Department of Justice: Difference between revisions

Grant appointed [[Amos T. Akerman]] as attorney general and [[Benjamin H. Bristow]] as America's first solicitor general the same week that Congress created the Department of Justice. The Department's immediate function was to preserve civil rights. It set about fighting against domestic terrorist groups who had been using both violence and litigation to oppose the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|13th]], [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|14th]], and [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|15th]] Amendments to the Constitution.<ref name="chernow-p700">{{cite book |title=Grant |author=Chernow, Ron |publisher=Penguin Press |year=2017 |page=700}}</ref>

Both Akerman and Bristow used the Department of Justice to vigorously prosecute [[Ku Klux Klan]] members in the early 1870s. In the first few years of Grant's first term in office, there were 1000 indictments against Klan members, with over 550 convictions from the Department of Justice. By 1871, there were 3000 indictments and 600 convictions, with most only serving brief sentences, while the ringleaders were imprisoned for up to five years in the federal penitentiary in [[Albany, New York]]. The result was a dramatic decrease in violence in the South. Akerman gave credit to Grant and told a friend that no one was "better" or "stronger" than Grant when it came to prosecuting terrorists.<ref>Smith 2001, pp. 542–547.</ref> [[George Henry Williams|George H. Williams]], who succeeded Akerman in December 1871, continued to prosecute the Klan throughout 1872 until the spring of 1873, during Grant's second term in office.<ref name="Willams_p123">Williams (1996), ''The Great South Carolina Ku Klux Klan Trials, 1871–1872'', p. 123</ref> Williams then placed a [[Moratorium (law)|moratorium]] on Klan prosecutions partially because the Justice Department, inundated by cases involving the Klan, did not have the manpower to continue prosecutions.<ref name="Willams_p123" />

==Headquarters==

The U.S. Department of Justice building was completed in 1935 from a design by [[Milton Bennett Medary]]. Upon Medary's death in 1929, the other partners of his Philadelphia firm [[Zantzinger, Borie and Medary]] took over the project. On a lot bordered by Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues and Ninth and Tenth Streets, Northwest, it holds over {{convert|1000000|ft2}} of space.

Several [[Federal law enforcement in the United States|federal law enforcement agencies]] are administered by the Department of Justice:

*[[United States Marshals Service]] (USMS) – The office of U.S. Marshal was established by the [[Judiciary Act of 1789]]. The U.S. Marshals Service was established as an agency in 1969, and it was elevated to full bureau status under the Justice Department in 1974.<ref>Larry K. Gaines & Victor E. Kappeler, ''Policing in America'' (8th ed. 2015), pp. 38–39.</ref><ref>''United States Marshals Service Then ... and Now'' (Office of the Director, United States Marshals Service, U.S. Department of Justice, 1978).</ref>

*[[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] (BOP) – the Three Prisons Act of 1891 created the federal prison system. Congress created the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1930 by Pub. L. No. 71–218, 46 Stat. 325, signed into law by President Hoover on May 14, 1930.<ref>Mitchel P. Roth, ''Prisons and Prison Systems: A Global Encyclopedia'' (Greenwood, 2006), pp. 278–79.</ref><ref>Dean J. Champion, ''Sentencing: A Reference Handbook'' (ABC-CLIO, Inc.: 2008), pp. 22–23.</ref><ref>James O. Windell, ''Looking Back in Crime: What Happened on This Date in Criminal Justice History?'' (CRC Press, 2015), p. 91.</ref>

*[[National Institute of Corrections]] (NIC) – Founded in 1974, the National Institute of Corrections is organized under the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] and has a legislatively mandated mission to assist state and local correctional institutions, and to manage the [[Incarceration in the United States|American Federal Prison System]] by keeping records of inmates.

*[[Executive Office of the United States Trustee]] (EOUST)

*[[Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management]] (OARM)

*[[Office of the Federal Detention Trustee]] (OFDT)

*[[Office of Immigration Litigation]]

*[[Office of Intelligence Policy and Review]] (OIPR)

*[[Office of Justice Programs]] (OJP)

*[[Office of Legal Counsel]] (OLC)

*[[Office of Legal Policy]] (OLP)

*[[U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs|Office of Legislative Affairs]]

*[[Office of the Pardon Attorney]]

*[[Office of Professional Responsibility]] (OPR)

*[[Office on Violence Against Women]] (OVW)

*[[United States Attorney]]s Offices

*[[United States Trustee]]s Offices

*[[Community Relations Service]] (CRS)

===Other offices and programs===

*[[Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States]]

*[[United States Parole Commission]]

In 2003, the Department of Justice created LifeAndLiberty.gov, a website that supported the [[USA PATRIOT Act]]. It was criticized by government watchdog groups for its alleged violation of U.S. Code Title 18 Section 1913, which forbids money appropriated by Congress to be used to lobby in favor of any law, actual or proposed.<ref name="dotgovwatch">[http://www.dotgovwatch.com/?/archives/17-Department-of-Justice-Website-Illegally-Lobbies-Congress-LifeAndLiberty.gov.html Dotgovwatch.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109040318/http://www.dotgovwatch.com/?%2Farchives%2F17-Department-of-Justice-Website-Illegally-Lobbies-Congress-LifeAndLiberty.gov.html |date=November 9, 2020 }}, October 18, 2007</ref> The website has since been taken offline.