1932, p. 1.
211
BG S T U D I E S , nos. 69-70, Spring-Summer 1986
212 BC STUDIES
police themselves were certain of the connection. As early as 7 November
1929, the Vancouver Police Commission noted a rise in petty thieving
and housebreaking.7 Although Police Chief W. J. Bingham had initially
denied that a crime wave was upon the city, he nevertheless claimed in
his Annual Report for 1929 that the “unemployment situation results in
many destitute men falling into petty crime” and that “clearing camps in
the interior would rid the City of a menace difficult to handle. . . . ” 8 In
February 1930 Bingham reported to the Vancouver Police Commission
that “many of the large numbers of unemployed men in the city were
becoming desperate and were committing crimes” and noted an increase
in hold-ups and shopbreakings.9 O n 3 December a special meeting of the
Police Commission was convened to discuss the “epidemic of holdups and
burglaries.”10 I n his Annual Report of that year Bingham explained that
the increase in stolen property could “be accounted for in part by the
state of general depression and mass unemployment.”11 Police Chief C. E.
Edgett elaborated on this theme in 1932 :
With few exceptions, those arrested for Robbery with Violence were found
to be local youths and residents of Vancouver, who had been before the
Courts for minor offences as Juveniles and otherwise. The present economic
situation and its attendant unemployment is no doubt in a large measure
contributory to this condition.12
T h e demands of community and business associations likewise provide
evidence of a growing concern about rising crime. T h e Vancouver Cen-
tral Ratepayers Association passed a resolution early in 1930 suggesting
that assistance be requested from the R C M P and, if necessary, the Pro-
7 See City of Vancouver: Board of Police Commission Minutes, 7 November 1929,
p . 178. Vancouver City Archives, 75 (A) 5. Hereinafter these documents will be
referred to as Van. Police Minutes. T h e Vancouver City Archives will be referred
to as V.C.A.
8 See Annual Report of the Chief Constable of the City of Vancouver 1929, p. 31.
V.G.A., S.25. Hereinafter these documents will be referred to as Van. Police
Annual Report with the year cited. For Bingham’s denial see the Vancouver Sun,
10 J a n u a r y 1930, p . 1 and 1 February 1930, p . 1.
9 Van. Police Minutes, 4 February 1930, p . 219 a n d 12 February 1930, p . 222.
V.C.A., 7 5 ( A ) 5 .
1 0 Ibid., 3 December 1930, p . 52.
1 1 Van. Police Annual Report, 1930, p. 3. V.C.A. S.25.
1 2 Van. Police Annual Report 1932, p . 2. V.C.A., S.25. Edgett also speculated on
another cause of this condition: ” T h e craving for excitement and amusement by
present-day youth, a n d the glorification of crime as exemplified by the modern
‘Movies’ may possibly have a bearing on it also.”
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 213
vincial Police to cope with the rise in unlawful activity.13 In January
1932 the Grandview Ratepayers Association urged city council to press
for an amendment to the Criminal Code forbidding the manufacture,
importation and sale of revolvers and other lethal weapons. T h e preamble
to their resolution — unanimously endorsed by city council and adopted
in principle by the Vancouver Police Commission — read :
And Whereas the present economic distress is accentuating unemploy
ment
and either directly or indirectly driving many of our young men into the
ranks of the criminal class, and because of the ease with which such lethal
weapons may be procured, rendering such men a serious menace to law-
abiding citizens, Be It Resolved… . 1 4
In addition, groups such as the Merchant Tailors Exchange and the
Vancouver Real Estate Exchange directed specific complaints to the
Vancouver Police Commission. In March 1931 the former wrote to the
Commission referring to the recent numerous robberies of tailor shops in
town, resulting in “severe losses” to their members, and urged ” a special
effort on the part of the Police Force.”15 T h e latter, in December 1933,
complained about the theft of plumbing, lighting and other fixtures from
vacant houses and urged a special investigation to cope with this wide-
spread “evil.”16
Abundant contemporary commentary, then, suggests an association
between depressed economic conditions and rising trends in crime. What
contemporaries thought, however, and what actually occurred might be
two very different things. Did crime, in fact, increase during Vancouver’s
Depression? If so, can one specify which types of criminal activity were
most sensitive to the downswing in the economy? How do crime levels in
the 1930s compare with those prevailing in Vancouver’s earlier history?
One of the major aims of this paper is to address these specific questions.
Beyond that, my intentions are wider-ranging. Although in recent years
Canadian historians have expressed a burgeoning interest in varying
aspects of the law, crime and society, this field has not received nearly
the attention that it has in Europe and the United States. I n particular,
Canadian cities still await the long-term historical consideration of crime,
1 3 This resolution was brought before the Vancouver Police Commission. See Van.
Police Minutes, 12 February 1930, p. 224. V.C.A., 75 (A) 5.
1 4 See ibid., 20 January 1932, pp. 178-79. V.G.A., 75 (A) 6; see also Police General
Files, 75(G) 6, fol. 5.
1 5 Van. Police Minutes, 16 March 1931, p. 96. V.G.A., 75 ( A ) 6 .
1 6 Ibid., 28 December 1933, p. 71. See also Police General Files, V.G.A., 7 5 ( D ) 2,
fol. 7.
214 BG S T U D I E S
police and community accorded to urban centres such as London, New
York and Boston.17 T h e present article — the basis of a larger study —
attempts a beginning.
Finally, Vancouver will be utilized as a test case within the extensive
debate on the impact of economic conditions on crime. T h e literature,
both historical and criminological, on this theme is at once voluminous
and contradictory, although surprisingly few studies have concentrated
specifically on the Depression of the 1930s. Once again, most of the
historical work has focused on Europe and the U.S.A. In both earlier and
more recent writings two clear categories emerge: those authors who
posit, albeit with varying degrees of qualification, a direct relationship
between increasing destitution and crime, and those who strongly deny
such an association. Classic works by Thomas on nineteenth-century
England and Radzinowicz on Poland between 1927 and 1934, for ex-
ample, found positive correlations between certain types of property
crimes and deteriorating economic conditions.18 These pioneering con-
clusions are confirmed in more recent works by Short on the 1930s
depression in the U.S.A.,19 Beattie on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
1 7 For recent historical work on C a n a d a see D . J. Bercuson and L. A. Knafla, eds.,
Law and Society in Canada in Historical Perspective (University of Calgary,
Studies in History, No. 2, 1979) and L. A. Knafla, éd., Law and Justice in a New
Land: Essays in Western Canadian Legal History (Agincourt, O n t a r i o : Carswell,
1986). Both these collections of articles contain excellent biographies. Unfortu-
nately the latter publication appeared too late to be incorporated in this study. For
England see J. S. Cockburn, éd., Crime in England^ 1550-1800 (London: Methuen
and Co. Ltd., 1977), and in particular the comprehensive bibliography by L. A.
Knafla contained therein. For France and Germany see H o w a r d Zehr, Crime and
the Development of Modern Society: Patterns of Criminality in Nineteenth-Century
Germany and France ( L o n d o n : Croom Helm Ltd., 1976). For the U.S.A. see
Eric H . Monkkonen, Police in Urban America i86o-iQ20 ( C a m b r i d g e : Cambridge
University Press, 1981 ),* Robert M . Fogelson, Big City Police (Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts: H a r v a r d University Press, 1 9 7 7 ) ; David R. Johnson, Policing the Urban
Underworld: The Impact of Crime on the Development of the American Police
1800-1887 (Philadelphia: T e m p l e University Press, 1979) ; a n d Sidney L. Harring,
Policing a Class Society: The Experience of American Cities 1865-1Q15 (New
Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1983). For studies specific to
major cities see Wilbur R. Miller, Cops and Bobbies: Police Authority in New
York and London 1830-1870 (Chicago: T h e University of Chicago Press, 1 9 7 7 ) ;
Roger Lane, Policing the City: Boston 1822-1885 (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
H a r v a r d University Press, 1967).
1 8 D . S. Thomas, Social Aspects of the Business Cycle (New York: A. Knopf and
Co., 1927). L. Radzinowicz, ” T h e Influence of Economic Conditions on Crime,”
Sociological Review X L V I I I (September 1942) : 188-201. See also Sam Bass
Warner, Crime and Criminal Statistics in Boston, repr. ed. (New York: Arno
Press, 1974), p p . 30-34. Originally published 1934.
1 9 See J. F . Short, ” A n Investigation of the Relationship between Crime and the
Business Cycle” (unpublished P h . D . dissertation, University of Chicago, 1951).
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 215
England,20 Zehr for nineteenth-century France and Germany21 and
Monkkonen for the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century U.S.A.22
T h e views of these historians, moreover, are echoed by contemporary
criminologists such as Chester, Silberman23 and R. W. Gillespie, who, for
example, concludes that “results of studies relating unemployment to
crime show general, if not uniform, support for a positive correlation
between these two variables.”24
Numerous authors, however, have remained highly suspicious of these
suppositions. Sellin’s classic study of the Great Depression in the U.S.A.
found no direct link between Depression and crime.25 A. M. Carr-
Sanders earlier had reached similar conclusions for England.26 More
recently, G. B. Void summed u p his comprehensive review of research
linking unemployment to crime thus: ” T h e obvious inference is that the
general relations of economic conditions and criminality are so indefinite
that no clear or definite conclusions can be drawn.5527 Ivan Jankovic is
even more sceptical:
There is little evidence that poverty, as such, is positively correlated with
crime, and no evidence at all that changes in unemployment rates are posi-
tively correlated with changes in crime rates.28
T h e above, of course, is but a brief sampling of the range of conclu-
2 0 J. M . Beattie, ” T h e Pattern of Crime in England 1 6 6 0 1 8 0 0 , ” Past and Present
62 (February 1974) : 47-95.
2 1 Zehr, Crime and Modern Society.
2 2 Monkkonen, Police in Urban America.
2 3 Ronald G. Chester, “Perceived Relative Deprivation as a Cause of Property Crime,”
Crime and Delinquency 22 (1) ( 1 9 7 6 ) : 17-30. Charles F . Silberman, Criminal
Violence, Criminal Justice (New York: R a n d o m House, 1978).
2 4 R. W. Gillespie, Economic Factors in Crime and Delinquency: A Critical Review
of the Empirical Evidence (Washington, D . C . : National Institute of Law Enforce-
ment and Criminal Justice, 1975), p . 4. See also E. H . Sutherland and D . R.
Cressey, Criminology, 10th ed. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1978), p p . 235-36.
2 5 T . Sellin, Research Memorandum on Crime in the Depression, repr. ed. (New
York: Arno Press, 1972). Originally published in 1937. Sellin does note, how-
ever, the correlation between b a d economic conditions and rising burglary in Eng-
land and Massachusetts ( p p . 62 and 6 3 ) .
2 6 A. M . Garr-Sanders, “Crime and Unemployment,” Political Quarterly V (July-
September 1 9 3 4 ) : 395-99-
2 7 G. B. Void, Theoretical Criminology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958),
p p . 181-82.
2 8 Ivan Jankovic, Punishment and the Post-Industrial Society: A Study of Employ-
ment, Crime and Imprisonment in the United States (Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms International, 1978), p . 117.
216 BG S T U D I E S
sions in the research literature pertaining to Europe and the U.S.A. Work
on Canada in the depression is much sparser but likewise suggests some-
what contradictory results. Tepperman’s national study, although pri-
marily interested in the punitiveness of the courts, does suggest that
criminal activity increased during the Depression and posits a close cor-
respondence between conviction rates and unemployment.29 H e cites as
well the numerous references in Broadfoot’s Ten Lost Years 1929-/959
to argue for an increase in petty acquisitive crime caused by impoverish-
ment.30 Gallacher, using Supreme Court of B.C. indictments, argues that
offences against property increased significantly in Greater Victoria with
the advent of the Depression.31 A recent study by Watson which explores
crime in Calgary between 1924 and 1934, however, argues that “except
for a brief increase in property related offences early in the Depression,
the city’s crime rate was remarkably stable; indeed, in some cases, it
declined from pre-Depression levels.5532 T h e following discussion, although
specific to Vancouver, will attempt, where possible, a broader compara-
tive perspective and will argue that rising property crime was connected
closely to increasing destitution in the Great Depression.
If one goes beyond the literary evidence provided by contemporaries,
rich as these materials are, it is necessary to construct a series of crime
statistics for Vancouver both during and before the Great Depression.
T h e City of Vancouver possesses an excellent series of Police Court
Monthly Reports which span, with surprisingly few gaps, the years 1907
2 9 L o m e T e p p e r m a n , Crime Control: The Urge Toward Authority ( T o r o n t o : Mc-
Graw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., 1977), p . 178.
3 0 Ibid., p . 179. T e p p e r m a n is correct in stressing Broadfoot’s evidence linking poverty
and crime. At times, however, Broadfoot’s interviewees seem to indicate that so
prevalent was economic distress it was futile to steal : ” . . . who would you shoot
and take his [sic] money, nobody h a d any money, nothing to make it worth your
while.” See Barry Broadfoot, Ten Lost Years 1929-1939: Memories of Canadians
Who Survived the Depression ( T o r o n t o : Doubleday C a n a d a Ltd., 1973), p. 358.
See also James H . Gray, The Winter Years ( T o r o n t o : Macmillan, 1966), p . 30,
where he suggests t h a t unemployment led to property theft.
3 1 D . T . Gallacher, “City in Depression — T h e I m p a c t of the Years 1929-1939 on
Greater Victoria, B.C.” (unpublished M.A. thesis, University of British Columbia,
I 9 7 ° ) j P- 151. T h e figures upon which he bases this conclusion, however, are very
small. Only five indictments for property crime occurred between 1927 and 1929
compared to fifty-three in the period 1930-33 (p. 2 1 0 ) . Supreme Court indict-
ments, moreover, represent only a tiny minority of all cases heard in Greater
Victoria, and do not provide sufficient support for Gallacher’s conclusions.
3 2 Neil B. Watson, ” C a l g a r y : A Study of Crime, Offenders and the Police Court,
1924-1934″ (unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Calgary, 1978), p . 131. This
is the only treatment to date of crime in a C a n a d i a n city during the Depression.
His study mainly concentrates on the period 1929-1934.
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 217
to 1937.33 These reports are accurate summaries taken from the volumi-
nous Police Court Calendars34 and provide for each month and for each
specific crime the total number of adults prosecuted before the Police
Court magistrates, with a further breakdown of total convictions, total
cases dismissed or withdrawn, and total cases committed for trial in
higher courts. This information was supplemented where relevant with
printed criminal statistics provided by the Dominion Bureau of Statis-
tics.35 Computerization of the data generated yearly totals of all prosecu-
tions and convictions for the years 1906-40 occurring in the Vancouver
Police Court. Since only a tiny minority of total cases were sent to higher
court (at most 2.7 percent), these totals clearly capture the vast majority
of criminals convicted.
For the purposes of analysis, particular categories and sub-categories
of prosecutions and convictions were selected out from the overall totals.
3 3 These reports were headed ” S T A T E M E N T O F GASES D I S P O S E D O F I N T H E
P O L I C E C O U R T F O R T H E M O N T H E N D I N G . . . . ” with the particular month
and year specified. They are in possession of the V.G.A., in the Police General
Files numbered 7 5 ( A ) 12 through 7 5 ( 0 ) 4 . Reports are missing for April through
December 1920, for all of 1921, for J a n u a r y through April 1922, and for May
through November 1934. I t is estimated t h a t the Police Court tried perhaps nine
out of every ten people accused of breaking the law. More serious cases were
referred to trial in the County Court after appearing in the Vancouver Police
Court. T h e most serious cases were dealt with in the Supreme Court. T h u s , trends
revealed through the use of Police Court statistics, especially with respect to prose-
cutions, clearly will reflect overall patterns of crime in Vancouver. For a brief
discussion of the early justice structure in British Columbia see Vincent Moore,
Angelo Branca: “Gladiator of the Courts” (Vancouver: Douglas and M c l n t y r e ,
1981), p . 19. For a detailed treatment of the structure, jurisdiction and procedures
of adult courts in C a n a d a and the provinces see S t u a r t Ryan, ” T h e Adult Court,”
in Crime and Its Treatment in Canada, ed. W. T . M c G r a t h ( T o r o n t o : Macmillan
of C a n a d a , 1965), p p . 136-208.
3 4 T h e Police Court Calendars comprise 103 volumes spanning the years 1895 to
1961. See V.C.A. 3 7 ( G ) 5 through 4 2 ( 6 ) 2 9 . T h e y contain the following informa-
tion for each individual case appearing before the c o u r t : date of appearance, name
of presiding magistrate, name, and sex (after 1919) of offender, date of offence,
charge, name of complainant, name of prosecuting attorney, plea, n a m e ( s ) of
witness ( e s ) , how disposed of, and general observations. I t is hoped eventually to
obtain the substantial funding t h a t would be necessary to exploit this vast resource.
T h e present study utilizes the summaries contained in the Police Court Monthly
Reports. T h e Court Calendars were utilized briefly, however, for two purposes : ( 1 )
certain sample months were used to confirm the accuracy of the Police Court
Monthly Reports a n d (2) vagrancy cases for the years 1907-15 were tabulated to
provide d a t a on the specific types of vagrancy not given in the Monthly Reports.
3 5 These statistics commenced in 1920 and were used mainly to provide total yearly
prosecutions and convictions for the years 1920, 1921, 1934, 1938, 1939 and 1940,
where d a t a was either incomplete or missing in the Police Court Monthly Reports.
See C a n a d a , Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Judicial Statistics Branch, Annual
Reports of Criminal Statistics ( O t t a w a : King’s Printer, 1921-41). D a t a for indi-
vidual cities are given in the “Police Statistics” section.
218 BG S T U D I E S
This was possible for the years 1907 through 1937, with the exception of
1921, for which no data could be found. The Police Court Monthly
Reports, of course, contain a vast array of criminal offences, many of
which are not directly relevant to the discussion at hand. These would
include a host of municipal By-Law offences (often referred to as “bark-
ing dog” violations), as well as traffic infractions, which increased to the
point where in 1936 they constituted 28 percent of all cases before the
Vancouver Police Court. All prosecutions under the Criminal Code as
well as a number of the more serious breaches of federal and provincial
acts were chosen for inclusion in this analysis.86 These crimes were further
subdivided into three broad categories — crimes against the person,
crimes against property and crimes against the peace, the latter including
“morality” offences. In addition, the general groupings were broken down
into fifteen subcategories.37
The use of judicial material in the form of prosecutions and convic-
tions to determine levels of criminality, of course, is fraught with diffi-
culties long familiar to students of criminal statistics. Such data will
obviously not include the “dark figure” of crime — the huge number of
violations that go unreported or undetected. Prosecutions and convictions,
moreover, depend on a chain of circumstances commencing with the will-
ingness of individuals to report criminal violations, the arrest of the
suspect, the laying of the charges, the decision to prosecute and final
resolution of the case. All these stages, in addition, are clearly influenced
by social attitudes especially in the realm of police activity where various
political and community groups often could bring pressure to bear on the
propensity to arrest and prosecute. J. M. Beattie conveniently sums up
this problem when he states that “modern opinion inclines to the view
3 6 T h u s all traffic offences except those included in the Criminal Code were excluded
as well as all municipal bylaws. Breaches of federal and provincial acts included
mostly pertain to various D r u g and Liquor Acts. Prosecutions u n d e r the I n d i a n Act
were also included. Fortunately no major revision to the Criminal Code was made
during the period u n d e r study. For the new code of 1953-54 s e e J- G. Martin, the
Criminal Code of Canada ( T o r o n t o : Cartwright and Sons, 1955).
37 T h e categories were as follows: (A) C R I M E S A G A I N S T T H E P E R S O N — (i)
physical violence causing death (2) physical violence causing bodily injury (3) no
physical violence (4) sexual crimes; (B) C R I M E S A G A I N S T P R O P E R T Y —
(1) violent crimes against property (2) general theft (3) non-violent crimes
against property (4) malicious offences against property; ( C ) C R I M E S A G A I N S T
T H E P E A C E — ( 1 ) offences against the administration of law and justice (2)
offences against public order (3) vagrancy (4) liquor related offences (5) gam-
bling (6) drugs (7) prostitution. These categories were a d a p t e d from those gene-
rally employed by Statistics C a n a d a .
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 219
that the most reliable sample of actual crime is that obtained as early in
the process as is possible” — i.e., crime “known to the authorities.”38
Fortunately, Vancouver does possess this kind of information for years
and types of crime crucial to this study. T h e Police Department in their
Annual Reports for 1938, 1939 and 1940 presented statistics spanning
the years 1929 to 1940 tabulating crimes reported to them, broken down
into a number of categories pertaining to property theft.39 Such data,
which come closest to measuring the actual incidence of crime, do not
exist, however, prior to 1929. Any assessment, therefore, of long-term
patterns of crime in Vancouver must rely on the aforementioned court
statistics, T o be sure, such sources have been used to good effect by a
number of historians.40 Extreme caution, however, is warranted. One
must be sensitive to changes in police efficiency as well as to shifts in policy
stimulated by political and public pressure.
T h e following analysis will focus mainly on the relationship between
property crime and poverty with particular emphasis on the 1930s.
Ideally, one would like to explore this relationship by relating individual
offenders and their social characteristics to shifts in specific types of
property crime over time. Vancouver unfortunately lacks the type of
source material for such individual-level study. T h e voluminous Police
Court Calendars, which list by name and type of offence every individual
appearing before the police magistrates, provide information pertaining
to gender but do not specify occupation, age, ethnicity, civil status or
residency. Arrest and charge books which often provide such data do not
survive. Individual police case files would provide similar material but
are not accessible to the researcher. One must rely, therefore, on aggre-
gate-level analysis which explores the relationship between temporal
changes in rates of various property crimes and various indicators which
represent changing levels of poverty.
Such a methodology, of course, is subject to the “ecological fallacy”;
that is, attributing criminal actions to particular subgroups of the popu-
3 8 Beattie, ” P a t t e r n of Crime in E n g l a n d , ” p . 54. For an excellent discussion of this
issue as well as the use of criminal statistics in general see Thorsten Sellin and
Marvin E. Wolfgang, The Measurement of Delinquency (New York: J o h n Wiley
and Sons, 1964), p p . 19, 36-40.
3 9 Van. Police Annual Reports 1938, 1939 and 1940, pp. 19, 20 and 18 respectively.
V.G.A. S.25.
4 0 Some recent works are L a n e , Policing the City: Boston; Roger Lane, “Urbaniza-
tion a n d Criminal Violence in the Nineteenth Century,” The Journal of Social
History I I (December 1 9 6 8 ) : 156-63; Beattie, “Pattern of Crime in England”
and Zehr, Crime and Modern Society. For western C a n a d a see Thomas Thorner,
” T h e Incidence of Crime in Southern Alberta,” in Law and Society in Canada,
eds. Bercuson and Knafla, p p . 53-88.
220 BG S T U D I E S
lation — namely the destitute — without direct biographical evidence
linking particular groups to particular crimes. Nevertheless, this aggrega-
tive method, although far from ideal, has been employed judiciously by
numerous historians.41 It will allow one to determine whether the severe
economic dislocation of the Depression years witnessed a rise in property
crimes when compared to Vancouver’s previous history as well as to assess
whether, within the 1930s, property crime was correlated with short-term
fluctuations in the economy.
It is necessary, then, to construct indices which reflect the changing
economic and social conditions of Vancouver’s population. Bartlett has
provided us with an excellent real wage index covering the period 1901
to 1929 as well as yearly series pertaining to percentage unemployment
in trade unions and the value of building permits issued.42 The latter two
series were carried forward to 1940.43 A yearly average index of employ-
ment, moreover, was compiled for the years 1922 to 1938.44 In addition,
a series was created comprising the yearly amount of municipal relief
expenditure provided to Vancouver’s poor spanning the entire period
from 1906 to 1940.45 This series should approximate most closely to
changing levels of poverty within the city. Population estimates were
taken from Annual Reports of the City of Vancouver.46 Since Van-
4 1 I n addition to the works by Beattie and Zehr cited in footnote 40 see Monkkonen,
Police in Urban America, p p . 65-85. See also T e d Robert G u r r , Peter N . Grabosky
a n d R i c h a r d G. H u l a , The Politics of Crime and Conflict: A Comparative History
of Four Cities (Beverley Hills, Sage Publications Inc., 1977).
4 2 Eleanor A. Bartlett, ” R e a l Wages a n d the S t a n d a r d of Living in Vancouver, 1901-
1929,” BC Studies 51 ( A u t u m n 1 9 8 1 ) : 3-62. T h e revised Bertram and Percy
Index, yearly average prices, was utilized in this study. See table 10, p . 5 3 .
4 3 Percentage unemployment in trade unions was taken from The Labour Gazette,
1930-1940. T h e value of building permits was gleaned from the Dominion Bureau
of Statistics, Canada Yearbooks, 1930-1940.
4 4 D a t a for Vancouver were based on tables entitled ” I N D E X N U M B E R S O F
E M P L O Y M E N T BY P R I N C I P A L C I T I E S , ” in The Labour Gazette, 1922-1938.
T h e index takes 1 9 2 6 = 1 0 0 .
4 5 These figures were compiled from the City of Vancouver Social Services Annual
Reports, V.C.A., S.I. Unfortunately no gross figures are available for the yearly
expenditure of charities.
4 6 See in particular City of Vancouver, Annual Report, 1941, p . 63 V.C.A. T h e
method of arriving at the annual population estimates is not spelled out. Base
Census Years were utilized and yearly intercensal changes were more than likely
based on multipliers applied to City Directory totals. These figures clearly separate
out Vancouver from its surrounding suburbs and (since they span the years 1886-
1940 a n d originate from a single source) possess a degree of internal consistency.
Bartlett makes brief use of these statistics. See Bartlett, ” S t a n d a r d of Living in
Vancouver,” p . 7n. See also Norbert Macdonald, “Population Growth and Change
in Seattle a n d Vancouver, 1880-1960,” in Historical Essays on British Columbia,
eds. J. Friesen and H . K. Ralston ( T o r o n t o : McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 1976).
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 221
couver’s fortunes were linked to the wider economy of British Columbia,
relevant material pertaining to cyclical fluctuations in the province during
the inter-war period was consulted.47
Crime data obviously must be analyzed in conjunction with shifts in
the total population and usually are expressed as per 100,000 people.
This will be the format utilized here. One must remember, however, that
the city of Vancouver was amalgamated with the suburbs of Point Grey
and South Vancouver on 1 January 1929, thus adding well over 80,000
to the new expanded municapility. Vancouver’s population thus increased
from 149,262 in 1928 to 240,421 in 1929. Unfortunately crime statistics
for Point Grey and South Vancouver have not survived. Since it is likely
that general crime rates were lower in these suburbs than in the city
proper, the amalgamation would probably tend to artificially deflate
crime rates in the 1930s. T o be sure, this does not pose a problem in
assessing the short-term changes in crime rates between 1929 and 1940
or between 1906 and 1928, but it does mean that the validity of long-
term comparisons might be affected.48
Although the following discussion will concentrate mainly on crimes
against property in the 1930s, one should begin perhaps with an exami-
nation of overall patterns of crime throughout our entire period. Graph 1
gives annual rates of prosecutions and convictions per 100,000 for all
cases appearing in the Vancouver Police Court through the years 1906 to
1940. It would appear that the general crime rate dropped in the 1930s
and that the 1920s experienced the highest rates over the long term.
Table 1 represents mean rates for select periods prior to 1940 and indeed
bears this out. Both prosecution and conviction rates for the period 1930-
4 7 See L. Blain, D . G. Paterson and J. D . Rae, “The Regional Impact of Economic
Fluctuation During the Inter-War Period: The case of British Columbia,” Cana-
dian Journal of Economics 7 (August 1 9 7 4 ) : 381-401; and Larry A. Blain,
“Regional Cyclical Behaviour and Sensitivity in Canada 1919-1973” (unpublished
Ph.D. thesis, University of British Columbia, 1977).
4 8 Difficulties in this regard can be overcome to some extent by paying close atten-
tion to the absolute totals of prosecutions and convictions. Where such totals
actually fall in the 1930s below levels observed in earlier periods, this clearly
would reflect real declines in the crime rate since one would expect the addition
of Point Grey and South Vancouver to increase the actual number of cases now
brought before the Vancouver Police Court. Where crime rates per 100,000 increase
in the 1930s, this will generally reflect real increases which are cancelling out the
artificial deflation produced by adding so much additional population. It is possible,
of course, that the wealthier area of Point Grey might have higher levels of break-
ing and entering than Vancouver in the pre-1929 period, thus perhaps inflating
rates for this type of crime in the 1930s. High levels in Point Grey, however, may
have been cancelled out by lower levels in the less affluent South Vancouver
suburb. In the absence of relevant statistics, such reflections are pure speculation.
In any case trends between 1929 and 1940 are not affected by such considerations.
222 BG S T U D I E S
39 were considerably lower than in the 1920s and lower still than in
the period 1914-21. It is likely that the overall rates for the 1930s were
somewhat artificially deflated by the amalgamation of 1929. Nevertheless,
the fact that the absolute totals of prosecutions and convictions in the
1930s were often lower than in the late 1920s would suggest a real
decrease in the general crime rate.49 Rates did move noticeably upward
in 1930, the first year of the Great Depression, as well as in the years
1913 and 1920, when earlier downswings in the economy had occurred.50
The most prominent feature, however, is the marked peak in both prose-
cution and conviction rates in the years 1925 to 1928 and their subse-
quent fall in the 1930s. Such a pattern is perhaps not surprising. In most
cities studied thus far in Europe, the United States and Canada —
London, Stockholm, Chicago, Boston, Buffalo and Calgary — the 1930s
witnessed declining rates for general crime, signalling an overall long-
term improvement in public order. Although the reasons for this decline
are extremely complex, Gurr is right to suggest that the long-run improve-
ment in the effectiveness of social control — the technique of legal crimi-
nalization, uniformed policing and incarceration—as well as declining
levels of interpersonal aggression played important roles in this regard.51
AH students of criminal statistics are agreed, however, that general
crime rates—which comprise such a vast array of different offences —
4 9 See g r a p h 1 (A) in Appendix for absolute totals of prosecutions and convictions
1906-1940.
5 0 Bartlett cites three major depression periods in Vancouver prior to the Great
Depression — the years 1907-08, 1913-15 a n d 1920-22. See Bartlett, ” S t a n d a r d of
Living in Vancouver,” p . 32. T h e worst year of the 1920-22 Depression was
1921, and unfortunately an exhaustive search failed to produce any d a t a for this
year. By 1922 economic conditions h a d improved considerably. T h e percentage of
unemployment in trade unions fell from 23.5 percent in 1921 to 12.4 percent in
1922. T h e real wage index moved upwards from a level of 104.8 in 1921 to 108.0
in 1922. T h e value of building permits more t h a n doubled between 1921 and 1922,
rising from $3,045,132 to $8,661,695. T h e r e are grounds then for arguing t h a t
1922 was not a severe Depression year. T a b l e I a n d subsequent tables therefore
include 1922, with the years 1923 to 1928 as years of relative prosperity.
5 1 See T e d Robert G u r r , “Development a n d Decay: T h e i r I m p a c t on Public O r d e r
in Western History,” in James A. Inciardi a n d Charles E. Faupel, eds., History and
Crime: Implications for Criminal Justice Policy (Beverley Hills: Sage Publications
Inc., 1980), p p . 35, 36, 43 a n d 44. For London a n d Stockholm see Gurr, Grabosky
and H u l a , The Politics of Crime and Conflict, p p . 112, 160 and 281-320. For
Chicago see Ted Robert Gurr, Rogues, Rebels and Reformers: A Political History
of Urban Crime and Conflict (Beverley Hills: Sage Publications Inc., 1976), p . 6 3 .
For Boston see Theodore N . Ferdinand, ” T h e Criminal Patterns of Boston,”
American Journal of Sociology 73 (July 1 9 6 7 ) : 87. For Buffalo see Elwin H .
Powell, The Design of Discord: Studies of Anomie (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1970), p . 125. D a t a on Calgary is in Watson, ” C a l g a r y : A Study of C r i m e , ”
M.A. thesis, p . 16.
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 223
14000-1
13000-|
12000
11000
10000 H
9000
CO
H 8000
oc
7000-J
6000
5000
4000-|
3000
2000-
LEGEND
Prosecution
Rates
_ 1 , , j j , j j ! j ! ! ! ! ( ] ( (
1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
YEAR
GRAPH 1
Total Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000:
Vancouver, 1906-1940
TABLE 1
Mean Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000,
for Select Periods — Vancouver, 1906-1939*
Period
Prosecution
Rates
Conviction
Rates
1906-1913
1914-1921
1922-1928
1930-1939
6491
7511
11440
6820
5071
5294
8641
4719
* These periods comprise roughly equal time periods spanning important phases in
Vancouver’s history. T h e period 1906-13 covers the p r e – W W I period. T h e years
1914-21 cover W W I and its aftermath. T h e years 1922-28 span the relatively
prosperous years of the twenties. T h e period 1930-39 covers the Great Depression.
T h e year 1929 was omitted since amalgamation occurred in this year. T h e defla-
tion in rates here would unduly bias the 1920s values in a downward direction.
(No conclusions presented here were affected by excluding 1929.) Mean rates pre-
sented here and in following tables were calculated by averaging the yearly rates
within each period.
224 BG STUDIES
can tell us little of significance about the inter-relationships between
criminal activity and socio-economic change. Clearly one must probe
further and observe patterns occurring within certain crucial categories
of crime. Graphs 2, 3 and 4 examine longitudinal trends from 1907 to
1937 in prosecution and conviction rates in three broad categories:
crimes against the person, crimes against property, and crimes against
the peace.52 Table 2 provides mean rates for these three groupings in
select periods.
The long-term shifts revealed in these data suggest a number of conclu-
sions. If the general crime rate fell in the 1930s, this appears to be due
to a precipitous decline in the large volume of crimes against the peace
which began in the late 1920s and reached a trough in 1933 and 1934
(graph 4 ) . Table 2 clearly reveals that the period 1930-37 witnessed the
lowest levels in Vancouver’s history. The declines here were most marked
with respect to morality offences; namely, liquor-related infractions, gam-
bling, drugs and prostitution. Prosecution rates for prostitution, for
example, dropped 70 percent in the period 1930-37 when compared with
1922 to 1928. Rates of prosecution for gambling, liquor and drug
offences fell 59, 61 and 89 percent respectively.53 Lesser declines are
observed for prosecution and conviction rates relating to crimes against
the person (graph 2). These rates dropped in the 1930s and remained
relatively stable. Table 2 shows a pronounced long-term decline from the
high rates observed in the 1907-13 period.
The only category of crime experiencing increased rates for prosecutions
and convictions in the 1930s was crime against property, which generally
rose in the early 1930s, reaching an all-time peak in 1934, and then
tapered off between 1935 and 1937 (graph 3 ) . In terms of absolute
volume such crime reached unprecedented heights in the 1930s.54 It is
significant as well that the earlier depression years of 1907-08, 1913 and
1920 also revealed peak rates within their respective decades. This cer-
tainly suggests some connection between increasing property crime and
depressed economic conditions. Over the long term, however, the pattern
5 2 For the subcategories contained within these groupings see footnote 37 above.
Grimes against property in the following graph and tables exclude malicious
offences against property such as arson and vagrancy ( h ) , since the analysis is
focused on property theft. Estimates for 1920, 1922 and 1934 were made on the
basis of partial data for these years using seasonal trends in proximate years. No
data were available for 1921. For absolute totals of prosecutions and convictions see
graphs 2 ( A ) , 3 ( A ) in Appendix A.
5 8 See table 1 ( B ) . Appendix B.
5 4 See graph 2 ( A ) . Appendix A.
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 225
LEGEND
Prosecution Rate
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
YEAR
GRAPH 2
Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000:
Crimes Against the Person — Vancouver, 1907-1937
LEGEND
Prosecution Rate
1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
YEAR
GRAPH 3
Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000:
Crimes Against Property — Vancouver, 1907-1937
226 BG STUDIES
K 4000 – J
cc
LEGEND
Prosecution Rate
~~1 I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
YEAR
GRAPH 4
Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000:
Crimes Against the Peace — Vancouver, 1907-1937
TABLE 2
Mean Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000,
by Category of Crime — Vancouver, 1907-1937*
Crimes vs. Persons
Crimes vs
Pros.
Property
Conv.
Crimes vs. Peace
Period
Pros. Conv.
Crimes vs
Pros.
Property
Conv. Pros. Conv.
1907-1913 339 149 626 272 4331 3839
1914-1920 278 88 545 206 4409 3448
1922-1928 262 87 608 311 5221 4304
1930-1937 183 66 639 417 2064 1745
*
No data are available for 1921, 1938, 1939.
is complicated by the fact that both prosecution and conviction rates rose
steadily in the relatively prosperous years between 1922 and 1928. It is
nevertheless the case that both prosecution and conviction rates for crimes
against property in the 1930s display the highest average levels ever
recorded in Vancouver’s history prior to 1938 (table 2 ) .
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 227
These long-term patterns raise a host of fascinating questions. An
analysis of crimes against the person and morality offences will be left to
further investigation since, on the surface at least, they appear least
responsive to the economic effects of the Great Depression. Forthcoming
work will suggest that the long-term decline in crimes against the person
throughout the period under review is clearly a reflection of the steady
decline in assaults against individuals which comprise the majority of
offences in this category. Interpersonal violence perhaps was becoming
subject to much stronger internal and external controls, and its fall from
high levels prior to 1914 also may indicate a move away from the more
turbulent “frontier” nature of early Vancouver society. Such hypotheses
at this stage, however, must remain highly tentative. T h e drastic decline
in the rates for morality offences in the late 1920s and 1930s, it will be
suggested, does not indicate an actual decline in such offences, but rather
reflects the unwillingness or inability of the police to arrest. I t is perhaps
not entirely coincidental that three major investigations into police cor-
ruption were initiated over the very period (1928-36) when prosecutions
and convictions for morality crimes dropped to the lowest levels ever
recorded in Vancouver’s history prior to World War II. 5 5
T h e discussion that follows will focus on the relationship between
property crimes and the economy, both over the long term and within
the years of the Great Depression. T h e general category of crimes against
property was further broken down into three more specific areas : violent
crimes against property, general theft and non-violent crimes against
property. Violent crimes against property include more serious and vio-
lent cases of theft such as robbery, robbery with violence, hold-ups, bur-
glary and breaJdng and entering. General theft contains a wide range of
petty theft such as shoplifting as well as the theft of automobiles and
bicycles. Non-violent crimes against property comprise various types of
fraud, embezzlement, forgery, counterfeiting and false pretences.56 Graphs
5, 6 and 7 present long-term trends in prosecution and conviction rates
5 5 The whole issue of violence in Vancouver as well as the relationship between the
police, vice and politics will be explored in a book being researched entitled
“Crime, Community and the Police: Vancouver 1886-1940.” For the investigations
into conditions in the Vancouver Police Department see Vancouver Police Inquiry
1928, V.C.A. 3 7 ( D ) 12 – 3 7 ( D ) 2 2 . For the January 1935 investigation see Police
Chief W. W. Foster’s report to the Chairman and members of the Vancouver
Police Commission in Mayor’s Correspondence 33-B-5, vol. 12, V.C.A. For 1936
see the Macdonald Inquiry and the Tucker Report 7 5 ( F ) 3 and 7 5 ( F ) 4 respec-
tively in the V.C.A.
5 6 Once again malicious offences against property such as arson and vagrancy (h)
are excluded from analysis.
228 BG STUDIES
180 n
LEGEND A
1 6 0 – Prosecution Rate /
\
Conviction Rate / l
1 4 0 –
1 2 0 –
\ A / ,*
/ \ A / /
100-
/ \ / 1 / ‘ i
8 0 – / 1 / ‘
I \ l »’*1 ”
\
6 0 –
/ 1 / ;
/ A 1 / /
\ ‘ \ : N \ A
“̂ J / \ ‘ \ U _ / , \y \
4 0 – \ , x ; » / V
2 0 –
~̂
\ x-‘
~ 1 1 1 i i i i i i i r I 1 i i i i i 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928
1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
YEAR
GRAPH 5
Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000:
Violent Crimes Against Property— Vancouver, 1907-1937
LEGEND
Prosecution Rate
y\ /
— i — i — i — i — , — i — i — i — i — i — , — i — , — i — i — i — i — i
1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
GRAPH 6
Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000:
General Theft —- Vancouver, 1907-1937
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 229
300
275 -\
250
225 H
200-
1
75-
•j 150-
125-1
1 0 0 – |
75-
LEGEND
Prosecution Rate
“~T 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 —
1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928
YEAR
-1 1 1 1 1
1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
1904 1906
GRAPH 7
Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000:
Non-violent Property Crimes — Vancouver, 1907-1937
TABLE 3
Mean Prosecution and Conviction Rates per 100,000,
Property Crimes — Vancouver, 1907-1937*
Violent Crimes
vs. Property
Pros. Conv.
General Theft
Pros. Conv.
Non-Violent Crimes
vs. Property
Period
Violent Crimes
vs. Property
Pros. Conv.
General Theft
Pros. Conv. Pros. Conv.
1907-1913 79 m 389 185 158 54
1914-1920 86 30 342 145 116 30
1922-1928 111 66 312 147 194 98
1930-1937 119 65 345 225 174 126
No data are available for 1921, 1938, 1939.
for these categories, and table 3 provides mean rates for select periods to
1937-
The most observable patterns occur with respect to general theft and
violent property crime. The former (graph 6 ) , which constitutes the
majority of property violations appearing in the Vancouver Police Court,
230 BG STUDIES
reveals a steady rise in the worst years of the Great Depression between
1929 and 1934, and then a decline through 1937. These general theft
rates, as well, reveal an extremely close correspondence with earlier
depression years, rising in 1908, 1913-15 and 1920. Mean rates for the
period 1930-37 were clearly higher than in the 1920s (table 3 ) . In abso-
lute terms the volume of such prosecutions and convictions reached
uniquely high levels in the 1930s.57 It should be pointed out that the
period 1907-13 reveals a higher mean prosecution rate than the 1930s,
although there might be factors applicable to this earlier period, such as
the substantially higher proportion of males in the population, tending to
inflate rates unduly when compared to the 1930s.58
In terms of violent property crimes rising rates are observed only in the
very early 1930s (graph 5 ) . O n the whole, there is less correspondence
with earlier Depression years. Particularly noticeable are the peaks occur-
ring in the relatively prosperous years of 1912 and especially 1924.
Nevertheless, the 1930s as a whole reveal the highest mean rate for prose-
cutions in the pre-1938 period (table 3 ) . T h e sheer volume of such prose-
cutions in this period was unprecedented. Conviction rates, however,
remain stable between 1930 and 1937 when compared with the 1920s.59
T h e data thus far indicate that with regard to general theft and vio-
lent property crime the early years of the Great Depression, particularly
prior to 1934, experienced increases, and that for the period 1930-37 as
a whole rates were generally higher than in Vancouver’s previous history.
5 7 See graph 6 ( A ) . Appendix A.
5 8 The population of Vancouver, of course, was much lower in this period than in the
1930s. The population stood at 60,100 compared to a 1937 population of 259,987.
Thus a smaller number of prosecutions would carry greater weight between 1907
and 1913. There might have been, as well, a greater visibility of crime in a
smaller population. More importantly, however, it is clear that Vancouver had a
highly distorted sex-ratio in 1911 with roughly 150 males for every 100 females, a
much higher ratio than the 114 males for every 100 females in 1931. (See Census
of Canada 1951, vol. I, table 17). Such a preponderance of males — a higher risk
group for crime than females — might unduly inflate rates for general theft in the
earlier period when compared to the 1930s. Forthcoming work which will treat the
pre-1930s period in more detail will argue also that the police were cracking down
on crime in this period, especially when compared to the period 1929-34.
5 9 The fact that the conviction rate in the 1930s does not rise in conjunction with the
prosecution rate is due to a higher percentage of violent crimes against property
being referred to higher courts during this period. Between 1930 and 1937 almost
19 percent of all cases initiated in the Vancouver Police Court on charges of
violent property crime were sent to higher court, compared to 14 percent in the
period 1922-28. In the 1930s only 3 percent of cases for general theft were so
referred. Thus conviction rates for violent property cases are not as reliable an
indicator of overall convictions when compared to similar rates for general theft.
For total prosecutions relating to violent property crime see graph 5 ( A ) , Appendix
A.
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 231
Non-violent property crimes reveal a less clear-cut trend in the 1930s
(graph 7 ) . Prosecution rates reached all-time peaks in the later 1920s
and declined on average in the period 1930-37 when compared with
1922 to 1928 (table 3 ) . 6 0 Within the lower levels of the 1930s, peaks
occurred in 1931 and 1934. Since non-violent property crime clearly
reflects levels of fraud and embezzlement, it appears that this type of
crime flourished in the boom years of the late 1920s where opportunities
for such criminal activity no doubt expanded rapidly, and then fell in the
1930s when such opportunities declined. It may well be, too, that greater
vigilance during the Depression by those with money to lose played a role.
The pattern here with respect to the 1920s and 1930s is very similar to
Gurr’s findings for London and Stockholm in terms of white-collar
crime.61
T h e preceding observations, of course, have been based largely on
direct visual observations of trends in various types of prosecution and
conviction rates. Might correlations between annual indicators of Van-
couver’s economy and such rates reveal associations between levels of
property crime and destitution in the Great Depression? Table 4 presents
yearly time series correlation coefficients between different categories of
property crime and crucial social and economic indices for the years
1929-37 where crime data is available.
With regard to correlations involving rates for property crimes as a
whole between 1929 and 1937, all coefficients score high in the direction
of an association between downswings in the economy and increased
property prosecutions and convictions (table 4 ) . Increases in the average
yearly percentage of persons unemployed in trade unions, for example,
are positively correlated with overall increases in property crime. As the
average employment index (an index reflecting the number of persons
employed) rose, overall property crime declined. T h e strongest and most
6 0 The rise in the mean conviction rate for non-violent crimes against property in the
period 1930-37 (table 3) is due to a marked decrease in the percentage of cases
dismissed or withdrawn. In the period 1922-28, 47 percent of such cases were so
disposed compared to only 22 percent in the 1930s. This would suggest that the
courts in the latter period were coming down harder on this type of offence.
6 1 See Gurr, Grabosky and Hula, The Politics of Crime and Conflict, pp. 632-37. It
must be remembered, as well, that there is probably more of a time lag between
the committing of white-collar crime and eventual prosecution than of other types
of property theft. Thus the peak in 1931 may reflect crimes committed as early as
1928 or 1929. Forthcoming work will test this hypothesis by employing the Police
Court Calendars. It should be noted, in addition, that the peak in 1934 was well
below levels in the late 1920s and below the peak in 1913. This latter peak again
might reflect the time lag hypothesis and pertain to white-collar crimes committed
in the boom years of 1911 and 1912.
232 BG STUDIES
significant correlations, however, pertain to fluctuations in the value of
building permits and per capita relief expenditure. The former, which is
considered a good indicator of cyclical trends,62 reveals a very high nega-
tive correlation with total property crime; that is, as construction activity
increased, indicating general economic improvement, property crime as a
whole declined. Per capita relief expenditure, most closely approximating
poverty levels, displays, on the whole, the most positive association with
increases in property crime. As the amount per head rose, reflecting
increased levels of indigence, so did rates for overall property crime.
A glance again at table 4 clearly reveals that within the broad category
of overall property crime general theft rates are most closely associated
TABLE 4
Pearson Correlation Coefficients: Property Prosecutions and Convictions
with Economic Indicators for the Same Year — Vancouver, 1929-1937
Average
% trade
union un-
employ-
ment
Average
employ-
ment
index
Value of
building
permits
Per capita
relief
expen-
diture
Prosecution Rate All Property
Crimes
+ .58
(.10)
—.62
(.08)
—.54
(.13)
+ .61
(.08)
Conviction Rate 55 55 55 + .64*
(.05)
—.63
(.07)
—.84*
(.01)
+ .86*
(.01)
Prosecution Rate Violent Property
Crimes
+ .48
(.19)
—.38
(.30)
+ .09
(.82)
—.12
(.76)
Conviction Rate 55 53 55 —.01
(.97)
+ .21
(.59)
+ .47
(.20)
—.53
(.14)
Prosecution Rate General Theft + .55
(.13)
—.56
(.12)
—.79*
(.01)
+ .85*
(.01)
Conviction Rate 55 55 + .52
(.15)
—.53
(.14)
—.88*
(.01)
+ .88*
(.01)
* Significant at the 5 % level. Significance levels in brackets. No difference to the
conclusions drawn occurred when crime was lagged one year behind the economic
indicators. These correlation coefficients are generally higher than observed else-
where. See Void, Theoretical Criminology, p p . 174-78; G u r r , Grabosky and Hula,
The Politics of Crime and Conflict, pp. 208, 210-11, and 310-11; and Zehr, Crime
and Modern Society, pp. 45, 51 and 59.
6 2 See Bartlett, ” S t a n d a r d of Living in Vancouver,” p . 8.
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 233
with the economic indicators. I n particular very strong significant positive
correlations can be observed between per capita relief expenditure and
general theft rates ( + .85 and + .88 ) . As the value of building permits
rose, general theft rates declined. Coefficients pertaining to average per-
centage unemployment and the employment index are clearly in direc-
tions supporting the hypothesis linking economic downswing with in-
creased levels of general theft.
Correlations with respect to violent property crime rates given in table
4 reveal, on the whole, much weaker coefficients than general theft. Not
much reliance, however, can be placed on conviction rates since almost
one-fifth of all cases pertaining to this type of crime appearing in the
Vancouver Police Courts were sent to higher courts.63 Even with respect
to prosecution rates, coefficients are negligible when violent property
crime rates are related to the value of building permits or per capita
relief expenditure. Some association does emerge, however, between rising
average yearly unemployment and increasing prosecution rates for violent
property theft.
The foregoing discussion of crime pattern based on prosecution and
conviction rates and their correlation with various economic indices
suggests that the onset of the Great Depression contributed to an increase
in both the rate and volume of total property crime mainly as a result of
increases in general theft, which comprised the bulk of such crimes. Both
overall property crime and general theft rates rose in the early severe
years of the Depression (graphs 3 and 6 ) , reaching peaks in 1934 and
then tapering off in 1935, 1936 and 1937. T h e high coefficients that
these types of crime reveal when correlated with economic indicators
clearly reflect such a pattern (table 4 ) . Violent crime rates against
property display, on the whole, less obvious trends, rising between 1929
and 1932 and then fluctuating through 1937 (graph 5 ) . T h e lower
coefficient values observed with respect to this type of crime again con-
firm these variations.
As stated at the outset, however, one must remember that increasing
prosecution and conviction rates do not necessarily reflect real increases
in crime levels. Higher prosecution rates, for example, may be due to a
growth in police efficiency, leading to a greater ability or propensity to
arrest. Evidence for the early 1930s, though, suggests that the efficiency
of the police was in fact declining. T h e strength of the force, for example,
dropped from 357 men in 1930 to 336 in 1935, and then steadily in-
6 3 See note 59, above.
234 BG STUDIES
creased to a high of 384 in 1939.64 The Vancouver Police Annual Report
for 1930, moreover, stated that the “necessity of withdrawing men from
regular duties to assist in the controlling of parades of the unemployed,
as well as the lack of efficient motor equipment, had done much to
hamper the Department during the year.”65 These sentiments were echoed
in the 1931 Annual Report, which claimed that “much valuable time
which would otherwise be devoted to investigation and suppression of
crime was taken up in curbing street demonstrations and maintaining
‘the Peace’.”66 Wage cuts were introduced in March 1932 and further
reductions made in February of the following year.67 Thus, at the very
time that prosecution rates for property crimes were rising, police effec-
tiveness was more than likely on the decline. These rates of prosecution,
then, probably reflect real increases in such criminal activity.
Furthermore, the early 1930s gave no indication of an effective cam-
paign to clean up crime in the city. It was not until his landslide! mayor-
alty victory in December 1934 that Gerry McGeer, in concert with his
newly appointed Police Chief and Board of Police Commissioners,
attempted a serious drive against criminality. McGeer had introduced his
campaign in November 1934 with the slogan: “Are you for me or the
underworld?”68 Incumbent Mayor Taylor replied by echoing a retort he
had given in his earlier 1928 campaign: “I don’t believe in running
Sunday School City.”69 The effectiveness of McGeer’s attempts to rid
Vancouver of crime in 1935 and 1936 is yet to be determined. A glance
back at graphs 3, 5, 6 and 7 certainly indicates that his clean-up cam-
paign in these years did not lead to increasing prosecution rates for prop-
erty crimes — rates, in fact, decreased. In any case, the point to be made
is that such policies emerged too late in the 1930s to have been a factor
influencing rising rates prior to 1935.70
6 4 See the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Annual Criminal Statistics for the 1930s.
The totals given here correspond exactly with those provided in the Van. Police
Annual Reports that survive.
6 5 Van. Police Annual Report 1930, p. 4. By 1932 the Vancouver Police equipped
twenty-one of its thirty-two cars with radios. The overall impression, however, is
one of declining efficiency. See Van. Police Annual Report 1932, p. 4.
6 6 Ibid., 1931, p. 2.
6 7 See Van. Police Minutes, 10 March 1932 and 21 February 1933. V.G.A. 85 (A) 6
and 75 (A) 7. Wages were reduced by up to 20 percent depending on the salary
level.
6 8 Vancouver Sun, 14 November 1934, p. 1.
6 9 Vancouver Sun, 27 November 1934, p. 1.
7 0 The situation in the early 1930s was in marked contrast to the mid and late 1920s.
The number of police, for example, increased steadily from 223 in 1922 to 263 in
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 235
The evidence, then, indicates that rising prosecution rates for property
crime were not unduly influenced by levels of police efficiency or political
pressure in the early thirties. It nevertheless clearly remains the case that
the most reliable, if still imperfect, indicators of the real volume of crime
are offences known to the police. T o be sure, there will be variations in
levels of reporting, but over the short term these will not pose great prob-
lems. Clearly, this type of information should provide for a better assess-
ment of actual crime trends in the 1930s.
T h e data presented in the following graphs span the years 1929 to
1940 and are based on police statistics pertaining to property offences
known as well as on the annual value of stolen property presented in their
annual reports.71 This material, since it covers the years 1938, 1939 and
1940, provides the added advantage of observing trends at the tail end
of the Depression. Graph 8 presents annual figures on the value of all
known stolen property in Vancouver between 1929 and 1940 expressed
in dollars per 1,000 population. Graph 9 gives annual rates per 100,000
population for breaking-and-entering offences known to the police, while
graph 10 provides similar information with respect to robbery with vio-
lence. Breaking and entering offences are combined with those for rob-
bery with violence in graph 11 to reveal trends for violent theft as a
whole. Graph 12 displays rates for all thefts known to the police. These
rates include, in addition to the aforementioned violent thefts, all petty
theft, as well as automobiles and bicycles known to have been stolen
1928, just prior, that is, to amalgamation. The police, moreover, claimed in 1925
that crime “has not materially increased during 1925 despite a noticeable increase
in the number of arrests.” See Vancouver Sun, 31 December 1930, p. 1. The
Police Commission Minutes and the newspapers are replete, in addition, with
references to clean-up campaigns, crackdowns on all types of crimes, and especially
raids on liquor and gambling establishments as well as on bawdy houses. In
December 1927 the Attorney General promised to aid in prosecuting criminals. See
Van. Police Minutes, 13 December 1927 (75) ( A ) 5 , pp. 31-32, V.G.A. For evidence
of raids and a tightening up of law enforcement see especially ibid., 7 May 1925,
12 August 1925, 18 September 1925, 28 November 1927 and 15 November 1928.
See also the Vancouver Sun and in particular 3 January 1925, 9 January 1925,
11 August 1925, 27 May 1926, 30 December 1926. It is likely that such raids,
moreover, turned up more property offences. Increased police efficiency, then, might
partly explain rising property prosecution and conviction rates in the 1920s.
7 1 Vancouver Police Department Annual Reports for the years 1929, 1930, 1931,
*932, 1938, 1939 and 1940 were consulted. All of these are in the V.G.A. except
for 1931, which is held in the North West History Room of the Vancouver Public
Library. Additional data for the years 1934 through 1937 were kindly provided by
Staff Sergeant Joe Swan of the Vancouver Police Force. Unfortunately no Annual
Reports could be found for the years 1921-28. It is likely that none were published
in these years. Earlier reports between 1906 and 1917 and for 1920 do survive in
various locations but do not provide statistics on offences known to the police.
236 BC STUDIES
GRAPH 8
Stolen Property Rate per 1,000 — Vancouver, 1929-1940
GRAPH 9
Breaking and Entering Rate per 100,000 — Vancouver, 1929-1940
“rime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 237
GRAPH 10
Robbery with Violence Rate per 100,000 — Vancouver, 1929-1940
GRAPH 11
Violent Theft Rate per 100,000 — Vancouver, 1929-1940
238 BC STUDIES
between 1929 and 1940. Typically, the annual reports give no indication
of offences relating to fraud or embezzlement, and thus one cannot
examine white-collar crime in this context.
The patterns revealed in these graphs certainly confirm and, indeed,
enhance the conclusions respecting prosecution and conviction rates. T h e
value of stolen property, for example, rises markedly in the early thirties,
peaking in 1934, and generally declines thereafter (graph 8 ) . 7 2 Rates for
breaking and entering reveal even steeper increases in the early years of
the Depression, reaching high levels in 1933 which were maintained
through 1939 (graph 9 ) . Robbery with violence displays equally steep
increases, peaking in 1932 and falling thereafter (graph 10). Graph 11,
which provides rates for all violent property offences, suggests that this
type of crime remained more persistent during the Depression than earlier
evidence with respect to prosecution and conviction rates indicates (see
graph 5 above). T h e overall pattern observed here is clearly a reflection
of the high rates for breaking-and-entering offences. A perusal of graph
12, which pertains to the total volume of property theft offences in the
Great Depression, leads to a similar conclusion. It was claimed earlier
that crimes against property as a whole, based on prosecution and con-
viction rates, peaked in 1934 and then declined through 1937 (see graph
3 above). T h e data at hand pertaining to offences reveal a sharp decline
in 1932,73 but indicate a return to high levels which persisted as late as
1936.
By 1940 all indicators of property crime offences had fallen below
peaks reached during the Depression, in some cases to levels comparable
to or below those prevailing in 1929. T h e years 1938 and 1939, which
suffered late but less severe downswings in the economy,74 experienced
slight rises in crime rates, particularly with respect to violent property
offences. O n the whole, this analysis of offences known to the police sug-
gests that the Depression’s impact on property crime extended well beyond
the early thirties and was, in general, more persistent than indicated by
reference to prosecution and conviction rates.
Correlation coefficients were run for the various categories of property
offences known between 1929 and 1940 against the major economic
7 2 The pattern here conforms closely to that observed with respect to prosecution and
conviction rates for crimes against property in graph 3 presented earlier.
7 3 The decline in 1932 is most likely due to the steep decline in stolen automobile
offences, which numbered 3,162 in 1931 and fell to 1,912 in 1932. This might
also partly explain the fall in the value of stolen property in 1932 (graph 8 ) .
7 4 My economic indicators show rising per capita relief expenditure and unemploy-
ment in 1938 and a decline in the value of building permits in 1939.
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 239
indicators utilized earlier. Table 5 clearly supports the hypothesis that
depressed economic conditions were conducive to rising rates of crime
against property. As in the similar analysis previously, the strongest cor-
relations emerge with respect to per capita relief expenditure and the
value of building permits. T h e values of stolen property, breaking-and-
entering offences, violent theft and total theft rise markedly with increases
in relief expenditure and decline with increasing values of building
permits. All property crime rates, moreover, tend to increase as unemploy-
ment rises and fall as the employment index moves upwards, although
the coefficients here are not as strong. T h e weakest coefficients are with
violent robbery as against the value of building permits and per capita
relief expenditure. This, while somewhat puzzling, may reflect the proba-
bility that these crimes were the work of professional criminals who
earned their living from burglary and therefore were less likely to commit
crimes in response to changing economic conditions.75
TABLE 5
Pearson Correlation Coefficients: Property Offences Known
with Economic Indicators — Vancouver, 1929-1940
Average
% trade
union
unemploy-
ment
Average
employ-
ment
index
Value of
building
permits
Per capita
relief
expen-
diture
Value of Stolen Property Rate + . 5 5
(.07)
—.53
(.12)
—.70*
(.01)
+ .80*
(.01)
Breaking and Entering Rate + .48
(.11)
—.47
(.17)
—.90*
(.00)
+ .86*
(.00)
Robbery with Violence Rate + .75*
(.01)
—.54
(.10)
—.33
(.29)
+ .29
(.35)
Violent Theft Rate + .60*
(.04)
—.54
(.10)
—.94*
(.00)
+ .90*
(.00)
Total Theft Rate + .55
(.07)
—.58
(.08)
—.68
(.09)
+ .81*
(.01)
* Significant at the 5 percent level. Significance levels in brackets. No difference to
the conclusions drawn occurred when crime was lagged one year behind the eco-
nomic indicators. These correlation coefficients generally are higher than observed
elsewhere.
7 5 This still would not explain the relatively strong positive correlation of robbery
with violence as against unemployment. More work on this specific crime is clearly
needed. For a discussion of the professional burglar see Johnson, Policing the
Urban Underworld, pp. 44-45.
240 BG STUDIES
— i i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 r
1929 1931 1933 1935 1937 1939
1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
YEAR
GRAPH 12
Total Theft Rate per 100,000 — Vancouver, 1929-1940
What general conclusions can one draw from the preceding analysis in
terms of crime during the Great Depression in Vancouver? Looking at
prosecution and conviction rates from a long-term perspective, it is clear
that general crime rates dropped markedly in the 1930s. This, in itself, is
not surprising since other cities, including Calgary, experienced declines
in such rates. What does stand out, however, is the magnitude of the fall,
especially with respect to morality offences. Although Calgary experienced
declines in the latter category between 1929 and 1934, these apparently
were not nearly of Vancouver’s magnitude.76 As stated earlier, a full
exposition of this important phase in the history of Vancouver crime
patterns must await further research.
Within the overall pattern of general crime, it was observed that the
only types of crime to rise in the 1930s were those against property, and
specifically violent offences of this kind as well as general theft. With
regard to these categories, it was pointed out that in terms certainly of
7 6 Watson uses arrest figures to show that prostitution and gambling arrests declined
from fifty-six and seventy-two respectively in 1929 to twenty-three and fifty-five
respectively in 1934. These represent declines of 58 percent in prostitution and 19
percent for gambling. The figures here are too small, however, to draw valid
comparisons, especially in percentage terms, with Vancouver. See Watson, “Cal-
gary: A Study of Crime/’ M.A. thesis, table 6, p. 68.
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 241
sheer volume but also of rates of prosecutions and convictions, the levels
attained on average in the 1930s were higher, in most cases, than ever
seen in Vancouver’s previous history. Given the strong possibility, more-
over, that amalgamation more than likely artificially deflated such rates
in the 1930s, the figures presented for the Great Depression, if anything,
underestimate the extent of such criminal activity. It should be noted, as
well, that every indicator of Vancouver property crime — prosecution
rates, conviction rates and offences known to the police — rose between
1929 and 1931 with the exception of the non-violent category. This indi-
cates that many of the contemporaries quoted at the outset of this study
were not far off the mark in their observations. No doubt they were
acutely conscious of the rapid and unprecedented increases in the sheer
volume of property crime.
Vancouver in the early years of the Depression conformed closely to the
experience of a wide range of cities in the United States and Europe.
Boston, New York and Chicago, for example, all witnessed increasing
rates of breaking and entering, robbery and larceny between 1929 and
1931.77 London and Stockholm reveal similar patterns in relation to
known indictable thefts and reported thefts respectively.78 In Calgary, the
only Canadian city for which a comparable study exists, arrests for
general theft rose between 1929 and 1931, while robbery with violence
and housebreaking increased only in the year 1930.79
Although Vancouver’s very early Depression years were typical of
urban property crime patterns elsewhere, the trends observed later in the
1930s diverge from the experience of cities like London and Stockholm,
which witnessed declines, or at least a levelling off, of rates for property
offences in the mid-years of the Depression.80 Calgary experienced sharp
7 7 See Warner, Criminal Statistics in Boston, tables 7 and 8, pp. 144-45. See also
Theodore N. Ferdinand, “The Criminal Patterns of Boston,” pp. 93, 94 and 96.
Unfortunately no study of crime in Seattle has been carried out. This city would
be the most logical choice for a comparison with Vancouver.
7 8 See Gurr, Grabosky and Hula, The Politics of Crime and Conflict, pp. 628-29 for
London and p. 282 for Stockholm. The other cities included in this work are
Sydney and Calcutta.
7 9 Watson, “Calgary: A Study of Crime,” M.A. thesis, pp. 40, 44, 45 and 47.
8 0 Rates for London generally fell through the mid-1930s and experienced slight rises
after 1936. Stockholm’s rates remained stable throughout the 1930s, rising only in
1939. See Gurr, Grabosky and Hula, The Politics of Crime and Conflict, pp. 628-
29 and p. 282. Buffalo, New York, however, exhibits a pattern similar to Van-
couver’s with rising property crime in the mid-years of the Depression. See Elwin
H. Powell, The Design of Discord, p. 121. Boston reveals a steady increase in
burglaries in the 1930s and much smaller increases in larcenies in the late Depres-
sion. See Ferdinand, “Criminal Patterns of Boston,” pp. 94 and 96.
242 BG S T U D I E S
declines in all categories of property theft between 1931 and 1934.81
In Vancouver, however, property crime levels peaked in most cases either
in 1934 or as late as 1936, suggesting that the Depression had a more
persistent effect on property crime than elsewhere.
It would be unwise, at this stage, to push such comparisons too far.
What they do suggest, aside from some interesting questions for com-
parative analysis, is that Vancouver provides yet another case study
illustrating the impact of the Great Depression on rising property crime.
Furthermore, the relatively high degree of correlation observed between
such crime and indices reflecting poverty and unemployment must cast
serious doubt on the arguments of those who categorically deny any
positive correlation between rising indigence and theft.82 The fact that
the strongest positive correlations that emerged were between per capita
relief expenditure and most offences against property suggests that during
the 1930s, at least, a denial of such a relationship would run contrary to
historical experience.
There are further implications here with respect to municipal relief
expenditure. Watson has argued that increasing amounts of such expen-
diture was a key factor in bringing down property crime in Calgary
between 1931 and 1934, under the assumption that such provision re-
duced the necessity to steal.83 Short had earlier posited a similar thesis
with respect to the depression in the U.S.A.84 Such clearly was not
the case in Vancouver, where rates for property crimes rose almost in
unison with increases in relief. Was relief more generous in Calgary?
Since Watson gives no per capita figures on such public expenditure, one
would have to undertake a comparative analysis of municipal relief
systems in both cities to answer this question fully. What one can say is
that in Vancouver, at least, provisions were far from adequate and very
grudgingly bestowed. Lane, in fact, has argued that even single men in
relief camps were well sustained compared to city families on municipal
relief. One individual summed up being on relief as a situation where
“you practically get down on your knees every week or so, and beg for
your handout of dole tickets.”85
8 1 Watson, “Calgary: A Study of Crime,” M.A. thesis, pp. 40, 44, 45 and 47.
8 2 See above, pp. 214-16.
8 3 Watson, “Calgary: A Study of Crime,” M.A. thesis, pp. 40, 44, 45 and 47.
8 4 Cited in ibid., pp. 12-13.
8 5 Marion Lane, “Unemployment During the Depression: The Problem of the Single
Unemployed Transient in British Columbia, 1930-1938″ (unpublished Honours
Essay, University of British Columbia, 1966), pp. 66-67. The quotation she gives is
from the Vancouver Province, 3 August 1935, P- 7*
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 243
This study, of course, has utilized aggregate rates of property crime in
conjunction with very broad social and economic indicators in order to
test for associations between the two. Although the evidence suggests that
the Great Depression was closely related to rising rates of property crime,
the specific mechanisms by which this happened are far from clear. As
Tepperman points out, there is clearly more involved here than economic
need:
More important, Radzinowicz argues that the crime rate increases not so
much when the level of prosperity is low as when it drops precipitously.
Crimes committed under these circumstances are not crimes of want but
result from anomie, a loss of social and normative constraints, and other
psychological and psychiatric factors. Because of the subtle relationship
between economic deterioration and criminal behavior, time may pass
between changes in the one and changes in the other, and the two changes
may differ in intensity, but moving in the same direction at about the same
time. F i n a l l y . . . prosperity is less effective in reducing the incidence of
crime than is a depression in raising the incidence.86
Clearly, in order to examine such fine distinctions one would like to move
from aggregate-level analysis to individual-level analysis. As emphasized
earlier, this study is subject to the “ecological fallacy.” But given the
paucity of data on individual offenders it is impossible, at this stage, to
link particular subgroups of individuals to particular crimes. Future
research will attempt to merge information provided in the detailed
Police Court Calendars with City Directories, although it is unlikely that
this will provide sufficiently representative samples for analysis since the
latter type of evidence is skewed toward the more stable and prosperous
groups in Vancouver’s population. Indeed, individual-level methodology
often runs the risk of committing the “individualistic fallacy” whereby
results from subgroups are inappropriately generalized to entire popula-
tions.
Historians, of course, rarely have the luxury of ideal sources at their
disposal. Criminal statistics, moreover, are the most difficult of all social
statistics to compile and interpret. If the preceding pages are full of
“perhaps” and “suggests,” the author makes no apologies, but rather is
reminded of G. R. Elton’s recent remarks in his introduction to a collec-
tion of historical writings on crime: “As the frequent signals of doubt,
uncertainty and cautious reserve indicate, the essays here assembled are
86 Tepperman, Crime Control, p. 182.
244 BC STUDIES
the work of scholars pioneering in something like a wilderness.”87 Part of
this important terrain in Vancouver’s history has been charted here, and
one hopes that the results, though necessarily tentative, will stimulate
further exploration by social historians.
87 G. R. Elton, “Introduction: Crime and the Historian,” in Cockburn, éd., Crime
in England, p. i.
APPENDIX A
Total Prosecutions and Convictions for Various Types of Crime:
Vancouver, 1906-1940
The following graphs i (A) through 7(A) provide yearly totals of prosecu-
tions and convictions for different categories of crime in Vancouver between
1906 and 1940. The most significant patterns are the fall in the overall
volume of general crime between the years 1930-36 [graph 1 (A)] and espe-
cially the very steep decline between 1928 and 1934 in crimes against the
peace [graph 4(A)]. Note, in contrast, the rise to unprecedented levels in
crimes against property [graph 3(A)], violent crimes against property [graph
5(A)] and general theft [6(A)].
GRAPH 1(A)
Total Prosecutions and Convictions — Vancouver, 1906-1940
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 245
GRAPH 2(A)
Total Prosecutions and Convictions:
Crimes Against the Person — Vancouver, 1907-1937
GRAPH 3(A)
Total Prosecutions and Convictions:
Crimes Against Property — Vancouver, 1907-1937
246 BG S T U D I E S
LEGEND
Prosecutions
! j j j ! j j j j j ! ! j j j j j (
1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
YEAR
GRAPH 4(A)
Total Prosecutions and Convictions:
Crimes Against the Peace — Vancouver, 1907-1937
LEGEND
Prosecutions
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940
YEAR
GRAPH 5(A)
Total Prosecutions and Convictions:
Violent Crimes Against Property— Vancouver, 1907-1937
Crime in Vancouver During the Great Depression 247
GRAPH 6(A)
Total Prosecutions and Convictions:
General Theft — Vancouver, 1907-1937
GRAPH 7(A)
Total Prosecutions and Convictions:
Non-Violent Property Crimes— Vancouver, 1907-1937
248 BG S T U D I E S
APPENDIX B
Decline in Morality Prosecutions and Convictions, 1922-1937
TABLE 1(B)
Decline in Prosecution and Conviction Rates for Morality Crimes:
Vancouver —1922-1937
Liquor Gambling Drugs Prostitution
Period Pros. Conv. Pros. Conv. Pros. Conv. Pros. Conv.
1922-1928 1839 1338 1654 1563 232 171 962 903
1930-1937 712 611 673 609 25 16 293 269
% Decline 61.2% 54.3% 59.3% 61.0% 89.2% 90.6% 69.5% 70.2%
