CJ 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Drug Enforcement Administration, Palmer Raids, John Dillinger
Crime Control Decades (1919–1959)
While Vollmer and Wilson were laying out the professional model of policing, crime control
became the central concern of law enforcement.
The Red Scare
The Red Scare of 1919–1920 consisted of the federal government's, state
governments', and vigilantes' suppressing of dissent by radical and left wing groups. It ‐
reached a climax with the Palmer raids in January 1920. U.S. Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer orchestrated a series of raids that produced thousands of arrests in 33
cities. The Bureau of Investigation, a federal agency established in 1908, compiled a
list of subversives prior to the raids and fostered the fiction that citizens who dissented
from government policies were disloyal.
Riots and police racism
More than 20 race riots broke out in the summer of 1919. Studies of these riots reveal
discriminatory law enforcement and police participation in the riots.
Expansion of the federal role in law enforcement
Passage of the Harrison Act (1914) and the Volstead Act (1919) expanded the scope of
federal jurisdiction over criminal activity. The Harrison Act required physicians
marketing drugs to register with the government and pay taxes. To enforce the federal
government's first drug law, Congress created the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Volstead Act banned the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic
beverages. To enforce the dry law, Congress established the Bureau of
Prohibition (which was a forerunner of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms,
a branch of the Treasury Department). Both drug prohibition laws had the unintended
consequences of providing an impetus for the growth of organized crime and causing
epidemics of police corruption. Pressure on the police to do something to enforce these
unpopular, unenforceable laws encouraged the police to violate the civil liberties of
many citizens.
J. Edgar Hoover and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
J. Edgar Hoover, who served as FBI director from 1924–1972, was the most famous
and controversial figure to appear in 20th century law enforcement. During the 1930s, ‐
Hoover's FBI agents tracked down and captured such gangsters as “Baby Face”
Nelson, John Dillinger, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, “Ma” Barker, and the bank robbers/murderers
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Under Hoover's direction, the FBI became a
standard setter for law enforcement in the U.S. and the leading example of police ‐
professionalism. Hoover's idea of police professionalism included an emphasis on
efficient crime fighting, police training, scientific crime detection (for example, ‐
fingerprinting and lie detecting), a stress on firearms, an authoritarian style of
management, and a cynical attitude toward the Constitution in which police officers
were to avoid violating citizens' rights not because it was the right thing to do, but
because it might result in the loss of a case on appeal. This evangelist for crime control
eventually went too far when he attempted to repress political dissent during the
Vietnam War and the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s.
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Document Summary
While vollmer and wilson were laying out the professional model of policing, crime control became the central concern of law enforcement. The red scare of 1919 1920 consisted of the federal government"s, state governments", and vigilantes" suppressing of dissent by radical and left wing groups. It reached a climax with the palmer raids in january 1920. Mitchell palmer orchestrated a series of raids that produced thousands of arrests in 33 cities. The bureau of investigation, a federal agency established in 1908, compiled a list of subversives prior to the raids and fostered the fiction that citizens who dissented from government policies were disloyal. More than 20 race riots broke out in the summer of 1919. Studies of these riots reveal discriminatory law enforcement and police participation in the riots. Expansion of the federal role in law enforcement. Passage of the harrison act (1914) and the volstead act (1919) expanded the scope of federal jurisdiction over criminal activity.
