> It was a period of booming economic prosperity, the roaring '20s, and very high crime
(emphasis mine)
The time period before the Great Depression != the time period during the Great Depression.
The chart provided suggests that there was a sharp increase in homicide rates beginning around 1920, then a slight upward trend toward 1929, and then another sharp increase through the 1930s, towards the beginning of WWII.
Do you have any other examples? I am really skeptical that crime rates went down on the whole during the least economically productive period in the history of the United States.
What? The peak is around 1931 or 1932 and during the rest of the depression, it goes down.
Also, the article directly says
"The Depression years had very little crime."
Honestly, though those crime dynamics were probably more to do with prohibition than anything else, which goes to show that crime really is likely to be dependent on factors that have very little to do with economic prosperity.
Citation, please. The examples below suggest that this is not at all the case.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/48e.asp
http://depts.washington.edu/depress/crime_seattle_great_depr...
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?s=902192a69...