Remarks by the Honorable William French Smith, Attorney General of the United States Before the National Press Club, October 22, 1981

• NCJ Number: 82032
• Author(s): W F Smith
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The U.S. Attorney General explains the administrative and legislative actions advocated by the Reagan Administration to aid in efforts to deal with crime.

Abstract

The proposals do not require any massive new Federal spending because past Federal efforts to help State and local governments fight crime have not been successful. New approaches should be tested before funding for them is increased. The proposed program is based on awareness of past failings and recognizes that the main responsibility for fighting crime rests at the State and local level. It therefore emphasizes restructuring the Federal effort to assist State and local efforts. The Administration's package has four basic goals: coordinating the use of Federal law enforcements resources with State and local efforts, improving the effectiveness of Federal efforts, and correcting the imbalance that favors the forces of lawlessness over the forces of law. Excluding the proposed Federal criminal code, the program addresses 20 different areas of law enforcement, including narcotics, bail, corrections, the exclusionary rule, organized crime, and the death penalty. The proposed Federal criminal code contains over 100 significant improvements in Federal criminal law. The other 20 areas addressed by the program contain some 40 legislative proposals and 15 administrative initiatives. To reverse the trend toward lack of coordination among different levels of law enforcement, U.S. attorneys and other Federal law enforcement officials have been directed to emphasize close coordination with State and local law enforcement. Thus, the U.S. attorney in each district is establishing a Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee to identify the community's most important crime problems upon which Federal resources can have an impact and to plan the use of Federal resources to achieve the maximum impact on these problems. To aid the efforts of the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committees, expansion of Federal concurrent jurisdiction is proposed. No references are cited.