Law Enforcement Assistance Administration grant did not create a 3-year wonder which disappeared, but made a major and lasting contribution to our local criminal justice system. Another recent grant established a screening division which goes over every case before it is filed by local police agencies or citizens. This saves many hours of court time and police manpower by weeding our unprosecutable cases in advance. Previously almost any charge was accepted by a justice of the peace clerk, regardless of the quality of the case. Our intake and screening division keeps experienced prosecutors on duty 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, and these professionals draft highly technical search warrants and warrants of arrest. An invalid warrant can negate an otherwise successful prosecution of a murderer or dope dealer. I could go on and on with examples of grants to prosecutors' offices, and most of these are bread and butter services-not frills-that are needed to enforce the law effectively and justly. CONCLUSION What has been said for prosecution grants is equally true of grants to the police, judicial, and correctional institutions. Our own judiciary has been beefed up by additional temporary courts to reduce time from arrest to trial, as well as court coordinator programs to utilize existing court facilities to the fullest. The list goes on and on, and there is so much yet that remains to be done. Sentencing for example is an area where we have not yet scratched the surface. You may wish to read "Thinking About Crime" by James Wilson for an excellent treatise on where we are in criminal justice today. With limited funding, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration funds have moved our prosecution and our judiciary from the horse and buggy stage to the model A. This trite comparison corresponds to the funding to date. We haven't tried to build the jet airliner. Only a modest step has been undertaken which has properly retained the philosophy that law enforcement is primarily a State and local responsibility. Please don't take the engine from the model A. Let's don't return to the horse and buggy. Any substantial reduction will gut our programs whether it's some of the existing discretionary grants or the bread and butter necessities to keep the pace and avoid chaos due to a spiraling crime rate. Finally, as a citizen, I ask your help. Last year I paid approximately $10,000 in Federal taxes. At the same time, I paid only $100 in county taxes. Now I don't want you to raise taxes to pay for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. Nor do the vast majority of people want our county to raise taxes. Government is too big and too complicated. But if crime is our No. 1 internal problem, it certainly appears reasonable to me as a citizen and taxpayer to ask that you allot at least in the neighborhood of $1 billion to the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to go back to our local law enforcement efforts. After all, this is only a small percent of our Federal budget. I know your problems are more complex than those of my commissioners, but my $100 in county taxes supports roads and bridges and social agencies and all kinds of governmental services, too. My county must also support the entire State and local criminal justice system with the exception of city police and State prisons. These Federal dollars belong to all the people and a few more, not less, should return to support our judges, our jail, our sheriff's office, our prosecutors, our clerks, our probation offices, our pre-trail release personnel, our psychiatric units, our half-way houses, our juvenile programs, and our new data processing program to keep up with 20,000 felonies a year. All of these county financed agencies have benefited through the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, a proven and established agency. Let's improve it not destroy it. NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION RESOLUTION I would also like to submit for the record a resolution of the National District Attorneys Association from a board of directors meeting. Senator PASTORE. Without objector, it is so ordered. [The information follows:] NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND RESOLUTION WHEREAS, law enforcement and other criminal justices agencies have demonstrated acute needs for assistance in the development and implementation of projects and programs to combat criminal activities; and WHEREAS, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration has been created by the Congress through enactment of the Safe Streets and Crime Control Act of 1968 to provide such assistance; and WHEREAS, the primary responsibility of crime control is vested in state and local government; and WHEREAS, to prevent crime and to insure the greater safety of United States citizens, state and local law enforcement and criminal justice efforts must be better unified and coordinated, more efficiently administered, and more effectively operated at all levels of government; and WHEREAS, there is pending before Congress legislation which will authorize the continuation and funding of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration; and WHEREAS, the continued infusion of federal funds at an undiminished level into the Criminal Justice System on both state and local levels is necessary and vital to encourage, support and maintain important existing and innovative programs designed to enhance the Administration of Criminal Justice. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National District Attorneys Association strongly urges the Congress to promptly enact legislation which will authorize the continued existance of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration for at least a three year period; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that such legislation provide for no reduction in the present level of funding; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National District Attorneys Association urges that such legislation not mandate the creation of judicial planning councils nor specially fund such descipline as a separate entity, which would fragment efforts to coordinate the functions and activities of the criminal justice system; and LASTLY, BE IT RESOLVED, that the National District Attorneys Association urges that such legislation give the Attorney General of the United States the responsibility for setting policy and establishing a national advisory board to review priorities and proposals for discretionary and research grants of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have unanimously caused this resolution to be duly adopted this 14th day of May, 1976. By: LOUIS P. BERGNA By: ARTHUR A. MARSHALL, JR. SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS Senator PASTORE. We will recess now until 2 o'clock. [Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene at 2 p.m., the same day.] [AFTERNOON Session, 2:10 O'Clock, Tuesday, May 18, 1976] DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES Senator PASTORE. Now we have a number of public witnesses who want to testify on the LEAA. We have Mr. Travisono, Mr. Lawrence Walsh, Mr. Ferris Lukas, Ralph Tabor, Richard N. Harris, Father T. Byron Collins, and Father William George. I would hope if you have long statements, inasmuch as we have gone into this matter in quite some detail, that you will submit them for the record and then just give us a recapitulation of the highlights of your statement. Mr. Travisono first. STATEMENT OF ANTHONY P. TRAVISONO, AMERICAN COR RECTIONAL ASSOCIATION (FORMERLY RHODE ISLAND DE- ACCOMPANIED BY OLIVER J. KELLER, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PREPARED STATEMENT Mr. TRAVISONO. Thank you, Senator Pastore. We do have a prepared statement which we have submitted for the record. [The statement follows:] (329) |