PROPOSED NATIONAL CRIMINAL STATISTICS CENTER HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CENSUS AND STATISTICS OF THE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETIETH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MARCH 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, MAY 7, 8, 9, 21, 22, 23, 1968 Serial No. 90-38 Printed for the use of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service 91-314 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1968 LAW LIBRARY U. S. GOVT. DOCS. DEP. JUL 25 1968 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY CONTENTS Beattie, Ronald H., chief of the California Bureau of Criminal Sta- Bennett, James V., Director (retired) Federal Bureau of Prisons. Biderman, Dr. Albert D., senior research associate, Bureau of Social Science Research, Inc., Washington, D.C.. Blumstein, Dr. Alfred, Institute for Defense Analyses, Arlington, Va.. Bowman, Dr. Raymond T., Assistant Director for Statistical Stand- ards, Bureau of the Budget, Wasington, D.C.. Bryan, Herbert L., correction research project consultant, New York State Department of Correction, Albany, N. Y Creamer, J. Shane, director, Pennsylvania Crime Commission, Daunt, Jerome J., Inspector, Uniform Crime Reporting Section, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C; accompanied by Cartha D. DeLoach, assistant to the Director; Donald R. Roderick, special agent; and John M. Cary, special agent----- Eckler, Dr. A. Ross, Director, Bureau of the Census, accompanied by Gottfredson, Don M., Director, Research Center, National Council on Lejins, Dr. Peter P., professor of sociology and director of ciminology .145 115 15 Lumbard, Eliot H., attorney, New York, N. Y. Ohlin, Lloyd E., professor of ciminology, Law School of Harvard Olson, Mancur, Jr., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Social Indicators, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C. Perlman, I. Richard, Chief, Juvenile Delinquency Studies Branch, Children's Bureau, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 63, 74 53 171 93 Vinson, Fred M., Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, 248 Testimony of-Continued Watson, Dr. Nelson A., assistant director, research and development Wilkins, Prof. Leslie T., School of Criminology, University of Cali- Wolfgang, Marvin E., criminology director, Center for Studies in Statement of Bahmer, Robert H., Archivist of the United States, National Archives McGovern, James L., executive director, Metropolitan Atlanta Commission on Crime and Juvenile Delinquency, Inc., Atlanta, Ga............ Communications received from Campbell, Jay, assistant professor, the Pennsylvania State University, letter dated March 26, 1968_. Huie, C. R., executive secretary, judicial department, Supreme Court of Arkansas, letter dated March 21, 1968 Prasse, Arthur T., commissioner of correction, Department of Justice of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, letter dated March 6, 1968, with attachment.. Additional material— Chart showing flow of statistical records for completing the criminal and probation statistical reports within the Office of the U.S. Courts- Table showing disposition of defendants charged with violation of Table listing persons removed from supervision showing type of "A Uniform Reporting System," topic of speech given by I. Richard Listing of data needs identified by three groups of expert advisers... Chart showing ideal organization for national criminological knowledge and information.. Page 164 26 325 58 337 334 335 333 335 329 80 81 82 138 140 150 150 189 Article entitled "On Exploring the 'Dark Figure' of Crime". 195 210 Summary submitted by the Department of Justice showing legislative authority for collection of crime statistics in the Department of Justice 253 Tabulation showing Department of Justice estimated cost of crime 254 255 272 273 279 Article entitled "Now: Instant Crime Control in Your Town". Article entitled "National Crime Information Center Progress 287 296 291 FBI National Crime Information Center-Newsletter, dated May 1968- 299 PROPOSED NATIONAL CRIMINAL STATISTICS CENTER TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1968 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CENSUS AND STATISTICS OF THE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE, The subcommittee convened at 10 a.m., in room 210, Cannon Building, Hon. William J. Green (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. GREEN. The meeting will come to order. Back in 1931, the Wickersham Commission proposed that responsibility for development of a comprehensive plan for a complete body of statistics covering crime, criminals, criminal justice, and penal treatment be assigned at the Federal level to a single agency. The recent report of the President's Crime Commission states: Had this recommendation been adopted, the present Commission would not have been forced in 1967 to rely so often on incomplete information or to conclude so frequently that important questions could not be answered. In the last 37 years there have been at least four major governmental studies that have concluded that there was a critical need for a strong, effective Federal statistical program covering all aspects of the crime program. Yet, practically nothing has been done in this field. The recent Crime Commission report calls for setting up a National Criminal Justice Statistics Center in the Justice Department. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Census and Statistics, I am concerned that, without strong support, another 37 years may pass without any action. It is for this reason that the subcommittee is holding these hearings; to permit persons who are knowledgeable about the need for statistics related to crime to air their views. The President recently submitted to the Congress a crime program which includes many activities designed to increase the effectiveness of law enforcement. The one major omission, however, was the lack of reference to development of a well-thought-out national statistical program as a guide to action. As J. Edgar Hoover has aptly said: Law enforcement must know where it has been before it can reasonably decide where it is going. The "Uniform Crime Reports" of the FBI are now the only major source of statistics on crime. Yet, these statistics are limited in nature because they only cover crime as reported by the police. While the "Uniform Crime Reports" are careful in their statistics on trends in crime to include only comparable data, it is nevertheless true that there are great problems in getting information on total volume of crime. |