17. Department of Justice · Notable
Sue local officials and District Attorneys who refuse to prosecute crimes
Printed page 553 17. Department of Justice
“Where warranted and proper under federal law, initiate legal action against local officials—including District Attorneys—who deny American citizens the “equal protection of the laws” by refusing to prosecute criminal offenses in their jurisdictions.”
What has happened
- Attempted
The Civil Rights Division opened a federal investigation of the Fairfax County, Virginia Commonwealth's Attorney, examining whether his plea bargaining, charging and sentencing policy discriminates against United States citizens by giving preferential treatment to illegal alien defendants, under Title VI among other statutes. That is the first published federal action against an elected local prosecutor over his charging decisions. It is an investigation: no suit has been filed and the department states it has reached no conclusions.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Searched every headquarters press release in the window for suits against District Attorneys or local officials over declining to prosecute; the Fairfax notification is the only hit. The theory pleaded there is discrimination in favor of alien defendants rather than the equal-protection failure-to-prosecute theory the Quote describes, but it is action against the same object.
- Action
- other
- Object
- local officials and District Attorneys who decline to prosecute
- ID
- 1541