50th Anniversary of President Johnson's Crime Commission Report

2017 marked the 50^th anniversary of the publication of “The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society.”  This document was the final report of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice.  The Commission, which had a total of 19 members, was established by the Johnson administration to examine methods to improve the criminal justice system in the United States.  At the time of the final report, Johnson called the research “the most comprehensive and detailed program for meeting the challenge of crime ever proposed in this country.”

The Johnson Crime Commission devised more than 200 recommendations in the 1967 report.  One of the recommendations was the establishment of calling 911 to report an emergency.  Another recommendation from the Commission was for the U.S. Congress to create a new office in the Department of Justice to assist state and local law enforcement agencies.  This recommendation led to the establishment of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration – a federal agency that provides resources to state and local law enforcement departments for various programs.  The Commission also challenged Americans to do more to create a safer society.  Rather than only cooperating with police or accepting jury duty, the Commission encouraged that citizens should respect the law, not cut corners, and reject the statement that “anything goes as long as you don’t get caught.”

National Public Radio did a feature story for the 50^th anniversary of Johnson’s Crime Commission Report.  In the article by NPR reporter Cheryl Corley, Laurie Robinson was interviewed.  “The Johnson Crime Commission is really the most influential study of crime justice that has ever been undertaken in the United States,” said Robinson, a former co-chairperson of President Obama’s White House Task Force on 21^st century policing.

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Johnson Administration’s Crime Commission Report, I have proposed these recommendations below to continue upon the important work of confronting the challenges of crime within society:

* Improve information sharing among international, federal, state, county, and local law enforcement agencies.

* Establish a national registry of fugitives of justice who have open arrest warrants.

* Clear the nationwide backlog of untested rape kits. 

* Ensure that police departments can continue to establish/improve partnerships with community members.

* Examine methods to confront the national opioid epidemic and re-examine drug conviction minimum sentencing guidelines.

* Create a national inventory list of police shootings involving civilians.

* Ensure that the criminal justice system prevents (to the best extent possible) wrongful convictions.

* Investigate methods to deter potential mass shootings.

* Improve funding for domestic/family violence intervention/prevention efforts.

* Re-engage youth mentoring programs to confront juvenile delinquency and gang prevention techniques.

* Re-evaluate methods to reduce the number of homicides.

* Continue to invest resources to confront white collar crime, internet scams, and romance scams.

* Evaluate the effects of mass incarceration on the criminal justice system.

* Evaluate methods to reduce the rate of criminal recidivism.

* Enhance partnerships with communities in order to investigate missing persons cases.

* Create a national registry of unsolved murders/cold cases based on year of incident and location.

* Study the effectiveness of the death penalty vs. life imprisonment for the most heinous crimes.

* Investigate methods to deter jail/prison escapes. 

* Improve effectiveness of electronic monitoring devices for parolee/supervised released programs.

* Hold prison officials accountable to reduce abuse of prisoners and fraud within correctional facilities.

* Establish torture commissions to investigate civilian abuse claims against police departments.

* Continue to develop forensic science techniques to reduce mistakes regarding forensic evidence.

* Re-evaluate evidence collection methods, including the reduction of false eyewitness identifications.

* Maintain police department records management units; making sure that the most up to date technology is available for proper records organization.

* Re-evaluate the implementation of plea-deals in court cases; ensure that the process is fair and equitable.

Source: “President Johnson’s Crime Commission Report, 50 Years Later” by Cheryl Corley. October 6, 2017. https://www.npr.org/2017/10/06/542487124/president-johnson-s-crime-commission-report-50-years-later