1960 to 1969

1960: The CIA recruited Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana to assassinate Fidel Castro

1963: Great Train Robbery Case – England – robbery
------ U.S. – Since 1935, there had been a rapid increase in the population without an increase in the nation’s homicide rate

1964: Joseph Valachi became the highest level Mafia informer to date

1965: Boston Strangler Case – U.S. – mass murder
------ Watts Race Riot
------ Moors Murder Case – England – mass murder
------ Alice Crimmens Case – U.S. – murder
------ In Cold Blood published by Truman Capote

1966: Charles Whitman Case – U.S. – mass murder
------ Richard Speck Case – U.S. – mass murder

1968: Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis by James Earl Ray
------ Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan
------ Dr. Karl Menninger published The Crime of Punishment

1969: Charles Manson Case – mass murder
------ Since 1960, population of U.S. up 13% while crime up 148%
------ Jock Yablonski Case – U.S. – murder

1960: Graeme Thorne Case – Australia – forensic botany
------ Stephen Bradley Case – Australia – forensic botany

1961: Nuetron Activation Analysis was being tested at U.S. atomic laboratories

1962: Lina Lindorfer Case – Germany – forensic serology
------ The Milton Helpern Library of Legal Medicine was opened in New York City

1963: J.F. Kennedy Assassination Case – U.S. – Ballistics and forensic medicine
------ Flosky – Budin Case – Germany – textile clue

1964: An American court admitted Neutron Activation Analysis evidence for the first time
------ The Psychological Stress Evaluator (PSE) was invented by Alan Bell, Col. Charles McQuiston, and Wilson Ford

1965: Only seven states had, by this time, adopted a medical examiners system
------ The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was perfected for ciminalistic use

1966: The first time a defendant in a criminal case was convicted on voiceprint evidence
------ England – Two biologists were looking into the possibility of individualized blood characteristics
------ The International Reference Organization in Forensic Medicine (INFORM) was established by William Eckert at Wichita, Kansas
------ The Central Research Establishment was created at Aldermaston, England

1967: John Norman Collins Case – U.S. – forensic serology
------ Dr. Carl Coppolino Case – U.S. – toxicology and forensic hypnosis

1968: Robert Kennedy Assassination Case – U.S. – ballistics
------ British forensic scientist H.J. Walls published, Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific Crime Detection

1969: There were only 3 major forensic odontology departments in the world’s dental schools

1960-1969: Police administrators in the U.S. were concerned with police-community relations

1960: There were major police scandals in Chicago, Denver and Buffalo
------ In Britain, one half of the police departments were using police dogs

1964: There was a major police scandal in Indianapolis

1965: The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement, under President Johnson, was formed

1967: The FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer system became operational
------ Hugh C. McDonald retired from the LAPD

1968: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics and other federal agencies were reorganized into the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
------ Pursuant to am American court decision, police officers could be forced to take a lie detector test in an internal affairs investigation
------ The U.S. created the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)
------ The Texas Rangers were divided into three branches

1960: Mapp v. Ohio

1966: Sheppard v. Maxwell
------ Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act
------ Miranda v. Arizona

1964: The Pinkerton Company was awarded the largest single security contract on record, the New York World’s Fair

1965: The Wackenhut Corporation was the nation’s 3rd largest and fastest growing security company. The company was given 2 very large federal contracts
------ The Pinkerton Company changed its name to Pinkerton’s, Inc. The company, by this time, was doing more civil than criminal work

1966: The Wackenhut Corporation was hired by the governor of Florida to investigate the state’s crime and corruption

1968: Congress passed the Bank Protection Act

This page was last updated on: Monday, January 14, 2008