History and Purpose of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

             In 1908, Attorney General Charles Bonaparte originated the Federal Bureau of Investigation from a force of Special Agents. The FBI, as it is referred to today, was started during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. The beginning investigations for the FBI were mostly violations of laws involving national banking, bankruptcy, naturalization, antitrust, espionage, and land fraud (fbi.gov, 3).
             In June 1910, the first major expansion of the bureau happened, when the Mann (White Slave) Act was passed. The Act made it a crime to transport women over state lines for immoral purposes (fbi.gov, 3). The FBI began with thirty-four special agents, and within the next few years, the number of Special Agents had grown to more than three hundred, and another three hundred support employees (fbi.gov, 3). With the entry of the United States into World War I in April 1917, the bureau's jurisdiction was enlarged to include espionage, selective service, sabotage acts, and assisted the Department of Labor by investigating enemy aliens. The years from 1921 to 1933 are sometimes referred to as the "lawless years," because of gangsterism and the public disregard for Prohibition (fbi.gov, 4). During these years, the FBI made little progress in establishing itself as government power, because the bureau had limited success using its narrow jurisdiction to investigate the criminals of "the gangster era."
             The FBI made great steps in improving law enforcement in the United States in 1928. The major step for the FBI was the introduction of an Identification Division. This division was in charge of tracking criminals using identification records, and the most accurate method of identification was using fingerprints. Also, most of the large cities in the United States had started their fingerprint collections by 1928. The introduction of fingerprinting to law enforcement and large cities helped the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to be able to work t...

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History and Purpose of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 08:21, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/66067.html