Sin, alcohol, and other vices often provided inspiration for crime and violence in the West. Most mining camps, cowtowns, and boomtowns probably bore a close resemblance to biblical descriptions of Sodom and Gomorrah. The principle enterprise of these towns was the saloon and all activities revolved around it. The saloons incorporated gambling and brothels within the atmosphere of heavy alcohol consumption. Combined with the fact that almost every man was armed, disaster was not likely far behind. To keep issues of sin and vice in check came a need for regulation and enforcement.⁸⁰

The influence of women, alcohol consumption, gambling, and guns often provided immediate provocation for crime. Women, though they would eventually become a stabilizing influence in the West, provided for many violent encounters. Fighting over the affection of the relatively few women in the territories sparked many hostile and destructive feuds between males. Across the frontier, women were ever present in organized houses of prostitution. Sometimes they were opulent and luxurious bordellos but more commonly they were seedy bawdyhouses that were centers of disease, crime, corruption, and white slavery. Accompanying the houses of ill repute were excesses of gambling and drinking. The combination of these vices added to an atmosphere of unbridled immorality and decadence. Crimes of vice are often times referred to as crimes without victims, but the abundance of these vices undoubtedly led to companion crimes against persons and property. The prevalence of the excesses of the era allowed the adjective "wild" to be added to the term "Wild West".⁸¹

In 1880, Western towns had a liberal attitude toward the "sporting" life. San Francisco, California had 8,694 saloons while Boston, Massachusetts, with half the population had only 2,343 saloons. Leadville, Colorado boasted 100 bordellos to service a total population of only 14,820. Although during the same period New York City and New Orleans led the nation in saloons and houses of prostitution per capita, it was a generally accepted doctrine that sex and alcohol consumption in the Wild West was widely accepted and widespread during the era.⁸²