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LEAA'S IMPACT ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE - A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

NCJ Number
65485
Journal
Criminal Justice Abstracts Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Dated: (DECEMBER 1979) Pages: 608-648
Author(s)
S R ALLINSON
Date Published
1979
Length
41 pages
Annotation
LEAA'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE FIELD OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND IN INDIVIDUAL CRIME CONTROL PROJECTS ARE EVALUATED IN THE LIGHT OF ITS MANDATE.
Abstract
LEAA WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1968 TO ASSIST STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE FIELD OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIME CONTROL. CONDITIONED BY ITS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP LIBERALISM, WHOSE ENDS ARE OFTEN NO ENDS AT ALL, LEAA WAS FURTHER HANDICAPPED BY THE FACT THE CONGRESS DELIBERATELY FAILED TO SET EXPLICIT GOALS FOR THE NEW AGENCY AND TO LEAVE IT MORE AUTONOMY. FUNDED GENEROUSLY BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, IT OPERATED UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT MONEY WAS A UNIVERSAL PANACEA IN COMBATING CRIME. THIS ASSUMPTION WAS SHARED BY LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE U.S. ATTORNEYS GENERAL; THEY ALSO SHARED A GREAT DEAL OF CONFIDENCE IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY (E.G., POLICE WALKIE-TALKIES, CENTRAL COMPUTERS, ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE) TO EFFECT A BREAKTHROUGH IN CRIME CONTROL. LEAA FUNDED SUCH PROJECTS AS OPERATION IDENTIFICATION, HALFWAY HOUSES, AND STORE ALARM PROJECTS. LEAA DIRECTED ITS ATTENTION TO JAILS, JUVENILE DIVERSION, COMMUNITY-BASED ALTERNATIVES TO JUVENILE INCARCERATION, SPECIALIZED PATROL AND CITIZEN PATROL PROJECTS, CITIZEN CRIME REPORTING, NEIGHBORHOOD TEAM POLICING, AND COURT INFORMATION SYSTEMS. IT ALSO DEALT WITH SUCH AREAS AS CRIME ANALYSIS, INTENSIVE PROBATION, YOUTH SERVICE BUREAUS, COMMUNITY SERVICE ORDERS, ALTERNATIVES TO ADJUDICATION, POLICE RESPONSE TIME, EX-OFFENDER EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE, COEDUCATIONAL CORRECTIONS, AND INMATE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION. IN THE WAKE OF CRIME RATE INCREASES WHERE DECREASES WERE EXPECTED AS A RESULT OF LEAA'S GENEROUSLY FUNDED PROJECTS, CONGRESS SHARPLY CUT THE AGENCY'S ALLOCATIONS (FROM A PEAK IN 1974 OF 895 MILLION THE FUNDS PLUMMETED TO BELOW $500 MILLION IN FISCAL 1980). LOOKING BACK OVER LEAA'S ENTIRE PUBLISHED RECORD, LITTLE EVIDENCE WAS FOUND OF ANY SIGNIFICANT IMPACT OF THIS AGENCY ON THE SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, ALTHOUGH SOME OF THE INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS WERE SUCCESSFUL. LARGELY DOMINATED BY THE PERSPECTIVE OF STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, AND STILL WITH VAGUE GOALS, LEAA HAS ACHIEVED SOME SMALL-SCALE AGENCY-BASED CHANGES, BUT IT HAS FALLEN SHORT OF THE BROAD, SYSTEMWIDE REFORMS IT WAS EXPECTED TO EFFECT. (LGR)

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