Statement:
Promote and strengthen relationships and strategies for the administration of justice with law enforcement agencies, organizations, prosecutors, and defenders through innovative leadership and programs
Description:
Preventing and controlling crime is critical to ensure the strength and vitality of democratic principles, the rule of law, and the fair administration of justice. Domestically, since state and local law enforcement are responsible for most crime control, prevention, and response in the United States, the Federal Government is most effective in these areas when it develops and maintains partnerships with the officers and officials who work in the Nation’s states, cities, and neighborhoods. By partnering with key stakeholders at the state and local levels, the Department is able to build a cohesive and comprehensive body of knowledge on issues from innovative programs for inmates to the apprehension of fugitives and other criminal elements. By also forging state, local, and tribal partnerships among police, prosecutors, victim advocates, health care providers, and others, the Department’s grant and knowledge-sharing programs provide victims with the protection and services they need to pursue safe and healthy lives, while simultaneously empowering communities and local law enforcement to hold offenders accountable and implement effective crime prevention strategies.
Crimes committed in the United States often have ties to networks or operations in other countries. To address these threats, the Department is committed to expanding the scope and depth of international partnerships by enhancing collaboration; helping to establish rule of law through international treaties and training and assistance; and using international working groups to foster communication to enhance investigations, intelligence sharing, and threat awareness.
Overall, the Department will continue to ensure that law enforcement at every level, domestic and international, is engaged in the fair, impartial, efficient, and transparent administration of justice.
Learn More
Statement:
Protect judges, witnesses, and other participants in federal proceedings by anticipating, deterring, and investigating threats of violence
Description:
The U.S. Marshals (USMS) is the Federal Government’s primary organization for protecting judges, witnesses, and other participants in federal proceedings. Protection is accomplished by anticipating and deterring threats to the judiciary and the continuous development and employment of innovative protective techniques. In addition, the greater focus to apprehend and prosecute suspected terrorists will increase the demand for high-level security required for many violent criminal and terrorist-related court proceedings. USMS will continue to develop and employ innovative techniques to protect federal judges, jurors, other participants, and members of the federal judiciary.
Learn More
Statement:
Provide safe, secure, humane, and cost effective confinement and transportation of federal detainees and inmates
Description:
The Department of Justice is responsible for detaining persons charged with violating federal criminal statutes, provided they have not been released on bond or personal recognizance pending disposition of their cases. The USMS assumes custody of individuals arrested by all federal law enforcement agencies and is responsible for the housing and transportation of prisoners from the time they are remanded into custody until they are either released or incarcerated. The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for the custody and care of federal offenders and ensures that they serve their sentences of imprisonment in facilities that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure. In addition, BOP is responsible for the District of Columbia’s sentenced felon inmate population. USMS establishes detention policy and oversees the federal detention management system. USMS is responsible for managing DOJ detention resources, implementing business process improvements, and identifying areas where operational efficiencies and cost savings can be realized.
Detention populations are projected to increase. The Department will continue to collaborate with other government agencies engaged in housing detainees to enhance operations and create potential opportunities for achieving efficiencies, such as sharing expertise and new innovations in detention management and exploring acquisition activities, information systems, planning models, or other operational/strategic initiatives that would benefit multiple agencies.
Learn More
Statement:
Apprehend fugitives to ensure their appearance for federal judicial proceedings or confinement
Description:
The USMS is the Federal Government’s primary organization for apprehending fugitives from justice. USMS conducts investigations involving: escaped federal prisoners; probation, parole and bond default violators; and fugitives based on warrants generated during drug investigations. In addition to these primary responsibilities, USMS task forces investigate and apprehend violent felony fugitives wanted by state and local authorities as well as international and foreign fugitives, gang members, and sex offenders.
Learn More
Statement:
Reform and strengthen America’s criminal justice system by targeting only the most serious offenses for federal prosecution, expanding the use of diversion programs, and aiding inmates in reentering society
Description:
Even as most crime rates decline, the Department needs to examine new law enforcement strategies and better allocate our resources to keep pace with today’s continuing threats as violence spikes in some of our greatest cities. The Department needs fresh solutions for assisting victims and empowering survivors of violent crime and sexual assault. Although illegal drug use has been reduced to the lowest levels in three decades, a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. While the population of the United States has grown by about one third since 1980, the federal prison population has grown by more than 800 percent in the same time period. Incarceration should be used to punish, deter, and rehabilitate – not merely to warehouse and forget. Additionally, federal detention and prison spending is on an unsustainable track and has increasingly displaced other important Department public safety investments – including resources for investigation, prosecution, prevention, intervention, prisoner reentry, and assistance to state and local law enforcement. The Department must keep taking steps to make sure that people feel safe and secure in their homes and communities and that public safety is protected in the most efficient and effective way.
Learn More
Statement:
Prevent and respond to genocide and mass atrocities and ensure that perpetrators of such crimes are held accountable in the United States and, if appropriate, their home countries
Description:
On August 4, 2011, the President declared the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities to be a core national security interest as well as a core moral responsibility of the United States. The President noted that our national security is affected when masses of civilians are slaughtered, refugees flow across borders, and murderers wreak havoc on regional stability and livelihoods; America's reputation suffers and our ability to bring about change is constrained when we are perceived as idle in the face of mass atrocities and genocide; and our pursuit of a world where states do not systematically slaughter civilians will not come to fruition without concerted and coordinated effort.
Crimes of mass violence often lead to international instability, which puts the United States’ security and interests at risk. Lack of accountability for past mass human rights violations increases the risk that such crimes will be repeated. For more than 60 years, the U.S. Government has been a worldwide leader in efforts to end impunity for genocide, torture, war crimes, and other egregious human rights violations by holding perpetrators accountable in the United States through prosecutions or other available means. The Department will continue its longstanding efforts to prevent the United States from becoming a safe haven for the perpetrators of mass human rights violations and to support foreign and international efforts to hold such perpetrators accountable. The Department will also coordinate with other U.S. Government agencies to achieve an effective, whole-of-government approach to preventing genocide and mass atrocity.
Learn More
Statement:
Adjudicate all immigration cases promptly and impartially in accordance with due process
Description:
Advancing the fair, expeditious, and uniform application of the Nation's immigration laws is a priority for the Department. Enforcing these laws is a sensitive and complex process that may involve initiatives and activities of DHS or raise fundamental questions regarding the authority of the Executive Branch and the respective roles of Congress and the courts.
Under delegated authority from the Attorney General, EOIR interprets and administers federal immigration laws by conducting immigration court proceedings, appellate reviews, and administrative hearings. The Department’s ability to process cases in a timely fashion directly affects DHS’ ability to remove criminal or other removable aliens expeditiously and to efficiently use its detention resources.
In addition to these efforts, the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL) expertly defends government agencies in immigration-related litigation and issues that arise from EOIR decisions, such as when aliens file petitions for review in the circuit courts of appeals. The caseload for OIL is directly tied to DHS’s adjudications and immigration enforcement, to the Department of State’s adjudication of passport applications, to the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement referrals for denaturalization, to Department of Labor actions regarding immigrant labor, and to the immigration adjudication rates of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). OIL will continue to implement efficiencies and effectively manage its resources to meet this demanding workload.
Learn More
Statement:
Strengthen the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the United States, improve public safety in Indian Country, and honor treaty and trust responsibilities through consistent, coordinated policies, activities, and litigation
Description:
The Department bears a great responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes to help build and sustain safe and secure native communities, to meet our treaty and trust responsibilities to Tribes, and to respect the sovereignty of tribal governments. Tribal communities face immense and urgent challenges to public safety, tribal sovereignty, and cultural preservation. The Department of Justice, alongside other federal agencies working in Indian Country, is charged with helping tribal communities overcome those challenges. The work of the Department in Indian Country covers almost every function of the Department, including law enforcement and prosecution; tax, civil, and civil rights litigation; corrections; legislative and policy development; and grant making and program implementation. Interdepartmental collaboration in the development of policy, review of litigating positions, and support of programs is critical to ensuring a unified federal government presence in Indian Country and promoting progress in ongoing efforts to strengthen native communities.
Learn More
