Bonnie and Clyde’s crime wave: social banditry, social change, and political geography

This article discusses Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s 1932 to 1934 crime wave, using Hobsbawm’s concept of social banditry. The article examines whether their crime exemplified social banditry or, alternatively, was a manifestation of social change interacting with American political geography. Their crime wave displayed aspects of social banditry. They provided concentrated benefits to some, relied upon the populace for support, displayed style separating them from the crowd, and provided dispersed benefits to many who viewed them as a reaction to the capitalist system causing the Great Depression. However, they also demonstrated social change. They were deracinated members of the rural poor exploiting jurisdictional boundaries created by a criminal justice system administered by state governments in a nascent era of interstate travel facilitated by changing automotive technology and improved roads. Along with other criminals of the 1930’s, Public Enemy Era, their crime wave contributed to a substantial increase in federal jurisdiction over criminal law and in federal law enforcement powers.