Civil Rights Enforcement
 

Table 5. Reason Given for Declining
to Prosecute Civil Rights Referrals
Fiscal Years 2000 - 2004 (1st Quarter)

Reason Given Fiscal Year Total Percent
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Total Prosecutions Declined 2,550 2,484 2,135 1,702 307 9,178 100.0
  1 - - - - 1 0.0
Agency request 58 82 58 85 20 303 3.3
All work completed - 2 - - - 2 0.0
Civil, admin or other disciplinary alternatives 49 40 42 18 1 150 1.6
Declined per instructions from DOJ 357 423 413 286 40 1,519 16.6
Defendant similarly charged in subsequent instrument 2 7 3 - - 12 0.1
Department Policy 7 10 3 1 - 21 0.2
Dism: by govt from District Court w/ DOJ authorization 1 - - 7 - 8 0.1
Dism: by govt from Magistrate Court w/ DOJ authorization 1 - - - - 1 0.0
Jurisdiction or venue problems 8 5 6 6 2 27 0.3
Juvenile suspect 8 5 2 1 - 16 0.2
Lack of evidence of criminal intent 453 529 348 276 62 1,668 18.2
Lack of investigative resources - 24 8 14 5 51 0.6
Lack of prosecutive resources 12 11 22 24 5 74 0.8
Local Agency Referral Presented by Federal Agency 2 - - 1 - 3 0.0
Minimal federal interest or no deterrent value 91 42 15 13 5 166 1.8
No federal offense evident 331 177 219 163 18 908 9.9
No known suspect 97 67 67 37 5 273 3.0
Offenders age, health, prior record, or personal matter 2 14 - 3 - 19 0.2
Office policy 6 31 12 14 2 65 0.7
Petite policy 4 1 5 10 4 24 0.3
Pretrial diversion completed - 1 2 3 - 6 0.1
Rule 40 2 2 1 - 1 6 0.1
Staleness 18 2 1 10 5 36 0.4
Statute of Limitations 68 62 34 22 1 187 2.0
Suspect being prosecuted on other charges (e.g., UFAPs) 8 9 3 1 - 21 0.2
Suspect deceased 2 8 3 - 1 14 0.2
Suspect serving sentence 3 - 9 1 - 13 0.1
Suspect to be prosecuted by other authorities 97 99 85 74 13 368 4.0
Suspects cooperation 1 3 - - - 4 0.0
Weak or insufficient admissible evidence 748 796 750 606 114 3,014 32.8
Witness problems 113 32 24 25 3 197 2.1
joinder with defendants in another case (District Court) - - - 1 - 1 0.0

Copyright 2004, TRAC Reports, Inc.