NCJ Number
227185
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 20 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 115-135
Date Published
June 2009
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study examined how current research supporting today's criminal justice policymaking is more symbolic, not relying on official rates of crime.
Abstract
Caldeira and Cowart (1980) in their study of Congressional budgetary appropriations found that Congress was quite responsive to increases in crime based on their relationship with official rates of crime. Since the increased Federal expenditures on crime resulting from the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, through the various Antidrug Abuse Legislation of the 1980s, to the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Congress has significantly increased their budgetary appropriations for Federal criminal justice agencies, despite the fact that crime waned in the 1980s and dropped in the 1990s. Congress is no longer responsive to official crime rates but is rather responsive to what policies sell well and help them obtain both public support and legislative victories. Crime policy has become more symbolic, even to the extent of the budgetary process. The overall findings support the theory of symbolic politics and suggest that Congressional involvement in crime policy, beginning in the early 1970s has become even more symbolic. Figure, tables, notes, and references