Crime and Politics: Big Government's Erratic Campaign for Law and Order

• NCJ Number: 242476
• Author(s): Ted Gest
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 296 pages
• Sale Source: Oxford University Press, Inc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description; Legislation/Policy Analysis; Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This book examined how crime policy became federalized and assessed the benefits of it.

Abstract

The first chapter, "When Politics Met Crime" traces the beginning of national politics' attention to crime with Barry Goldwater, who used the 1964 presidential campaign to put rising rates of violence on the national agenda. Since then, the essential message of both major political parties is that the Federal Government must play a larger role in addressing local crime issues. Previously, combating crime had been largely a concern of local politics. Chapter 2, "The Rise and Fall of LEAA" (the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration) documents LEAA's creation as the Federal arm for infusing local law enforcement with grants and planning guidelines, as well as its decline in the 1980s under conservative administrations less interested in providing grant money than reforming laws to make sentencing more punitive. The third chapter addresses "The 'Get Tough' 1980s." The second part of the book examines how Federal policymakers and bureaucrats, as well as their counterparts at lower levels, addressed the major crime issues of the latter part of the 20th century: drugs, guns, policing, juvenile crime, and sentencing criminals. In the course of setting and implementing criminal justice policies, there was a lack of sustained scientific evaluations being funded nationally or locally in order to determine the impact of various policies and programs on the crime rate. Still, many of the local anti-crime programs showed promise, if not proven effectiveness. The last chapter of the book discusses many of these programs. They feature cohesive community anti-violence campaigns, targeted drug treatment, early prevention programs, criminal justice system reforms, the use of private sector resources to improve public safety, and the dampening of political rhetoric that promotes fear and simplistic solutions regarding crime control. Chapter notes, an 85-item bibliography, and a subject index