Researching Law Volume 31 Issue 1 - Flipbook - Page 3
VO L 31 | NO 1 | SP RING 2020
l Justice Administration:
odern
nal Justice Paradigm
The ABF Survey marked a
significant paradigm shift in
the study of criminal justice. It
prompted a view of a fuller,
more comprehensive view of the
administration of criminal justice
consisting of a series of critical
decision points, interactions, and
discretionary decisions by the police,
prosecutors, judges, probation
officers, and other actors. The
Survey became the most extensive
empirical investigation of the
administration of criminal justice
covering nearly seventeen years of
study. Its findings created insights
that eliminated myths, created a
The Survey
became the most
extensive empirical
investigation of
the administration
of criminal justice
covering nearly
seventeen years
of study.
new base of knowledge, and had a
significant impact in bringing about
improvements in criminal justice.
ORIGINS OF THE ABF
SURVEY
The formation of the ABF Survey
began in 1953, at the suggestion
of U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Robert H. Jackson. Recognizing
the threat of organized crime
as a central social and political
issue, he gave a speech to the
American Bar Association (ABA)
urging them to begin a program
of empirical research that would
address the “breakdown, delay
and ineffectiveness of U.S. law
enforcement.”
Completed in 1954, the American Bar Center in Chicago, IL was the agency for all
ABA and ABF activity. While most of the property was owned by the University of
Chicago, the university deeded part of the property to the ABF, a nonprofit created
by the ABA. Image courtesy of the University of Chicago Photographic Archive,
Special Collections Research. Center, University of Chicago Library.
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