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Justice - Saxbe, William Speech
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Justice - Saxbe, William Speech
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Philip W. Buchen Files
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The original documents are located in Box 24, folder "Justice - Saxbe, William Speech" of
the Philip Buchen Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box 24 of the Philip Buchen Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Phil,
I was surprised to find that Saxbe's
actual speech in Chicago differs substantially
from the press coverage which we discussed
the other day.
I have attached the full text for your
review. It is certainly not full of answers
for the crime problem, but does give us
a better start for the President's positioning
before the Chiefs of Police later this month.
Geoff
Rua- for our file
STMENT PROPERTY DOMINA JUSTITIA OF )
Department of Justice
ADDRESS
BY
THE HONORABLE WILLIAM B. SAXBE
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES
AT
MAJOR CITIES CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS' CONFERENCE
ON URBAN CRIME
12:00 NOON
TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1974
CONRAD HILTON
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
FORD & LIBRARY 078830
I very much appreciate the opportunity to be
with you at this important conference.
As policemen, you occupy a position of unusual
significance in our effort to reduce crime.
It is the sobering--and some might say frightening--
magnitude of the crime problem I wish to discuss with you.
Since I became Attorney General seven months ago,
I have faced a number of serious problems and new
responsibilities.
Perhaps the most disheartening task that I have
had so far was to announce to the Nation last March that
preliminary crime statistics collected by the FBI showed
that serious reported crime had increased five percent
over 1972.
What made it disheartening was that in 1972 there
was an actual reduction of crime for the first time in
17 years. Many observers viewed the four percent decline
as evidence that the crime problem was being overcome
at last.
Few such illusions exist today.
Final statistics to be released shortly will show
that crime actually increased during 1973 by six percent
not the five percent that was earlier predicted.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
-2-
As many of you know crime rose 16 percent during
the final quarter of 1973, and 15 percent in the first
quarter of this year.
No one can accurately predict the crime rate for
the remainder of 1974. I would like to be optimistic
and say that we have seen the worst of the increase, but
in the face of those statistics, I cannot be.
We can now perceive with shocking clarity that
we have suffered a severe setback in the concerted effort
to alter one of the Nation's most agonizing facts of life.
It is a failure of substantial dimension--harsh
bitter, and dismaying. For the long run, it may prove
to be the prelude of worse things to come unless we again
find the way to gain the upperhand.
I do not mean to suggest that the total crime
control efforts during the past five or ten years have
failed. Nor do I believe we are necessarily doomed to
future chaos.
But the fact is that for at least a brief period,
we have lost our initiative and are back on the defensive.
The implications of this are of the utmost gravity to every
citizen. The situation should compel us to look at the
somber facts and begin making a series of rational decisions
on how we are to proceed.
-3-
As Attorney General, I have been growing increasingly
concerned about this situation for a number of months.
I think it is about time some unvarnished facts are placed
squarely on the table.
The Nation is in deep trouble in its effort to reduce
crime.
The Federal government must shoulder part of the
blame for the crime problem. There have been too many
grandiose promises and too much patch-work performance in
Washington.
After years of struggle, after spending billions
of dollars, it should be clear to everyone that there
is no touchstone to be invoked in crime control.
There are no more rabbits to pull out of the
hat. If we are realistic, we have to admit now that
there never were.
Most crime occurs at the state and local level.
I know from long personal experience that the criminal
justice system there is in the hands of dedicated and
capable people.
The quality of policemen is rising--as is their
equipment, particularly in communications.
Corrections programs are gradually improving,
though a great many weaknesses still exist.
Courts and prosecutors have improved, especially
in the processing of cases and training of personnel
GERALD FORD LIURARY
-4-
Even as crime increased nationally in the first
quarter of this year, 33 large cities still were able
to show a reduction in their crime rates.
But the criminal justice system continues to face
major handicaps.
Part of the problem rests with the Federal grant-
in-aid program operated by an agency in the Department of
Justice--the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration.
Since most crime control responsibilities rest
with states and localities, the Federal role is limited.
We can provide funding, research and development, and
hopefully a degree of leadership.
However, I would be less than frank if I did not
begin my discussion of the overall problems with an
account of Federal shortcomings.
In its first six years, the LEAA budgets have
totaled $3.2 billion--and nearly $900 million is
expected for the current fiscal year.
When I came to Justice, I said this money had to
produce more results. I feel even more strongly about
it today.
In six years, LEAA has had four Administrators--
and the appointment of the fifth was announced recently.
During that period, there was no Administrator for nearly
18 months. Such turnover hardly enhances efficiency.
-5-
In this context, let me tell you of a new LEAA
project now getting underway.
It is the agency's first structured program to
evaluate the effectiveness of projects funded by LEAA,
and up to $20 million will be expended in the next two
years. Though some evaluation has been done before, this
is the first consistent effort.
You may well wonder, as I do, why a real evaluation
program is only beginning now--six years and $3.2 billion
later. One reason is that Congress last year insisted
that this step be taken. But it is a sobering commentary
on the level of Federal vision that it was not started
years earlier--and before Congress was forced to act.
Things will not change overnight, but I assure
you that I will do everything within my power to see that
LEAA becomes the most effective crime reduction instrument
possible.
For their part, states and localities also must
work much harder.
Let me reiterate I believe the vast bulk of their
criminal justice personnel are dedicated and capable.
Many put their lives on the line daily--for scant rewards
and skimpy thanks.
QERAL FORD LIBRARY
-6-
However, much more can be done. Where efficiency
flags, it can be bolstered. Where corruption exists,
it must be rooted out. Cooperation can be enhanced, for
piece-meal approaches aid only the criminal. Every agency
is obligated to make community relations programs an
every-day fact of life, for if the community is not
on your side, nothing you do will succeed. And I repeat:
Nothing.
Criminal justice needs are still substantial.
Government at the state and local level too often does
not provide proper resources. The Federal government
also was notably late in developing its grant program, and
there is some question whether current funding is adequate.
Criminal justice still needs more skilled personnel,
better equipment, and better techniques to prevent and
control crime. In some instances, more manpower may be
required. In others, it may be a matter of better
utilizing existing personnel.
Whatever else the system does, it must grapple
more firmly with the worst crimes--the violent crimes
and those that contain the threat of violence.
-7-
Criminal justice can develop techniques to
prevent more of these crimes. It can concentrate enforcement
on the crimes of violence and concentrate more on the
repeat offender. Those who are dangerous can be kept
in custody rather than being frivolously released. While
many may be rehabilitated, many cannot--and they should
be kept in prison to protect society.
Substantial resources have been used to improve
criminal justice throughout the nation, and that is a
proper effort.
At the same time, it would be grossly unrealistic
to suggest that the crime problem can be controlled by
criminal justice alone--even if it attained absolute
perfection under our system of laws.
During my 20 years of work relating to criminal
justice, I have at one time or another supported nearly
all of the panaceas offered for crime reduction: More
policemen; more prosecutors and judges; rehabilitation
of offenders; and, if all else fails, paying them to be
good.
But I now feel we do the criminal justice system--
and the nation--a disservice by proposing any one of those
things as the answer, or even that taken together they
represent the solution.
FORD
Crime springs from causes still imperfectly perceived. GERAL
LIBRARY
-8-
We do not even know with any certainty why crime
has started rising again. Many theories have been put
forward. Some say it is the result of better crime
reporting. Others contend that economic problems have
contributed. But even if the rates had remained stable,
or declined slightly, crime would still exist at
inexcusably high levels.
We do know that criminal justice can do only SO
much. It has little or no control over the incredible
variety of circumstances that may contribute to crime.
For answers to those nagging questions, we must turn to
the entire society--and to the criminals themselves.
Much crime develops from poverty and deprivation.
Most victims of crime are the poor themselves. There
will be no marked crime reduction until we understand
that--but, more importantly, until we act upon it.
Crime also develops as our institutions--traditional
sources of stability--begin to break down.
The home, the school, the church--all play an
important role. As their influence wanes, so does the
concept of self-discipline--or, to put it another way,
self-policing.
For a good long time, the nation was fortunate
because we did discipline ourselves to a substantial extent,
and we did police ourselves. As a people, we took
enormous pride in knowing what was right and wrong.
-9-
All of those things now appear to be in disrepair.
Growing numbers of Americans feel freedom means license.
They do not seem to understand that license has a price--
and in most instances it is a staggering price.
For decades, the nation was fortunate in other
ways. There was a frontier into which we could expand.
Even after it was settled, a sense of responsibility and
adherence to the work ethic continued to propel us forward.
So much of that has changed. And so has the
superabundance that also tended for a time to dilute
tendencies toward crime.
But we are still faced with a large number of poor
people, despite the billions of dollars spent to eradicate
poverty. Too much poverty still exists, along with the
other horsemen of hopelessness and discrimination.
Government and business and our institutions simply have
not met the challenges.
The nation has tried. But the needed results have
not been achieved.
In addition to everything else, the state of
health of the economy has an effect on crime and its
causes.
While there are no panaceas in reducing crime,
one area where renewed emphasis must be placed is on
crime by the young.
LIBRARY
-10-
Current efforts have not been adequate-- a fact
recognized by Congress in new juvenile delinquency
legislation it has fashioned.
It is not enough to rehabilitate youthful offenders.
We have to work harder to prevent them from turning to
crime in the first place.
The prospect for that is uncertain--as we see
from FBI statistics on the seven major index crimes.
In 1972, about 44 percent of arrests for those
crimes were of persons 18 and under. When you enlarge
the age group to those persons 21 and under, you find
they accounted for 61 percent of the arrests. But
when you look at the 25 and under category, the cold
statistic reveals that three out of every four persons
arrested for committing a serious crime fell into that
age grouping.
These statistics should be placed in tandem with
Department of Labor statistics on unemployment among
the young.
In 1973, white males in the 16 to 17 age group
had an unemployment rate of 15 percent, and minority
males 34 percent. In the 18 and 19 age group, the white
rate was 10 percent and the minority rate 22 percent.
Those figures declined slightly from 1972-but they are
still awesomely high.
-11-
In the 30 largest metropolitan areas in 1973,
whites of both sexes in the 16 to 19 group had a 14
percent unemployment rate. For minorities of both sexes,
it was nearly 33 percent.
One lesson is that we are not going to solve the
crime problem among the young--especially in the cities--
until they are brought into society's mainstream.
To do that, a basic step is to impart educational
and employment skills--and couple it with actual jobs.
This is not only needed to help control crime. It is
also the decent, the humanitarian, thing to do.
This approach alone will not solve all crime
problems related to poverty and discrimination. But
unless we succeed in this, other efforts have little
potential for lasting success.
Some observers have said youth crime will tend
to automatically diminish as the number of young persons
in our population declines.
However, Census Bureau estimates are not promising.
Statistics show there are now an estimaged 38.9
million persons in the 15 to 24 age group. By 1979,
projections show the number growing to 41.5 million.
It is true that by 1984-10 years from now--it is expected
to dip to 38.6 million. But longer-range projections
SORD
show there will be some 47 million persons in that age
group by the year 2000.
LIDRARY
-12-
Time is not exactly on our side in the struggle
against crime--no matter what factors are considered.
A thorough evaluation of everything that has been
done SO far is badly needed. And then we must devise
better ways to accomplish the manifold tasks.
It will require money, manpower, better planning,
better thinking, more dedication, more staying power--and
a hell of a lot of luck.
Serious thinking will be required beyond government
programs and other traditional approaches--extending into
how we live both individually and as a people.
The young learn from us--and what they see and
what they must be learning are sources of growing dismay.
It is not just a matter of some young people
committing crime because they think they can get away
with it, although I personally think that the low risk
involved stimulates greater interest. Nor is it merely
a matter of some being turned off by the criminal justice
system because it is sometimes unfair.
Permissiveness of all sorts has permeated our society
at virtually all levels.
Parents, too, often fail to teach or to properly
discipline their children. Beyond that, as a society
we seem to have absolutely lost our perception of a variety
of things that can corrupt and distort the young.
-13-
Alcoholism has become perhaps our major health
problem, and contributes to a substantial amount of
crime. Parents who drink excessively are openly inviting
their children to follow suit.
Pornography has become as widespread as baseball.
Adults may think it is fine for themselves. But they
forget that there is no way to keep it from filtering
down to children not equipped to handle it. Just
as there is no way--with such widespread adult use of
alcohol and drugs--to keep those things from filtering
down to the young.
In addition, the average eight-year-old has seen
more violence on television than the average soldier
encounters during a hitch in the Army. The violence
pours on in an endless torrent. Anyone complaining
about it hears from the purveyors of that violence that
their freedom of speech is being encroached upon.
Mr. Justice Holmes once said that freedom of speech
does not entitle anyone to falsely shout "Fire" in a
crowded theater. I do not think that those who reap
fortunes from violence on television and in the movies
are totally immune from the Constitution to twist the
minds of generations of children. It is equally
discouraging that SO many parents simply don't forbid
their children to watch the unending deluge of such garbage.
-14-
The tolls are now being paid for all of the
license.
As a people, we seem to sit like zombies while
these and other problems spread. A major response is
to demand that the police do more. Well, the police
are doing about all they can. The police cannot legislate
morals--let alone enforce them. That can only be done
by the society.
Once upon a time, most people looked upon the
criminal as unsavory. Today, he is increasingly being
portrayed as a hero--not just in the arts but on the
streetcorners, too.
Killers and rapists and robbers now are often looked
upon as political victims. The impulse by many is to say
that they are only getting their fair share.
After all the causes and possible causes of crime
are considered, one fact begins to emerge with some precision.
We simply must be more realistic in our approaches
to solving the crime problem.
No one approach will work by itself. As I indicated
earlier, it is essential that we re-think everything we
have done to date. And then crime reduction programs
must be developed that have a high probability of success.
Among other things, there has to be a re-examination
of a tendency by some to blame crime on everything but
the criminal.
-15-
It may be that it is not possible to discover
every last reason for crime--though we should try very
hard to do SO.
But the manifestation of the results of all the
causes the criminal himself- is very, very apparent.
And we should begin dealing with the offender in much
more effective ways.
I believe that a great many offenders commit
crimes because they want to commit them. A great many
feel that the risks of apprehension are low--and the
risk of going to prison, even if caught, are even lower.
Some commit crimes for gain, others for personal
satisfaction, thrill, adventure--general hell-raising.
It is time that we quit beating around the bush
and frankly faced one of the realities of crime. And
it is simply this: Some crime--perhaps a great deal of
crime--will not be cured by simply removing conditions
that many have come to accept as the root causes of
illegal behavior.
Let me emphasize it again. Many criminals violate
the law because they want to. And the starting point in
dealing with them is to increase the odds against them.
We must make the risks of criminal behavior much greater.
We must make certain that the odds are on society's side,
and that when somebody commits a crime he is then going
to be caught. After he is caught, he is going to face
the certain prospect of swift and sure justice. And after
he is convicted, he is going to be placed in prison.
-16-
We also have to face another reality.
Everyone who breaks the law--or condones it--
helps breed contempt for all laws and encourages all
lawlessness. And that goes for placing a bet with a
bookie or cheating on taxes or violating the antitrust
or securities laws. White collar crime is a major
problem--but too little enforcement effort has been placed
in this area.
The setting of the proper example must begin with
the leaders of government. In recent years, the spectacles
we have seen are appalling, and I am not talking only about
Watergate now. The list of state and local officials
convicted of federal crimes--usually for violating their
public trust for an illegal buck--is scandalously long.
Disrespect for the law by those sworn to uphold
it can only encourage a tendency toward lawlessness in
others.
Each should examine his own conscience and his
own conduct to see if he contributes to the breakdown
of our laws and our ethics.
Those who cheat, those who are dissolute in their
own conduct, those on the make or on the take--all
contribute to a climate where the worst things gradually
become an ingrained part of every-day life.
-17-
I do not suggest that as a nation we should sink
into a morass of self-pity or enfeebling shame. But
what I do suggest is that we begin to fully accept,
during every waking hour, a set of deep and abiding
responsibilities to help shape a future filled with hope
and decency.
We can no longer say that the job of crime control
is solely the preserve of the police or courts or corrections.
It is also partly the job of every citizen, of
every institution, of every business. Because if they
fail, then our present system of criminal justice simply
will be unable to hold back the tide.
The options are very limited as we face the future.
If we go on as we are, there is every possibility that
crime will inundate us.
The nation would then be faced with the prospect
of falling apart or devising a national police force in
one final effort to restore domestic order.
We should never doubt for a moment that there
are men and forces at work in this country eagerly awaiting
an opportunity to devise such a program as the first step
toward total control over our lives.
GERALD ? FORD
-18-
Already we hear many say the answer to crime rests
solely with more police, tougher police, more judges,
more prosecutors, more prisons. If such a buildup should
occur on a massive scale--beyond what may be reasonably
needed--then we would see basic freedoms begin to dissipate.
Some even suggest that we really should give up a portion
of our freedoms so that more criminals can be jailed.
The trouble is that such a trend would be progressive.
And if history teaches us anything, it is that freedoms
willingly surrendered for any reason are never returned.
As other countries have learned, a police state
can control common crime. But that is not our way. And
it would be a dreadful mistake to slide inch-by-inch toward
that chasm, centralizing the war on crime in the name of
efficiency while meekly accepting a national constabulary.
National police can be used as an instrument of
national repression--and they always wind up being run
by somebody else.
Any nation can stop crime if it is willing to
have an internal army of occupation. But there has never
been a government which stopped crime by oppression that
eventually did not live to regret it.
The nations that have survived and flourished have
done so by developing an inner strength in their people
and in their institutions--not by trying to develop
morality at the point of a rifle.
-19-
Crime has already taken some of our freedoms--but
by default, not by design.
It is a symbol of our maturity that we have not
turned to repressive measures to combat crime, as bad
as the situation is.
The option we must take is the one that provides
for the control of crime within our framework of laws.
Neither the submission to crime at its present
levels nor a descent into repression can be tolerated.
But every person who cherishes democracy must
understand that our system of justice--perhaps our very
system itself--is a thin and fragile reed.
The resolution to support it must begin now. We
cannot wait forever to embark upon the enlightened steps
needed to restore decency and security.
There is a great deal hanging in the balance in
this effort to fashion more mature individual action and
in turn a more mature society. If we do not succeed,
then sooner or later we will have to face the prospect
that there are a great many others--both at home and
abroad--who would eagerly move in on such a demoralized
people.
Thank you.
FORD i LIBRARY
DOJ-1974-08