NCJ Number
158506
Date Published
1978
Length
407 pages
Annotation
Senate hearings in 1978 focused on proposed legislation to restructure the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) as part of a review of the first 10 years of Federal assistance to criminal justice systems and discussion of the future shape of that assistance.
Abstract
Speakers included Federal, State, and local government officials as well as representatives of the Conference of Chief Justices, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Foundation, the Institute for Law and Social Research, and the Maryland Governor's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. Written statements were submitted by government officials and representatives of the American Indian Law Center and the American Correctional Association. Speakers noted that the violent crime rate increased from 298 per 100,000 people in 1968, when LEAA was created, to 460 per 100,000 in 1976, although LEAA cannot be held responsible for the country's crime rate. A problem with evaluating LEAA and its projects is the lack of consensus in Congress on what it should be accomplishing. Various options exist for changing the structure and functions of LEAA and other Federal approaches to crime control and improving the criminal justice system. Tables, reprints of materials from other sources, and text of legislation