17. Department of Justice · Notable
Bring federal charges where local prosecutors let criminals evade responsibility
Printed page 553 17. Department of Justice
“Use applicable federal laws to bring federal charges against criminals when local jurisdictions wrongfully allow them to evade responsibility for their conduct. The department should also increase the federal law enforcement presence in such jurisdictions and explore innovative solutions to bring meaningful charges against criminals and criminal organizations in such jurisdictions.”
What has happened
- Partially done
Federal charging has been surged into jurisdictions the administration treats as under-enforcing: the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia charged 24 defendants with federal gun crimes in a single tranche under the 'Make D.C. Safe Again' initiative, and comparable federal task forces followed in Memphis. Federal presence has increased and federal charges are being brought; the department has not published a policy of charging federally where a local prosecutor declines, and the charging memorandum's substantial-federal-interest test is unchanged.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
This ask overlaps #1541, which is the litigation half of the same page. Federal surges into cities are documented; the ‘wrongfully allow them to evade responsibility’ trigger the Quote names is not written into any published charging policy.
- Action
- expand
- Object
- federal charging in rule-of-law-deficient jurisdictions
- ID
- 1540