BY: KELLY LAWSON WILLIE SUTTON

WHAT IS THEIR BACKGROUND? Born on June 30 th, 1901 in Brooklyn, NewYork He was 4/5 children Quit school in 8 th grade The longest job he kept was1 ½ years He worked as a clerk, a driller, a gardener, and more Married twice

WHAT TYPE OF CRIMES? He robbed banks multiple times Escaping from jail

WHAT WAS THEIR SENTENCE His first sentence was in 1931, and he escaped from prison December 1932 He was then commited again in February of 1934, and escaped again in April of 1945 He was put in jail a third time in February 1947, and then escaped again He was put in prison years later with two life sentences and 135 years, for robbing banks and also for escaping from prison At age 68 he was put on parol

EVIDENCE The police sent out a picture of Willie to many tailors because they knew he liked nice clothes. A tailors son had seen Willie at a gas station and recognized him as the man in the picture. He called the police, and Willie was then detained for his final time in jail after that.

NICKNAMES He was nicknamed “The Actor” and “Slick Willie” This was because he was said to be a total gentleman when he robbed banks He dressed extremely well at all times He dressed in disguise when robbing banks, including a policeman, a messenger, a maintenance man, and a mailman

QUOTES AND BOOKS He wrote the book I, Willie Sutton and Where the Money Was When asked about why he robbed banks: “Why did I rob banks? Because I enjoyed it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life. I enjoyed everything about it so much that one or two weeks later I’d be out looking for the next job. But to me the money was the chips, that’s all.”

ANOMIE THEORY Sutton dressed nice and was a gentleman- a combination congruent to being successful in society. However, Sutton dropped out of school in the eighth grade which made the possibility of him achieving a high set of goals not possible. There was a strain between his goal (having a lot of money and an extravagant lifestyle) and the legitimate opportunities that would have taken him there. He adapted this way through innovation. He was not able to keep a job, so he struggled through having any other options of meeting his goal legitimately. So, he turned to achieving his goals through robbing banks. I believe he should have been rehabilitated. Instead of having him make up escape plans in jail, he should have been taken through a way to make him stop wanting to rob banks. He was clearly very intelligent and had the potential to be successful, so he should have been offered a way to meet this potential. He could have been offered skills to be able to obtain a job for longer than a year. He never truly hurt anyone, so I don’t believe punishment was a viable option.