OVERSTEPPING AUTHORITY

Congress Should Leave Most Law Enforcement To States

Federal lawmakers like to promise during campaign season that they'll
be tough on crime. Once in office, they propose federal laws to ban
certain acts that are already illegal in every state of the union -
acts like carjacking and arson.

The result is a bumper crop of federal crimes that overtax federal
courts while doing little to actually deter crime.

The feds don't need to handle carjackings or write laws creating drug-
and gun-free zones around schools. States can do that. States have the
expertise and the employees. They have the vast majority of all prison
cells in the United States. Criminal law enforcement, especially
concerning most violent crimes, is a state responsibility.

We're not the only ones who believe that. William H. Rehnquist, chief
justice of the United States, recently decried the swelling list of
federal crimes. He noted that case filings in federal criminal courts
jumped 15 percent in 1998. That came on top of a 5.2 percent increase
in 1997.

"The trend to federalize crimes that traditionally have been handled
in state courts not only is taxing the judiciary's resources and
affecting its budget needs, but it also threatens to change entirely
the nature of our federal system," Justice Rehnquist wrote in his 1998
Year-End Report of the Federal Judiciary. "Federal courts were not
created to adjudicate local crimes, no matter how sensational or
heinous the crimes may be."

Several national commissions and conferences have suggested ways to
determine whether a crime should be considered federal or local.
Remembering the federal courts' traditional role would work equally
well. The federal government needs to investigate and prosecute
kidnappings and murders that cross state lines. It should dog crimes
that interfere with interstate commerce, like organized crime, bank
robbery and securities fraud. It must protect civil rights and
prosecute high-level local and state corruption. All else belongs to
states.

As Congress begins its work, members will probably feel an urge to do
something about crime - even though crime dropped dramatically in recent
years. If they really want to be helpful, they should follow the adage
of the Old West: support your local sheriff.