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The_Public_Enemy (1931); Cine_101; Alison_Nadle

In the early 1930s, the gangster film enjoyed center stage in Hollywood. The fame of the genre reflected a real-life spike in crime, as America was in the midst of the Great Depression. A broken economy and collapsed financial system pushed market exchanges underground, engendering a thriving mob and gang culture. Many gangster films, replete with theatrical scenes of violence, dramatized America's latest criminal fad. However, other films attempted to analyze the gangster from a psychological or sociological standpoint, offering explanations and solutions. The Public Enemy falls into the latter category, representing a shift in the depiction of the gangster. Prior to the release of The Public Enemy, a majority of crime films painted gangsters as inexplicable sources of immorality and vice. However, The Public Enemy offers a unique presentation of crime life, emphasizing the economic and social environment of gangsters, and controversially allowing the audience to both identify and empathize with America's most dangerous criminals.

Chapter Three: The Roaring 20s

This article, published in Prohibition in the United States, focuses on multiple failures of the Prohibition movement. It offers historical background that contextualizes the time period of The Public Enemy, explaining the rationale behind Prohibition, in addition to its connection to organized crime.

The article mentions that in the months immediately following Prohibition, alcohol consumption in the United States decreased. Yet, demand for beer and liquor soon skyrocketed, and people began clamoring for illegal sources of alcohol. The article explains that new criminal networks were quickly erected to satisfy this increasing demand. For instance, Chicago gangster Al Capone was one of many mob leaders who capitalized on this particular black market, ‘bootlegging’ alcohol to sell to the masses. The widespread activities of Capone’s gang would not have been financially viable without the group’s involvement in illicit alcohol sales. In general, Prohibition is credited with bringing previously marginalized gangs in touch with life in main stream America. As a result of Prohibition, various gangs in urban areas, particularly in cities such as Chicago or New York, rose to prominence, and their names entered the everyday vernacular.

This piece is an important reference for my paper. It offers an objective historical explanation as to why Prohibition allowed gang life in America to thrive. The Public Enemy acts as a microcosm of this change. When Tom Powers and Matt Doyle were children in the pre-Prohibition era, their crimes were petty and seemingly random. However, after Prohibition was passed, gangs took on a more central role in the film. Powers and Doyle were granted important roles in organized crime. Procuring illegal alcohol endowed gangs – and the boys – with a sense of purpose.

Essentially, Prohibition was a drastic social change that thrust Americans into a life of crime. This document, by exhibiting a direct correlation between Prohibition and an increase in crime, reveals changes in America’s social environment that bear responsibility for the boys’ decision to join a gang.

Greek-Letter Organizations, Alcohol, and the Courts: A Risky Mix?

Elkins, Becky, Helms, Lelia B., and Pierson, Christopher T. “Greek-Letter Organizations, Alcohol, and the Courts: A Risky Mix?” Journal of College

    Student Development. 2003, American College Personnel Association. University of Pennsylvania. April 2008
    <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_college_student_development/v044/44.1elkins.html>.

   Alcohol is obviously a problem in college Greek life. Not only are fraternities known for binge and underage drinking, but over the past few decades they have also brought alcohol to the courts. The article juxtaposes concern for legal matters with concern for the health and progress of students who engage in more alcohol-related activities than the average person. Heavy drinking has immediate and possible indirect consequences, such as unwanted sexual situations, fighting, drunk driving, and so on. These are the cases that lead to legal matters, some of which involve death. Students have gone to court for alcohol-related cases progressively more and more since the early 1980s. However, fraternity and sorority events still prosper because members admit that “partying and drinking [are] important to them.”
   Are films such as Animal House affecting this? They certainly exhibit it. Dean Wormer of Faber College enters the Delta house, and the members are caught with alcohol, despite the failed attempt to inconspicuously hide the beers. However, all Dean Wormer can throw at them are inventions such as double secret probation and empty threats. Delta house is a danger to Faber College’s reputation, but there is not enough authority to stop them from downing alcohol at every chance. The article recommends that the universities take action to protect them legally, but to not let this intrude on or dominate over “ethical obligations to teach students to behave responsibly.” This is where Dean Wormer fails and Delta house prevails. Universities learn from these mistakes, which is why modern institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania has programs such as Fling Safe and organizations such as the Vice Provost for University Life.

College calls time on

Predicting Drinking Behavior and Alcohol-Related Problems Among Fraternity and Sorority Members: Examining the Role of Descriptive and Injunctive Norms

Drinkers, drivers, and bartenders : balancing private choices and public accountability / Frank A. Sloan ... [et al.].

Drinkers, drivers, and bartenders : balancing private choices and public accountability / Frank A. Sloan ... [et al.]. [0226762807 (cloth : alk.) ] Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Call#: Van Pelt Library KF1293.5 .D75 2000

YRBSS - Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System - DASH/HealthyYouth

A source for statistics and data on youth risk behaviors in the United States. Data is often presented down to the city level.

PsycARTICLES - Impaired Decision Making Related to Working Memory Deficits in Individuals With Substance Addictions

PsycARTICLES - Recovery of Short-Term Memory and Psychomotor Speed but Not Postural Stability With Long-Term Sobriety in Alcoholic Women

PsycARTICLES - Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use Disorders and Personality Disorder Symptoms

PsycARTICLES - Cognitive Ability and Risk for Alcoholism: Short-Term Memory Capacity and Intelligence Moderate Personality Risk for Alcohol Problems

PsycARTICLES - Attentional Bias and Drinking to Cope With Social Anxiety

PsycARTICLES - Predicting Drinking Behavior and Alcohol-Related Problems Among Fraternity and Sorority Members: Examining the Role of Descriptive and Injunctive Norms

PsycARTICLES - Regulation of Drug Taking by Sensitization and Habituation

PsycARTICLES - Alcohol Withdrawal Severity in Inbred Mouse (Mus musculus) Strains

PsycARTICLES - Relapse in Alcohol- and Drug-Disordered Adolescents With Comorbid Psychopathology: Changes in Psychiatric Symptoms

PsycARTICLES - Similarities and Differences of Longitudinal Phenotypes Across Alternate Indices of Alcohol Involvement: A Methodologic Comparison of Trajectory Approaches

PsycARTICLES - Etiological Contributions to Heavy Drinking From Late Adolescence to Young Adulthood

PsycARTICLES - Ethanol-Induced Conditioned Place Preference Is Expressed Through a Ventral Tegmental Area Dependent Mechanism

PsycARTICLES - Genetic Correlational Analyses of Ethanol Reward and Aversion Phenotypes in Short-Term Selected Mouse Lines Bred for Ethanol Drinking or Ethanol-Induced Conditioned Taste Aversion

PsycARTICLES - Psychological Processes Underlying Risky Decisions in Drug Abusers

PsycARTICLES - Influence of Physical Attractiveness and Alcohol on Men's Perceptions of Potential Sexual Partners and Sexual Behavior Intentions

PsycARTICLES - One Too Many: Predicting Future Alcohol Consumption Following Heavy Drinking

PsycARTICLES - The Effects of Alcohol on Cigarette Craving in Heavy Smokers and Tobacco Chippers

PsycARTICLES - Hangover Frequency and Risk for Alcohol Use Disorders: Evidence From a Longitudinal High-Risk Study

PsycARTICLES - Genetic Associations of Alcohol Dehydrogenase With Alcohol Use Disorders and Endophenotypes in White College Students

Genetic differences in the ethanol sensitivity of GABA A receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes.

"Genetic differences in the ethanol sensitivity of GABA A receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes." Science [0036-8075] 249.4966 (1990). 291-.

pharmacotherapy treatment of addiction