Under the federal system in the United States, the states and localities traditionally have held the major responsibility for prevention and control of crime and maintenance of order. For most of the Republic's history, "police powers" in the broad sense were reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. Many still hold that view, but others see a string of court decisions in recent decades as providing the basis for a far more active federal role.

Perhaps the most significant factor behind the growth of federal police powers has been a broader interpretation of the Constitution's "commerce clause" (Article I, Section 8, Clause 2), which explicitly gives Congress power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. A series of court decisions in this century has established that the impact of intrastate commerce on interstate commerce may justify a more inclusive approach. In addition, both Congress and the Supreme Court have shown an apparent willingness to view certain kinds of crime or disorder on a large scale as threats to commerce in and of themselves.

Since the 1960s, the law and order issues that most often have generated debate over the appropriate limits of the federal role are financial assistance for state and local law enforcement and regulation of firearms. In considering legislation that established the grant program administered by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (P.L. 90-351) and its forerunner, the Office of Enforcement Assistance (P.L. 89-197), some members of Congress and analysts expressed concern that the federal "power of the purse" would lead to a national police force.

The lack of significant opposition to local law enforcement assistance provisions in 1986 and 1988 anti-drug measures and the 1990 Crime Control Act and the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 suggests that such concern has diminished. This change in attitude might be explained by a widespread perception that the illicit traffic in dangerous drugs has become a national problem of overriding concern.

One indication of growth in federal involvement in crime control is the trend in annual spending under the budget category "administration of justice." Since 1965, it has risen from $535 million to an estimated $21.3 billion in FY1996. Congress appropriated approximately $17 billion for Department of Justice programs for FY1997.

Congressional Research Service
The Library of Congress

Issues of Democracy
USIA Electronic Journals, Vol. 2, No. 4, November 1997