Criminal Justice Agencies in the U.S.

1. Criminal Justice Agencies in the U.S. Subtitle

2. The U.S. Attorney General: History, Role & Purpose: • The United States attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government and the head of the Department of Justice.

3. History of the Office • What do Robert F. Kennedy, Janet Reno and Alberto Gonzalez have in common? • These people have held the office of United States Attorney General. • The position is part of the President's Cabinet, which includes the Vice President and the President's 15 other most important advisors.

4. The office of the Attorney General is historical. • The Attorney General is an original part of our federal government. It's modeled after the British Attorney General and was created during the first meeting of Congress, by the Judiciary Act of 1789. • This Act organized the administration of the judicial branch of the nation's new government. Remember that the judicial branch includes the United States Supreme Court and all other federal courts. • The Attorney General, however, is part of the executive branch along with the President and the rest of the President's Cabinet.

5. The President appoints the Attorney General. This means the Attorney General is nominated by the President and then confirmed by the U.S. Senate. • Also note that there's no set time period on the Attorney General's term. The President can remove the Attorney General from office at any time, which is why the office usually changes when the presidency changes. • As of 2017, our U.S. Attorney General is Jeff Sessions. He serves as our 84th Attorney General.

6. Duties of the Office • The Attorney General's main purpose is to supervise the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice includes many important federal law enforcement agencies, such as: • The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI • The Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA • The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF • The Bureau of Prisons • The Office of Justice Programs • The U.S. Attorneys • The U.S. Marshals Service

7. As the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government, the Attorney General serves many vital roles. The Attorney General: • Represents the United States in court cases and legal matters • Gives legal advice to the President and the Cabinet • Appears before the Supreme Court in important legal matters involving the nation or federal government

8. Famous Cases • Because the U.S. Attorney General has so many different roles, the office has been involved in some interesting cases and issues. • For example, then Attorney General Janet Reno authorized the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian religious compound in Waco, Texas. • More than 70 ATF agents raided the compound in order to serve arrest and search warrants based on the illegal possession of firearms and explosives. • However, a gun battle ensued, resulting in the death of four agents and six Davidian members.

9. Reno isn't the only Attorney General who faced controversy. • In 2001, then Attorney General John Ashcroft declared that physician-assisted suicide violated a federal law regulating controlled substances. Ashcroft threatened to revoke the medical licenses of any physicians who prescribed lethal doses of controlled substances. • Even though an Oregon law permitted physicians to prescribe lethal doses to terminally ill patients.

10. The Oregon law is known as the Death with Dignity Act. Oregon fought back by suing Ashcroft in federal court. • The court ruled in Oregon's favor, saying that Ashcroft couldn't regulate physician-assisted suicide since it was a medical matter best left to the states. • More recently, Attorney General Eric Holder handled issues regarding the closing of Guantanamo Bay detention camp and the transferring of accused terrorists to jails within the U.S.

11. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF): History, Role & Purpose: • The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is known as the 'ATF.' The ATF is a law enforcement agency in charge of criminal organizations, acts of terrorism and many other areas.

12. The ATF • Alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives -- that's quite a dangerous combination! That may be a typical day for a notorious gangster or an international terrorist; it's also a typical day for an ATF agent. • The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is popularly known as the 'ATF.' It's one of several law enforcement agencies within the federal Department of Justice. • For many years, the ATF was a part of the Department of the Treasury. However, it was reassigned to the Department of Justice in 2003. • That's also when the term 'Explosives' was added to the end of the ATF's title, though the acronym remains simply 'ATF.'

13. Each agency within the Department of Justice has a specific role. The ATF is responsible for several different law enforcement activities. The ATF's roles include: • Protecting people from violent criminals • Protecting society from criminal organizations • Preventing the illegal use and trafficking of firearms • Preventing the illegal use and storage of explosives • Protecting people from acts of arson and bombings • Preventing acts of terrorism • Preventing the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products

14. The ATF also used to be in charge of certain tax and trade crimes, but those duties stayed within the Treasury Department when the ATF moved to the Department of Justice. • Let's take a closer look at a few of the ATF's duties. • Duties of the ATF • Many people are familiar with the ATF's role in firearms enforcement. Specifically, this means the ATF is responsible for enforcing all federal laws involving firearms. This includes the Brady Act, which is a federal law requiring firearms dealers to perform an official background check before transferring a firearm to another person. Note that the term 'firearm' includes things like guns, hand grenades and bombs. The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act is named after James Brady, the former White House Press Secretary who took a bullet to the head during an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

15. The ATF is also in charge of arson and explosives enforcement. • This means the ATF is responsible for enforcing all federal laws and regulations concerning destructive devices, other explosives and arson. • The ATF investigates crime scenes, such as that of the Boston Marathon bombing, in order to detect the use of explosives and analyze the materials used. • information helps lead to the identification of suspects.

16. Though less prominent these days, the ATF is still actively engaged in the enforcement of alcohol and tobacco laws. • For example, organized crime groups engage in bootlegging, which is the illegal transport of cigarettes from a state with a low tax rate to a state with a high tax rate in order to resell the cigarettes on the black market. • It's an attractive type of crime because states each set their own tax rates on cigarettes. As a result, one truckload of trafficked cigarettes can lead to a profit of $2 million when resold in another state. • Cigarette trafficking is a form of tax evasion and has strong links to terrorism, since profits have been traced to suspected terrorist groups.

17. History of the ATF • Historically, the ATF was involved in fighting many crimes similar to bootlegging. • Though the ATF traces its roots back to 1791 and the nation's first tax laws, the ATF is probably most famous for fighting violent crime and pursuing bootleggers while the agency was known as the Bureau of Prohibition. • Bootleggers are people involved in the illegal trafficking of liquor. This era in the ATF's history lasted from approximately 1920 to 1933 and featured famous ATF agent Eliot Ness.

18. Ness and his unit of the 'Untouchables' are known for bringing down infamous gangster Al Capone and Capone's extensive Chicago-based organized crime ring. • Ness and his agents used an innovative combination of money laundering, tax evasion and prohibition charges in order to obtain convictions against Capone. Capone's convictions ended years of violent crime centered around the lucrative business of liquor smuggling. • More recently, the ATF is known for successfully tracing the rented Ryder van used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The explosion killed six people and injured more than 1,000. Tracing the van led to the identification and prosecution of the bombers.

19. However, also in 1993, the ATF conducted a raid on the Branch Davidian religious compound in Waco, Texas, that resulted in a 51-day standoff • . The ATF was looking for a large stash of weapons. The standoff finally ended when the FBI launched a tear gas attack on the compound and a fire broke out. In the end, nearly 100 people died, including four ATF agents and almost 30 children living in the compound.

20. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA): History, Role & Purpose: • The Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, is the leading law enforcement agency responsible for preventing the distribution of illegal narcotics in the United States. • Drug Enforcement Agency • In 2011, 22 people were arrested and over $2.2 million in cash was seized in 'Operation Pill Nation'. This was an investigation that implicated more than 60 doctors and 40 'pill mills' for illegally dispensing more than 660,000 doses of Oxycodone. Who conducted this extensive operation? It was the DEA!

21. Specifically, the DEA enforces all federal laws pertaining to the illegal sale, distribution, manufacture or use of drugs. • This includes enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, or CSA, which is the main federal drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain substances is regulated. • Through the enforcement of our nation's federal anti-drug laws, the DEA investigates and precludes drug dealers, drug-distributing gangs, drug trafficking enterprises and drug manufacturers.

22. The DEA investigates drug operations within the U.S., and also investigates international drug operations when those operations affect or infiltrate the U.S. • For example, DEA agents work closely with Border Patrol and Customs Enforcement agents in order to intercept illegal drugs being brought into the U.S. Duties of the DEA The DEA performs many different duties through the use of various DEA programs. Some of the DEA's main programs include: Intelligence, which initiates investigations of major drug organizations and acquires information that leads to seizures and arrests. This unit also helps provide lawmakers with drug trend information so anti-drug laws can be kept current.

23. Cannabis Eradication, which is the only nationwide law enforcement program exclusively targeting the illegal cultivation of marijuana. • This unit provides resources to state and local law enforcement agencies in their efforts to curtail the illegal manufacture and distribution of marijuana. • This also includes any distribution of medical marijuana that is not in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. • Demand Reduction, which is a drug prevention program working in conjunction with local government officials, schools and treatment programs. This program focuses on educating the public regarding the dangers of drug use.

24. Diversion Control, which is responsible for stopping the diversion of controlled substances, including drugs and chemicals. • Diversion means converting drugs from legal and medically necessary uses to uses that are illegal or not medically authorized. • Foreign Cooperative Investigations, which is the unit responsible for cooperating with foreign law enforcement agencies in an effort to stop international drug traffickers. • This unit communicates with anti-drug law enforcement agencies from several other countries in order to share drug-related intelligence.

25. Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which conduct large scale attacks on major drug-trafficking and money-laundering organizations. • This unit works closely with other law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, Customs Enforcement and the ATF. • Southwest Border Initiative, which is a newer unit formed to combat Mexico-based drug-trafficking groups. • Like the organized crime task forces, this unit is a cooperative organization with other law enforcement agencies.

26. History of the DEA • The DEA was formed in the early 1970s, by combining anti-drug law enforcement units from several other federal government agencies. • It was formed shortly after the passage of the Controlled Substances Act, or CSA, and partially in an effort to better enforce the Act. • President Nixon wanted to combine agencies as part of his all-out global war on the drug menace. This effort later became known simply as the 'War on Drugs'.

27. The War on Drugs is constantly changing in order to address current drug trends. • In the mid-1970s, the DEA focused on Mexico and the production of heroin. They even used State Department helicopters to destroy poppy fields in Mexico since heroin is made from opium poppies. • By the early 1980s, the DEA was focused on South Florida due to violent cocaine traffickers from Latin America. • Cocaine was in fairly heavy demand at that time, with approximately 22 million Americans admitting to having used cocaine.

28. During President Reagan's administration, First Lady Nancy Reagan introduced the 'Just Say No' campaign to help ease drug demand. • By 1986, the War on Drugs escalated with President Reagan authorizing military advisors to work with federal and local law enforcement. • However, during this same time, a cheap alternative to cocaine was introduced. Crack cocaine became readily available and because it is highly addictive, quickly became a pressing social issue. • Crack cocaine is made from cocaine, so the DEA continued its efforts to curb cocaine trafficking by targeting Colombian drug cartels.

29. By the late 1990s, the DEA's efforts focused more on the manufacture of methamphetamine and synthetic drugs like Ecstasy. • While methamphetamine was 'cooked' domestically in home labs, millions of Ecstasy pills were smuggled into the U.S. each week. • More recently, the DEA has shifted some focus to the illegal use of prescription drugs, such as Valium and Oxycontin. • The DEA also investigates the illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs. For instance, the DEA conducted the raid on the laboratory that led to the baseball steroid scandal involving Barry Bonds.