nt. The old lease system was replaced by the commonly known public works system. The atmosphere of the country during the Roaring Twenties caused chain gangs to be used on roads very often. (Reynolds 181) This revival would soon fall to another problem. During the mid-1930s the United States went into a severe depression. When the Great Depression occurred many states passed laws to stop convict labor because it took jobs from the public. (Let the Prisoners Work 14) Jobs were scarce and nobody wanted a convict to take a job. The percent of convicts working dropped dramatically in only four decades. An escaped convict who wrote a book about the chain gang helped show everyone the brutality of the chain gang. This, along with new food-making technology helped cause another demise of the chain gang in the 1940s. (Reynolds 183) With pressure from labor and business interests, Congress had passed laws which dropped convict labor from eighty-five percent in 1900 to forty-four percent in 1940. (Ingley 28) Those numbers are still remarkably higher than the percentage of today. From the 1940s to today the percent of prisoners working steadily dropped. The number of prisoners working has dropped from seventy-five percent in 1885 to almost eight percent in 1995. (Let the Prisoners Work 14) The nineties brought about a new type of thinking over crime and how to punish perpetrators. The public seems to be fed up with crime. Many Americans now believe that prisons are not harsh enough to deter crime. (Reynolds 183) Some people think that chain gangs will deter crime, but studies show that they fail to deter. With longer sentences and more parole restrictions, people are staying in prison longer, causing the population of prisons to quickly grow. (Brownstein 179) Some people may argue though that no matter how harsh prisons become, they will not be able to deter crime. The United States is now trying to bring back chain gangs. (Reynolds 183) There are...
