Prison System And Organized Crime In The 19th Century

Crime in America has always been a dynamic subject; from the gangster films of the 20’s through the modern era the criminal has often been romanticized or condemned. There were many contributing factors to the changes in the legal system including large events such as the influx of immigrants to metropolitan cities to small events such as criminals evolving from pickpockets to the street gangs that eventually gave way to the modern organized crime syndicates that we are familiar with today. Immigrants saw America as a land of economic opportunity and growth and consequently the rapid growth of cities led to major increases in urban populations causing many people to live in close proximity. During the 19th and 20th centuries, ideas circulated about the making of criminals and how society should deal with them. Prison systems, such as the Auburn System, popped up as a way to deal with this new societal group.

Starting in the 1830s, the main participants of crime were thieves who engaged in petty larceny. These first criminals popped up in poor areas of New York City such as the Five Points and Donovan’s Lane. These early criminals consisted of children nicknamed “Street Urchins” and young lower and middle class girls who got involved in prostitution. Organized crime evolved from the end of the 19th Century through the middle of the 20th Century. The structure that we recognize today as organized crime stems from the advent of street gangs to La Cosa Nostra. Between 1830 and 1930, American political leaders shifted their attitudes on how criminals should be punished by reducing sentences for petty crimes and adapting to the burgeoning world of organized