YZA 1 Xicide, va an. on the of elder I s ncreasing or

ommt n” miesten. If the present de, and the Tickersham ase and vs may trying to a teremine minal activity.

a vas trick by a phrase in arant the Bureau 291 tara tential for in

tears wause I don't understand as patent rack if as may exist in But i Lua can be said to be unman te mlection is made may be

sx fs shes not ging to get to the

wet when temina, atury porng, that criminal tehendent in that, that were encouraging even

T. 2 tar və vaid na sa these amencies-State and local repenting more for a in the mported crime, or the me mur vald for lessani e dem mid statistical hold. I: PE Tell as I maersrand L. what we try to find out now Lex inreperet mme is turn the mean surveys that have been sonducted and are being sndnered in crier to get some idea of the timensions of the raportet ofenses—that is, reported to the

Ta are a meat many of those metum zation surveys made now. lem's me ring on nov, as a matter of fact, which gives us some dea. But after all, all agencies, all public agencies can deal only with The matters that come to their direct attention either in the case of through the activity of the police or the reports made by the public to the law enfortement authorities.

And I don't think any agents can do more than, well, perhaps there may be some educational measures that could be taken to improve and neuse the desire to report offenses to the police, but that's about all. M. SYNAR. Thank you. Mr. Chairman.

M. SELLIN, Weil, the Wickersham Commission also recommended at the National Bureau should promote the establishment of State bureaus and give them technical assistance in organizing their work. And inay the Commission approved the idea of a Federal criminal ustice agency in the Attorney General's Office to lead the Federal mal justice statistics. But the Commission realized the language sificulty of the National Bureau's task.

We have noted that it has taken the FBI 46 years to secure uniform is from 41 States. It took the Federal Government 53 years to

ses the size of the registration area for mortality statistics from

2 States Massachusetts and New Jersey-in 1880 to all States in

1933.

Considering the multitude of criminal justice agencies of all kinds. the time involved and the problems associated with the development of standard definitions and classification of the subject matter, one can understand why the Commission proposed the establishment of registration areas by the Bureau which would then, with the aid of State bureaus, collect criminal justice statistics only from the States that met the standards set by the Bureau.

Now I've perhaps spent too much time on this history, but I think it's good to realize that there have been efforts made in the past to secure national justice statistics, and that they have often been very poorly supported, especially when it comes to judicial statisticswhich is the homogeneous criminal justice statistics that we havethe judicial statistics are by all the poorest.

We know less about the courts system, what the courts do than we know about what the police, parole agencies, and probation agencies, and so on do.

I talk only about the sections dealing with the purpose, structure, and functions of the proposed Bureau of Justice Statistics and its relations with other statistical agencies.

I have found the reading of the bill interesting. It seemed interesting, and I haven't--I don't think I claim competency in criticizing it, criticizing the provisions.

I want to call attention to a few of them. Most of the provisions in the bill, so far as the Bureau of Human Justice, the Bureau of Justice Statistics are concerned, I find unexceptional.

Mr. CONYERS. "Unexceptional"? Or acceptable?

Mr. SELLIN. I think they are fine. I think they're good. So I'm not going to talk about them.

The purpose of any agency established by law can usually be inferred from the specification of its functions and duties, but legislators commonly formulate that purpose in a preamble according to Webster's Dictionary

which states the reasons and intent of the law or is used for other explanatory purposes, or to recite facts, knowledge of which is necessary to an understanding of the law.

In the preamble of the present bill, there is only a short statement that Congress

provide the necessary leadership, coordination, and resources in order to encourage the collection and analysis of statistical information concerning crime, juvenile delinquency, civil disputes, and the operation of the judicial system.

The administration's bill, which I have only seen in a Senate version, Congressional Record, Senate, July 10, 1978, contains more elaborate statements of purpose.

It observes, first, that:

Although crime is essentially a local problem that must be dealt with by state and local governments, the financial and technical resources of the Federal Government should be made available to support such state and local efforts.

And that one means to accomplish this is, "to encourage the collection and analysis of statistical information," et cetera.

Just as in the present bill, yet seemingly superfluous since it also appears in the special preamble to the part in the administration's bill which establishes the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In this subsidiary preamble, however, the following addition occurs: And to support the development of information and statistical systems at the federal, state, and local levels, to improve the efforts of these levels of government to measure and understand the levels of crime, juvenile delinquency, and civil disputes, and the operation of the civil, juvenile, and criminal justice systems.

I find these formulations of purpose more explicit than the brief statement in the present bill, because they lay a better foundation for the organization and functions of the Bureau and the policies it should follow.

A preambulary paragraph does indeed appear later in the present bill. În section 304.2.2, after ordering the Bureau to "collect, collate, analyze, publish, disseminate, and maintain data systems accessible to the general public," there is a subparagraph (A) which seems out of place, since it only expresses a hope or wish that the data collected will be useful for certain specific purposes.

This comment applies equally to a corresponding section in the administration's bill, section 302.c.3. Many of the substantive provisions of the two bills are couched in identical language and are all essential.

Other provisions differently formulated or found in only one of the bills raise questions in my mind. I am puzzled by the phrase in section 304.a.2 which requires the Bureau to "maintain data systems accesible to the general public."

Especially since section 410.b states that the Bureau "shall assure that the security and privacy of all information collected, stored, or disseminated is adequately provided for and that information shall only be used for the law enforcement and criminal justice and other lawful purposes."

Furthermore, in a latter section, 304.a.9C, it is stated that data gathered on the characteristics and criminal histories of defendants in criminal or juvenile cases or arrested for offenses "shall be used only for research purposes" and "gathered in a manner precluding their use for law enforcement or any purposes relating to a particular individual other than statistical or research purposes.'

In other words, I read those, and then-I find a statement that "should maintain data systems accessible to the general public." I'm confused.

Mr. CONYERS. It appears to be a slight contradiction, doesn't it.

Mr. SELLIN. Both bills require the Bureau to establish national standards for justice statistics, but the administration's bill adds a useful note in another section by requiring that, in establishing such standards, the Bureau "shall consult with representatives of State and local governments, including where appropriate representatives of the judiciary."

The present bill orders the Bureau to maintain liaison with "the judiciary in matters relating to justice statistics." The corresponding section of the administration's bill is identical, except for the word "judciary," the phrase "judicial branches of the Federal and State governments" is inserted."

Elsewhere, the administration's bill also urges the Bureau to "seek the cooperation of the judicial branch of the Federal Government in gathering data from cívil, juvenile, and criminal justice records."

I assume that these sections are meant to deal with judicial statistics and not with justice statistics which, as defined by the bill, includes police and correctional agencies.

The bill contains an explicit and apparently commendable provision that permits the Bureau to "consider the request of persons engaged in criminal justice research to gather data from a multitude of Federal, State, and local agencies for the purposes of analyzing crime over time and across jurisdictional boundaries, or matching demographic, economic, and survey data about individuals with their criminal records."

The meaning of this provision is obscure. The Bureau is, according to section 304.a.1, empowered to give grants or make contracts with private persons to do research on anything that falls within the Bureau's area of activity, but unless the provision means that the requests mentioned are aimed at gaining access to data collected by the Bureau from the multitude of agencies referred to, the provision is meaningless, at least to me.

The bill specifically requires the Bureau to gather at all levels of government data concerning white-collar crime and "public understanding of and respect for the observance of law."

These matters are not mentioned in the administration's bill. Granting that information about both these subjects is desirable, the proper agency to do research on them is the National Institute of Justice for which the bill also provides.

A statistical bureau is not capable of doing much in this way. They can gather information, shall we say, about the occupations of persons arrested, their education, other data which makes it possible to infer which social class, shall we say, the defendant or the arrested person comes from, and they can also get information about the kind of crime committed by persons, but fraud of certain types-if the schedules or inquiry sent out by the Bureau of Statistics calls for certain such information. they can get some data. But to get at more information about white-collar crime should be done by a research agency.

And when it comes to the public understanding of respect to the service of law, I don't see how the Bureau of Justice Statistics would be equipped to conduct such research.

The very nature of the Statistical Bureau prevents it. That is, again, to me something the National Institute should do.

Both bills make a single agency-the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the Department of Justice-responsible for the development of national criminal justice statistics. This is logical, considering that the data are to be gathered from 50 States, and also from the District of Columbia and the Federal Government, which as components of the National System of Statistics may be equated with States and from the records of police, judicial, and correctional agencies in all these diverse jurisdictions with diverse laws and procedures.

These diversities make it imperative that a single agency be empowered to formulate the definitions of "statistical units and stand

**** *2 * maps uniformny and company of data, and 47) 059, 360, TX2 Motul tapa tien imparay, and publish the

The pat purge Ogn on, and procedural problems for kea taraftan bunas in the era of Fromm, eminal justice. For inDutch, w wyces uxorenent en onniged to supply the Bureau with tre Gala it kerta for a palota, repor

İna Vederal agencies are 1.86 mhappy for some time publishing. wwerking, and pasting te only national criminal justice statistics

I refer to the FBL and now the LEAA. According to some plans I have seen, the new Bureau would take over the National Crime Panel Victimization Surveys, the expenditure and employment data for the criminal justice system, the juvenile detention and correctional facility system, the national prisoner statistics, and the grant programs for the upgrading of State and local statistical capabilities, all of which are now managed by the LEAA, as well as the correction and tabulaBon portions of the uniform crime reporting system and the technical assistance and development portion of that system, now the responsibility of the FBI

f expect that the transfer of the uniform crime reporting system to The new Bureau will be strenuously opposed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police which created the system, and by police agencies in States in the registration area.

There are reasonable arguments on both sides of the question. The 1111 has developed a system that functions well, and it has close and direct professional relations with the reporting police departments.

It has tried to improve the system and impose standards. On the other hand, it has found it difficult to enforce compliance with these stamlards and its presentation of the summarized data in its reports hao ralord questions regarding its reliability.

I harvis in the past been a strong-though sympathetic-critic of the 1ystem and the FBI has taken heed by, for instance, removing etatutory raps from the rape class in the index part of its classification it bunn oftenas, and by stopping the practice of computing crime tation the basis of the population of the latest Dicennial Census, and thefend now this estimated population at mid-year.

But thuis still remain defects in the method of computing rapes and the interprctation of data. The most important defect in the crime fake and be removed, however, until a more scientific way of

suring the injury to persons and property by crime is employed. Thor una surcients now being used by police and the FBI in many www.dorvalue, and in others overstate the degree of such Pachuchu Bu remedying this etuation exists but is not being ...by podio separamonix It is being experimentally tried in the

Por thous au will be fromg so many friable problems

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