U.S. Department of Justice APPENDIX 2 United States Attorneys' Written Guidelines for the Declination of Alleged Violations of Federal Criminal Laws A Report to the United States Congress Washington, D. C. November 1979 Executive Summary This report examines the written guidelines issued by various United States Attorneys concerning the types of alleged violations of federal criminal laws they will normally decline to prosecute. This examination of written guidelines is part of a larger study of declination policies and practices currently being conducted by the Department of Justice. Written declination guidelines exist for a large number of federal criminal offenses. They are promulgated by Written United States Attorneys, with the Department's knowledge and encouragement, as a means of formalizing and crystallizing prosecutorial priorities, thereby increasing the effectiveness of limited prosecutorial and investigative resources. guidelines represent United States Attorneys' attempts to respond to local demands and circumstances within the context of national law enforcement priorities. They are typically formulated after consideration of Department policies and consultation with federal investigative agencies. A number of factors are taken into account in defining specific declination guidelines, including the following: - The availability of alternatives to The seriousness of the crime, usually The defendant's history and personal The existence and strength of evidence to Although written declination guidelines are sometimes referred to as "blanket" declinations, they are, either explicitly or implicitly, made subject to the caveat that unusual or aggravating circumstances should always be considered before any complaint is declined. Decisions to decline cases pursuant to written guidelines are also typically subject to reconsideration, for example, if matters are referred to state and local prosecutors and declined or not pursued by them. In addition, alleged offenses that would otherwise be subject to the guidelines may be prosecuted in clusters at a later date if enough similar offenses accumulate and prosecution would have a significant deterrent impact. Written declination guidelines are applied with varying degrees of frequency to different categories of federal criminal offenses. The types of offenses most frequently subject to written guidelines in some form are listed below. The number of districts having guidelines for each offense is shown in parentheses: Written guidelines are usually expressed in terms of the amount of money or value of property involved, whether the offense appears to be connected with other criminal activity, or other similar factors. The ranges and distributions of declination "cut-off points" vary across districts. For some offenses, the declination cut-off points of the various districts congregate around similar values and factors, while for others, the declination guidelines show considerable variation among districts. The Department of Justice is aware of and has encouraged the practice of United States Attorneys' issuing written guidelines. None of the information gathered to date by the Department suggests that written guidelines are being used inappropriately. To the contrary, existing written declination guidelines appear to be accomplishing effectively their intended purpose of allocating limited investigative and prosecutorial resources in an efficient manner. Of course, the Department, through the Criminal Division and Executive Office of United States Attorneys, will continue to monitor written guidelines on a regular basis to make certain that none of them is inconsistent with national law enforcement priorities or otherwise inappropriate. Additional information regarding both written and unwritten declination policies and practices is currently being received and analyzed. That information and analysis will be presented in the Department's final report. |