Unemployment and Vagrancy in the 1930s: Deterrence, Rehabilitation and the Depression

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Abstract
This article examines the administrative response to one of the less obvious consequences of the depression of the 1930s: the rapid increase in the number of vagrants. Statistics and other evidence suggest a positive correlation between unemployment and vagrancy (measured by admissions to the poor law casual wards). Officials appear to have been unwilling to acknowledge this relationship. Yet, during this period, greater emphasis began to be placed on the rehabilitation of the vagrant, as opposed to the deterrence characteristic of the poor law. This was presented as a significant measure of reform – although, in practice, little change took place at this time. Research into departmental records, however, shows that this review of the treatment of the vagrant was a response to a process which had its roots in financial and administrative priorities.

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