The Myth of Violence in the Old West

In his article "The Myth of Violence in the Old West," Roger D. McGrath attempts to refute the myth that the old west was much more crime ridden compared to American cities today. McGrath argues that while the old west was violent, the violence that occurred was very different from what goes on today. Two of the most common crimes today, robbery and burglary, were hardly of any consequence.

To prove this point McGrath compares crime rates of major cities today to Bodie, one of the most notorious towns in the old west. Bodie was in fact violent, but acts of violence didn't affect most people. The old, the young, the weak, and women were usually not harmed, because most violent acts happened between willing combatants, such as gamblers, miners, and the like.

McGrath points out that during the boom years of Bodie, there were only ten robberies on individuals and eleven robberies on stage coaches. This converts to a rate of eighty-four robberies per 100,000 citizens per year. This is well below the United States average of 243 in 1980, and greatly less than New York at 1,140, Miami at 995 and Los Angeles at 628. McGrath believes that this crime was deterred in Bodie because most citizens of the town were always armed and had no second thoughts of shooting the person trying to rob them. Due to this, burglary rates in Bodie were also comparatively