The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) was a U.S. federal agency within the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

. It administered federal funding to state and local law enforcement agencies and funded educational programs, research, state planning agencies, and local crime initiatives as part of President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

's "war on crime" program.

History

The LEAA was established by the

Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (, codified at ''et seq.'') was legislation passed by the Congress of the United States and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson that established the Law Enforcement Assistance A ...

and was abolished in 1982. Its predecessor agency was the Office of Law Enforcement Assistance (1965–1968). Its successor agencies were the Office of Justice Assistance, Research, and Statistics (1982–1984) and the

Office of Justice Programs The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that focuses on crime prevention through research and development, assistance to state, local, and tribal criminal justice agencies, including law enforc ...

. The LEAA included the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, which had its functions absorbed by the

National Institute of Justice The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Offic ...

on December 27, 1979, with passage of the Justice System Improvement Act of 1979. The Act, which amended the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, also led to creation of the

Bureau of Justice Statistics The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of c ...

. LEAA included the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals. The LEAA was criticized for various reasons, including mismanagement of funds, concerns about exacerbating police militarization, and not effectively reducing crime. In response to these criticisms and changing political and fiscal priorities, the LEAA was phased out and eventually abolished by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act Amendments of 1981 . Its functions were absorbed by other parts of the Department of Justice.

Initiatives

In March 1973, the LEAA ordered any police department receiving federal funding to end minimum height requirements, which most women could not meet. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the LEAA promoted policing initiatives such as the STRESS ( Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets) in Detroit and CRASH ( Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) in Los Angeles.

History

Initiatives

References

Further reading