Graphical Highlights
 
Federal Court Terrorism Definition*
Criminal Terrorism Referrals That Were Declined
Fiscal Years 2004 - 2008

Reason Given by Assistant U.S. Attorney for
Declining to Prosecute
Number Percent
All 1,495 100.0%
 
Weak or insufficient admissible evidence 346 23.1%
Lack of evidence of criminal intent 302 20.2%
Agency request 248 16.6%
No federal offense evident 203 13.6%
Office policy 118 7.9%
Suspect to be prosecuted by other authorities 62 4.1%
No known suspect 47 3.1%
Suspect being prosecuted on other charges (e.g., UFAPs) 23 1.5%
Lack of prosecutive resources 20 1.3%
Lack of investigative resources 14 0.9%
Staleness 11 0.7%
Jurisdiction or venue problems 8 0.5%
Witness problems 8 0.5%
Offenders age, health, prior record, or personal matter 7 0.5%
Minimal federal interest or no deterrent value 7 0.5%
Suspect serving sentence 7 0.5%
Declined per instructions from DOJ 5 0.3%
Suspect deceased 5 0.3%
Suspects cooperation 4 0.3%
Civil, admin or other disciplinary alternatives 3 0.2%
Department Policy 3 0.2%
Citation filed 2 0.1%
Juvenile suspect 2 0.1%
Local Agency Referral Presented by Federal Agency 2 0.1%
Pretrial diversion completed 2 0.1%
Statute of Limitations 2 0.1%
Suspect deported 2 0.1%
Operation of Law (District Court) 1 0.1%
Suspect a fugitive 1 0.1%

* For details of definition see table. The reason was missing or there was an inconsistent code on 30 matters out of the 1,495.


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Copyright 2009