Criminal Statistics in the United States

Congress enacted legislation during the Ninetysixth Congress authorizing the creation of a Bureau ofJustice Statistics within the Justice Department.' Although the idea of a separate bureau is not new, having been suggested by presidential crime commissions in 1931 and 1967, the initial configuration of the Bureau probably will reflect work started in the Department of Justice in 1975.2 That effort resulted in Deputy Attorney General Harold Tyler's recommending the establishment of a bureau of criminal statistics within the Department.3 In the fall of 1976 the Department formed a Statistical Systems Policy Development Group to prepare a plan for a bureau of criminal statistics.4 The plan, completed on January 6, 1977, was sent to Attorney General Griffin Bell on May 4, 1977. Almost a year later, following wide distribution of the plan for review and comment by experts, by us rs of-criminal justice statistics, and by persons working within the federal or state systems ofjusti e, S nator Kennedy and Representative Rodino introd ced the administration's proposal for a bureau as part of legislation to restructure the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration.6 The Kennedy-Rodino bill was reintroduced in the Ninety-sixth Congress together with a bill introduced by Representative Conyers.7 The most important differences among the bills were thei approach to the Bureau's administrative organizatio and the responsibilities assigned to its advisory boards. In the Conyers bill, a twelvemember policy board was to guide the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics rather than a twenty-one-member advisory board. In addition, in the original House and Senate versions of the administration's bill, the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported to the Director of the Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics under the general authority of the Attorney General. In the Conyers bill, and in the bill which the House ultimately passed, there was no Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics (OJARS). A conference committee retained the OJARS but decided that it did not need an advisory board since the board was to provide coordination and support functions for the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice and a bureau of justice assistance to be called the LEAA.8 * Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Ph.D. Indiana University, 1962. Two bills to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-351, 82 Stat. 197 (current version at 42 U.S.C. ?? 3701-3796c (1976)), and to restructure the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration were introduced in the House of Representatives during the 96th Congress. See H.R. 2108, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. (1979); H.R. 2061, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. (1979). Both bills and a version introduced in the Senate, S. 241, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. (1979), included sections creating a Bureau of Justice Statistics. The House passed S. 241 after amending its language to contain the text of H.R. 2061. See 1980 U.S. CODE CONG. & AD. NEWS 4675. A conference report resolving differences created by the disagreeing votes was issued November 16, 1979. See H.R. REP. NO. 655, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. (1979, reprinted in 1980 U.S. CODE CONG. & AD. NEWS 4675, 4744). 2 See NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LAW OBSERVANCE AND