NCJ Number
100724
Date Published
1985
Length
257 pages
Annotation
This study analyzes the historical period (1801-29) in which the U.S. Federal criminal justice system was created and assumed substantially the form and character it has retained to the present.
Abstract
An initial problem faced by policymakers was whether there should be a Federal criminal justice system at all, and if so, whether it should be based on English common law or on Federal statutes. A second problem confronted was how -- given the critical inadequacies of the emerging judicial system -- it was to achieve enforcement through the States. The study reviews the types of criminal law developed by Congress and shows how Federal law was influenced by politics, ideological and moral issues, national security concerns, and regional and economic interests. In evaluating the system established by the first Congress and expanded under the Federalists and Republicans, the analysis assesses it by certain criteria. The criteria are whether the system protected society; whether it adapted to social and economic change; the role politics played; and whether the statutes, selection of personnel, and enforcement procedures involved oppression. Appendixes contain data from the period. Approximately 350 bibliographic entries. (Publisher abstract modified)