Counting Crime: J. Edgar Hoover, the Wickersham Commission, and the Problem of Criminal Statistics

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Marquette Law Review
Volume 96
Issue 4
Symposium: Wickersham Commission
Article 7
Counting Crime: J. Edgar Hoover, the Wickersham
Commission, and the Problem of Criminal
Statistics
Beverly Gage
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Repository Citation
Beverly Gage,
Counting Crime: J. Edgar Hoover, the Wickersham Commission, and the Problem of Criminal Statistics
, 96 Marq. L. Rev.
1109 (2013).
Available at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr/vol96/iss4/7
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12
G
AGE 
(D
O 
N
OT 
D
ELETE
) 
6/23/2013
11:08
AM 
COUNTING CRIME: J. EDGAR HOOVER, 
THE WICKERSHAM COMMISSION, AND 
THE PROBLEM OF CRIMINAL STATISTICS 
B
EVERLY 
G
AGE
*
When I received the invitation to this conference about a year ago, I 
was surprised at the fortuitous timing: I was actually sitting at my 
computer writing about the Wickersham Commission—an unusual 
moment for such an obscure historical subject. So of course I said yes 
right away. 
The other reason that I very much wanted to come here is that, 
thanks to the work of historian Athan Theoharis, Marquette is one of 
the country’s great repositories of historical FBI documents.
1
I am 
currently writing a biography of J. Edgar Hoover, the former FBI 
director. Anyone who writes about this subject owes an enormous debt 
of gratitude to Professor Theoharis, whom you’ll be hearing from later 
on today. 
The last item that I want to mention in starting out concerns the 
name “Hoover.” When I talk about “Hoover,” I am referring not to 
Herbert Hoover, about whom we heard so much this morning, but to J. 
Edgar Hoover, the former FBI director. In particular, I’ll be speaking 
about an incident early in his career as director of the FBI in which he 
attempted to gain jurisdictional control over the collection of national 
crime statistics. This campaign took place in the context of a debate at 
the Wickersham Commission—and within law enforcement more 
broadly—about what types of criminal statistics ought to be collected, 
who ought to be collecting them, and who would have the power to 
make that decision. Hoover entered that debate as a relatively young 
* Professor of twentieth century U.S. history at Yale University. Beverly Gage is 
currently writing a biography of J. Edgar Hoover. A version of this talk was delivered at the 
Wickersham Commission Conference, Marquette University Law School, October 5, 2012. 
1. F
ED
.
B
UREAU OF 
I
NVESTIGATION
,
U.S.
D
EP
’
T OF 
J
USTICE
,
A
G
UIDE TO 
C
ONDUCTING 
R
ESEARCH IN 
FBI
R
ECORDS 
29
(2010), 
available at
http://www.fbi.gov/foia/a-
guide-to-conducting-research-in-fbi-records-pdf (“[Marquette’s] collection consists of 
photocopies of case files, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Professor 
Emeritus Athan Theoharis. . . . The material in the collection largely concerns the FBI’s 
domestic security investigations.”). 

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6/23/2013
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