HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
APPENDIX B
Reasons Provided by Justice Department for Declining Prosecution under 18 U.S.C. §§241 and 2421
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FY 1994 - and FY 1995 Civil Rights Division Reasons
for Not Prosecuting, by frequency
Declination Reasons # of Cases
in 1994
# of Cases
in 1995
Weak or insufficient admissible evidence 904 778
Lack of evidence of criminal intent 480 497
No federal offense evident 426 482
Declined per instructions from DOJ 737 477
Suspect to be prosecuted by other authorities 98 121
Lack of investigative or prosecutive resources 59 80
Witness Problems 98 70
Agency Request 66 68
Civil, administrative, or other disciplinary alternatives 36 62
Minimal federal interest or no deterrent value 48 23
Statute of Limitations 105 22
Suspect being prosecuted on other charges (e.g., UFAPs) 7 22
Office policy 55 20
No known suspect 49 19
Staleness 121 19
Lack of prosecutive resources 0 15
Jurisdiction or venue problems 25 14
Department Policy 23 13
Petite policy 3 6
By government from Magistrate Court with DOJ authorization 0 6
Juvenile Suspect 1 4
Lack of investigative resources 0 2
Suspect deceased 2 2
Transfer within District 0 2
Suspect's cooperation 1 1
By government from District Court without DOJ authorization 3 1
By government from Magistrate Court without DOJ authorization 3 1
Rule 40 2 1
Plea to other charge(s) (Magistrate Court) 0 1
Suspect a fugitive 0 1
Pretrial Diversion Completed 1 0
Suspect serving sentence 2 0
Action of the Grand Jury 1 0
Proceedings suspended indefinitely by court 5 0
TOTAL 3,361 2,830

1 According to data obtained by TRAC from the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, Justice Department. Cases prosecuted or declined represent only a portion of the total number of complaints alleging federal criminal civil rights violations in each district in a given year.

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© June 1998
Human Rights Watch