US Department of Justice

RECENT POSTS

July 1, 2011 | 2:12 PM | By

Feds likely to resume crackdown on medical marijuana

 

 

Timothy Smith

California looks certain to return to the marijuana enforcement crackdowns of the 1980s and 1990s, as the U.S. Department of Justice released a memo this week reaffirming marijuana’s status as a controlled substance under federal law.

The June 29th memo, written by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, asserts that the federal government has the right to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in the manufacture and sale of cannabis, regardless of state laws allowing the sale and use of medical marijuana. Here is the relevant passage:

Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law. Consistent with resource constraints and the discretion you may exercise in your district, such persons are subject to federal enforcement action, including potential prosecution. State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil or criminal enforcement of federal law with respect to such conduct, including enforcement of the CSA.

Full memo after the jump: Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Politics, Marijuana, US Department of Justice
April 5, 2011 | 12:10 PM | By

What’s wrong with the new prison rape standards

Rupert Ganzer

For months, if not years, organizations have been pushing for the Department of Justice to institute new rules for prisons, jails, and other detention facilities, to prevent prison rape.

About one in twenty adults and one in eight juveniles are the victims of sexual assault while incarcerated.

The standards have not pleased those who were tasked with putting them together–the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. One-time commissioners, who submitted recommendations to the DOJ in 2003, don’t seem completely happy with how their suggestions have been implemented. Specifically, the new standards:

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FILED UNDER: Politics, Prison rape, US Department of Justice
February 15, 2011 | 9:11 AM | By

Federal budget: More for prisons, more for prison diversion

Andrew Magill

Federal budget time!

Last year, President Obama’s budget called for a $527.5 million increase in spending for the federal bureau of prisons. This year? The president is suggesting an increase of another $606 million, which would bring total federal prison spending to $6.8 billion. It seems that part of that money will be used for rehabilitation programming and part will be used to add more beds to the prison system by opening a new facility. But the details are pretty scant:

The Administration proposes $8.4 billion for the operations of the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee and the Bureau of Prisons, and will help stabilize the prison population by advancing evidence-based sentencing reform legislation. The Administration will continue to explore fiscally sound, data-driven administrative procedures to address population stress on the prison system such as expanded use of alternatives to incarceration, increased reliance on risk assessments, and diversion for non-violent offenders. In addition, drug treatment and prisoner re-entry programs will be expanded to enhance returning prisoners’ prospects for successful re-entry. Prison overcrowding also will be addressed through the activation of a newly constructed prison at Aliceville, Alabama, which will add more than 1,750 beds.
Those programs designed to increase “diversion for non-violent offenders” receive a more modest boost in the budget, with “drug, mental health, and other problem-solving courts” receiving a $57 million budget increase. Other highlights of the justice budget include:
FILED UNDER: Politics, Budget, Federal Bureau of Prisons, President Obama, US Department of Justice
February 8, 2011 | 9:20 AM | By

Is the war on child pornography working?

WSJ

Paul Elias of the Associated Press reports that prosecutions for child pornography are soaring–arrests are growing at a 2,500 percent rate:

The FBI has made more than 10,000 arrests since 1996 and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency reports a similar number of arrests since its creation in 2003. The U.S. Department of Justice says prosecutions are up 40 percent since 2006 resulting in roughly 9,000 cases. In 2009, 2,315 suspects were indicted. Local authorities across the country are also stepping up their child pornography investigations, which often require little more than a technically savvy agent, a high-speed Internet connection and so-called peer-to-peer software that millions of computer owners use to legally – and illegally – swap music, videos and other digital files.

The clampdown comes in the wake of federal lawmakers’ concerns over the increasing technological tools at the disposal of those who make and consume child porn. Meanwhile, the sentences for such crimes had been growing as well. Federal sentencing guidelines call for a mandatory 5-year minimum in prison for child porn; judges, however, have in the past been encouraged to go over that minimum.

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FILED UNDER: Police, Child Pornography, US Department of Justice
February 2, 2011 | 12:17 PM | By

DOJ: Kids can’t be scared straight

Inmate to kid: "I'll fold you like a piece of paper."

In response to the wildly popular new A&E series, “Beyond Scared Straight,” two administrators at the Department of Justice published an editorial in the Baltimore Sun earlier this week. “Beyond Scared Straight” basically follows a group of kids as they’re taken on elaborate tours of state prisons and are cajoled and intimidated by inmates. The editorial’s authors, Laurie O. Robinson and Jeff Slowikowski, say that there’s nothing productive about exposing kids to harassment. Kids, they say, cannot be scared straight:

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, Arts&Culture, Beyond Scared Straight, US Department of Justice
January 31, 2011 | 8:25 AM | By

Budget cuts hitting previously hallowed ground

Andrew Magill

Budget cuts hitting criminal justice.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Department of Justice is facing a tightened budget. The department has already instituted a hiring freeze and shut down the Fugitive Safe Surrender Program, which encourages people to turn themselves in on old warrants. Now, the White House apparently has their eyes on what could be some controversial cuts:

  • Increasing the amount of time deducted from prison terms for good behavior, which would immediately qualify some 4,000 federal convicts for release, and another 4,000 over the next 10 years.
  • Eliminating the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Gang Intelligence Center, for a savings of $8 million in the next budget year.
  • Sharing less of the proceeds from property confiscated from criminals with state and local authorities, and eliminating other funding to local police departments for some operations. The change would reduce spending by $120 million, according to the White House.

Another proposal, that would have scaled back Operation Gunrunner, which targets gun trafficking along the US-Mexico border, has apparently been scrapped.

FILED UNDER: Politics, Budget, US Department of Justice
October 14, 2010 | 4:52 PM | By

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: What happens next?

Whitehouse.gov

The President has said he’s against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. But he’ll continue defend it in court.

This post is by  Kyung Jin Lee, one of our colleagues over at KALW News.

On Tuesday, federal Judge Judge Virginia Phillips of the District Court of Central California, at least momentarily killed a 1993 military policy known as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT).  Judge Phillips said the policy “infringes the fundamental rights” of service members by denying them due process and freedom of speech.

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FILED UNDER: Courts, Politics, Barack Obama, Military, US Department of Justice