Wanted: Uniform Law Enforcement

Abstract

Since World War I there have been no fewer than forty major crime study commissions of one sort or another in the states and cities of the Nation. The range of subjects for inquiry has encompassed the entire field of criminal law enforcement and the agencies and officers engaged in the administration of justice. These commissions have published much from their inquiries and have made many recommendations. Many of them have found their way into the statute books and thus have become a part of public policy in matters of crime control. Whatever the original purpose of inquiry, research and the use of findings, one feature is common to most of them: the laws defining certain actions as crimes are applied unequally within a state by the several agencies engaged in law enforcement. This reported lack of uniform application of the criminal laws ranges from complacency (through ignorance or design) to the most strict application of the law. This is an unhealthy situation and one which, through failure to correct it, has contributed unquestionably to increased lawlessness, and encouraged the growth of organized crime and criminal syndicates in various forms. These conditions have made many headlines and have provoked much discussion in the various public forums. But there is perhaps a greater evil than the knowledge of lawlessness and one which may not be so widely discussed or publicized. The failure to enforce the laws whether by corruption or difficulty of enforcement means that some officers and agencies of government actually may be contributing to a breakdown in public respect for law and order. Much of the blame for unequal application of the criminal laws is traceable to the nature of the federal system. Our high purpose in supporting and maintaining the dual system of government has been to prevent concentration of authority which might lead to abuses of our liberties. If enforcement were the responsibility of a central authority only, such as a national police force, then fears, justifiably raised, would be renewed about the evils of central authority. It could mean the beginning of the end of an era in local and regional self-government. To suggest that change should require an extended and careful look into the probable consequences of the action proposed. Most of the criminal laws of the nation are state laws. These formal utterances of state legislatures are presumed to apply equally throughout all of the state. Officials, state and local, subscribe to oaths to observe and enforce these laws. In interpreting the metes and bounds of laws the courts follow the rule of a single meaning for an entire state. Throughout the years of development of state criminal codes greater attention