The 1966 Session of the General Assembly of Virginia in House Joint Resolution No. 113 created a Commission "to be known as the Virginia State Crime Commission", "to endeavor to ascertain the causes of crime and recommend ways to reduce and prevent it; explore and recommend methods of possible rehabilitation of convicted criminals, and study other related matters, including apprehension, trial and punishment of criminal offenders." This Commission, as directed, reported to the 1968 Session of the General Assembly and in this report stated "because of the magnitude of the task assigned to (this Commission) and the limitations of time and funds which have confronted it, we feel that we have been able to accomplish only a beginning of the investigation which should be made of crime, crime prevention and detection and prosecution of offenders in Virginia. We feel that further study is necessary both to delve into ramifications of the subject which this Commission was not able to consider and to assess the effects of recommendations which we are making and of ameliorative programs which are now underway and which are proposed."

The 1968 General Assembly of Virginia concurred in this recommendation and by House Joint Resolution No. 48 continued the Virginia State Crime Commission.

All former members of the Commission except Guy O. Farley, Jr. continued to serve and Honorable A. L. Philpott, Basset, member of the House of Delegates was appointed by the Speaker to replace Mr. Farley.

During its study, public hearings were held jointly with the State Law Enforcement Planning Council in Roanoke, Fairfax and Norfolk. Also, the Commission held its own public hearing in Richmond and several executive meetings. At such executive meetings conferences were held with Otis L. Brown, Director, Department of Welfare and Institutions, and members of his staff, Colonel Harold W. Burgess, Superintendent of State Police and members of his staff, Dr. Goeffrey T. Mann, Chief Medical Examiner, State Department of Health and members of his staff, Richard N. Harris, Director, Law Enforcement Administration, Gordon W. Mills, Director, Division of Automated Data Processing, Robert H. Ragland, Director, Division of Criminal Records Exchange, Honorable Andrew Miller, Attorney General-elect of Virginia, and with other State and local officials. In addition, several members of the Commission were taken on a complete tour of the State penitentiary and of road camps in various parts of Virginia. Also, a letter was written to every Bar Association, sheriff, chief of police, Commonwealth's Attorney and civic organization sponsoring local crime studies requesting them to advise the Commission of problems of law enforcement which had occurred in their area which concern the whole State and for which they believed amendments of existing State laws might be justified. To this letter over one hundred replies were received and some seventy amendments to the State's criminal statutes were proposed.

The Division of Statutory Research and Drafting acted as secretary to the Commission, Frank R. Dunham representing it.

The principal results of the study of crime made by this Commission show that Virginia has the problem of increased crime. Bold, new and immediate action is needed to reverse this trend. The Commission finds that present law enforcement was established primarily for a rural society and has not been substantially revamped. Crime has geared itself for today's urban society, and therefore has made substantial gains.

The problems of criminal justice, police personnel, probation and parole, juvenile delinquents, financing and communications must be re-evaluated in the light of Virginia's change from an essentially simple rural community to a complex urban culture. Leadership in the field of law enforcement is needed. Today it is fragmented. The public could not care less what police agency prevents or solves a crime, as long as it is prevented or solved. Who on the State level is concerned with the overall crime problem? The answer is-no one State agency or department. The public is becoming frustrated, angry and bewildered at the apparent lack of ability of law enforcement officials to curb the spread of drugs, stem the flood of obscene literature and stop the increase of rape, murder and assaults.