While the 1980 study found that presidents engaged in substantive policymaking in terms of crime policy and the budgetary process, the current study found that presidents largely engage in symbolic politics in the area of crime policy, which was reflected in their budgetary requests to Congress. Specifically, beginning around 1970, budgetary requests rose at a significantly faster rate and appeared to be independent of crime rates. During the 1990s when crime rates dramatically dropped, the president’s budgetary requests and appropriations continued to rise. The findings suggest that presidents utilize symbolic language about crime to gain political and popular support and that as a result, they react to the perception of the crime problem rather than to its reality. The research methodology followed the 1980 study as closely as possible and included the following data: (1) the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Uniform Crime Reports for the years 1976 through 2000, and (2) annual budgetary requests and appropriations for each year from 1976 through 2000 for the attorney general’s office, Criminal Division, FBI, DEA, justice courts, judicial courts, and Bureau of Prisons. The analysis regressed the rate of change in the Uniform Crime Report crime rates from 3 to 2 years before the annual budget on the differences between the president’s budget request for a given agency and the actual appropriation granted to that agency in the previous year. Future research should focus on the underlying causes of the change from substantive to symbolic politics. Figure, tables, notes, references