NCJ Number
134209
Date Published
1972
Length
144 pages
Annotation
This report analyzes the operation of the Federal anticrime grant program created by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.
Abstract
It reviews the nature and impact of grants made through the end of fiscal year 1971 and focuses on programs administered directly by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) and on block grant programs of five States (California, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina). The study is based on interviews and document reviews conducted at the Federal, State, and local levels and on a review of the literature pertaining to criminal justice system administration. The anticrime grant program was the first substantial Federal effort to deal with rising crime and delinquency rates. The Title I program was designed to provide the extra money needed by localities to restructure law enforcement and criminal justice operations and methods. The study indicates that LEAA did not exercise the leadership mandated by Title I's design. Action grants were given for projects shown to be of dubious value, while discretionary grants became a vehicle for funding whatever programs States chose not to fund. The overall result was that the Federal program became a fiscal relief program. In almost 4 years of operation and after the distribution of about $1.5 billion in funds, the program did not initiate basic criminal justice system reform. The report discusses the LEAA bureaucracy, computerized criminal information and intelligence systems, the hardware industry, and State experiences with the grant program. Appendixes contain data on action and discretionary grants by State. References, footnotes, and tables