For wise guidance in
this great period of recovery the Nation is deeply indebted to
Calvin Coolidge.
But all this majestic advance should not obscure the constant
dangers from which self-government must be safeguarded. The strong
man must at all times be alert to the attack of insidious disease.
THE FAILURE OF OUR SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The most malign of all these dangers today is disregard and
disobedience of law. Crime is increasing. Confidence in rigid and
speedy justice is decreasing. I am not prepared to believe that
this indicates any decay in the moral fiber of the American
people. I am not prepared to believe that it indicates an
impotence of the Federal Government to enforce its laws.
It is only in part due to the additional burdens imposed upon our
judicial system by the eighteenth amendment. The problem is much
wider than that. Many influences had increasingly complicated and
weakened our law enforcement organization long before the adoption
of the eighteenth amendment.
To reestablish the vigor and effectiveness of law enforcement we
must critically consider the entire Federal machinery of justice,
the redistribution of its functions, the simplification of its
procedure, the provision of additional special tribunals, the
better selection of juries, and the more effective organization of
our agencies of investigation and prosecution that justice may be
sure and that it may be swift.
Pages:
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415