The
United States Department of Justice (often referred to as the
Justice Department or
DOJ), is the
United States federal executive departmentThe United States federal executive departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States—the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789.Federal executive...
responsible for the enforcement of the
lawLaw is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and administration of
justiceJustice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.
The Department is led by the
Attorney GeneralThe United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
, who is nominated by the
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
and
confirmedAdvice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in enacting formulae of bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts, describing a situation in which the executive branch of a government enacts something previously approved of by the legislative branch.-General:The expression is...
by the
SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and is a member of the
CabinetThe Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
. The current Attorney General is
Eric HolderEric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
.
History
The Attorney General was initially a one-person, part-time job, established by the
Judiciary Act of 1789The United States Judiciary Act of 1789 was a landmark statute adopted on September 24, 1789 in the first session of the First United States Congress establishing the U.S. federal judiciary...
, but this grew with the
bureaucracyA bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
. At one time the Attorney General gave legal advice to the U.S. Congress as well as the
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, but this had stopped by 1819 on account of the workload involved.
In 1867, the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, led by Congressman
William LawrenceWilliam Lawrence was a Republican politician from Ohio. He was most noted for being a US Representative, and was influential in attempting to impeach Andrew Johnson, creating the United States Department of Justice, helping to create the American Red Cross, and ratifying the Geneva...
, conducted an inquiry into the creation of a "law department" headed by the Attorney General and composed of the various department solicitors and
United States attorneyUnited States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
s. On February 19, 1868, Lawrence introduced a bill in Congress to create the Department of Justice. This first bill was unsuccessful, however, as Lawrence could not devote enough time to ensure its passage owing to his occupation with the
impeachmentImpeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
of President
Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
.
A second bill was introduced to Congress by
Rhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
Representative
Thomas JenckesThomas Allen Jenckes was a United States Congressional representative for the State of Rhode Island. Jenckes was best known for introducing a bill that created the United States Department of Justice. President Ulysses S. Grant then signed the bill into law on June 22, 1870...
on February 25, 1870, and both the
SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and
HouseThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
passed the bill. President
Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
then signed the bill into law on June 22, 1870. The Department of Justice officially began operations on July 1, 1870.
The "Act to Establish the Department of Justice" bill did little to change the Attorney General's responsibilities, and his salary and tenure remained the same. The law did create a new office, that of
Solicitor GeneralThe United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 2011 and sworn in on June...
, to supervise and conduct government litigation in the
Supreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
.
With the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, the
federal governmentThe federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
began to take on some law enforcement responsibilities, with the Department of Justice tasked to carry out these duties.
In 1884, control of federal prisons was transferred to the new department, from the Department of Interior. New facilities were built, including the penitentiary at
LeavenworthThe United States Penitentiary , Leavenworth was the largest maximum security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005. It became a medium security prison in 2005.It is located in Leavenworth, Kansas...
in 1895, and a facility for women located in
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, at
AldersonAlderson Federal Prison Camp, also known as Federal Prison Camp, Alderson or FPC Alderson, is a Federal Bureau of Prisons minimum security prison for women in the United States in unincorporated Monroe County and Summers County in West Virginia...
was established in 1924.
By 2008 a small number of current and former assistant U.S. attorneys were alleged to have engaged in criminal conduct including sexual battery, sexual abuse of children, and failures to make mandatory
conflict of interestA conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
disclosures.
2010 Operation "Fast & Furious" came to light. This was a gun selling, gun trafficking (to Mexico and other countries)and drug trafficking (Mexico into the US with cocaine) operation run thru the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and overseen by the DOJ. A separate
Office of Professional ResponsibilityThe Office of Professional Responsibility is part of the United States Department of Justice responsible for investigating attorneys employed by the DOJ who have been accused of misconduct or crimes in their professional functions...
(OPR) within the DOJ is responsible for investigating attorney employees of the DOJ who have been accused of misconduct or criminal activity with respect to their professional functions as DOJ attorneys. Former U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft acknowledged challenges facing the Department of Justice:
In the real world of limited resources, we know that we can only detect, investigate and prosecute a small percentage of those officials who are corrupt.
I remain convinced that there is no more important area in the fight against corruption than the challenge for us within the law enforcement and justice sectors to keep our own houses clean.
In 2011, they made more than 110 arrests of the
American MafiaThe American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"...
. It is the biggest attack on the mafia ever.
On April 15, 2011, the Department of Justice shut down the three biggest on-line poker networks (
PokerstarsPokerStars is the largest online poker cardroom in the world. PokerStars' satellite tournaments produced the 2003 World Series of Poker champion, Chris Moneymaker. 1983 champion Tom McEvoy, 2005 champion Joe Hachem, 2009 champion Joe Cada and 2010 champion Jonathan Duhamel and others also represent...
, Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet) and froze billions of dollars of assets owned by the players on the sites without warning or options to cash-out.
Headquarters
The U.S. Department of Justice building was completed in 1935 from a design by
Milton Bennett MedaryMilton Bennett Medary, Jr. was an American architect from Philadelphia, practicing in the firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary from 1910 until his death....
. Upon Medary's death in 1929, the other partners of his Philadelphia firm
Zantzinger, Borie and MedaryZantzinger, Borie and Medary was an early to mid-twentieth-century American architecture firm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania specializing in institutional and civic projects, and active under that name from 1910 through 1929, and continuing until 1950. The partners were Clarence C. Zantzinger,...
took over the project. On a lot bordered by Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues and Ninth and Tenth Streets, Northwest, it holds over one million square feet of space. The sculptor
C. Paul JenneweinCarl Paul Jennewein was a German-born American sculptor.-Early career:Jennewein was born in Stuttgart in Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1907....
served as overall design consultant for the entire building, contributing more than 50 separate sculptural elements inside and outside.
Various efforts, none entirely successful, have been made to determine the meaning of the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
motto appearing on the Department of Justice seal,
Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur. It is not even known exactly when the original version of the DOJ seal itself was adopted, or when the motto first appeared on the seal. The most authoritative opinion of the DOJ suggests that the motto refers to the Attorney General (and thus to the Department of Justice) "who prosecutes on behalf of justice (or the Lady Justice)"
The building was renamed in honor of former Attorney General
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
in 2001. It is sometimes referred to as "Main Justice."
Leadership offices
- Office of the Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
- Office of the Deputy Attorney General
United States Deputy Attorney General is the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. In the United States federal government, the Deputy Attorney General oversees the day-to-day operation of the Department of Justice, and may act as Attorney General during the...
- Office of the Associate Attorney General
The Associate Attorney General is the third-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. The Associate Attorney General advises and assists the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General in policies relating to civil justice, federal and local law enforcement, and public...
- Office of the Solicitor General
The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 2011 and sworn in on June...
Divisions
- Antitrust Division
The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is responsible for enforcing the antitrust laws of the United States. It shares jurisdiction over civil antitrust cases with the Federal Trade Commission and often works jointly with the FTC to provide regulatory guidance to businesses...
- Civil Division
The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, Members of Congress, Cabinet officers and other Federal employees...
- Civil Rights Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The Division was established on December 9, 1957, by...
- Criminal Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division develops, enforces, and supervises the application of all federal criminal laws in the United States, except those specifically assigned to other divisions. Criminal Division attorneys prosecute many nationally significant cases and formulate and...
- Environment and Natural Resources Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division is one of seven litigating components of the United States Department of Justice...
(ENRD)
- Justice Management Division
The Justice Management Division is a division of the United States Department of Justice. It is the administrative arm of the Department of Justice. Its mission is to support the some 40 senior management offices , offices, bureaus, and divisions of the DOJ...
(JMD)
- National Security Division
The United States Department of Justice National Security Division is the division of the DOJ that handles all national security functions of the Department. Created by the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization, the Division consolidated all of the Department's national security and intelligence...
(NSD)
- Tax Division
The United States Department of Justice Tax Division is responsible for the prosecution of both civil and criminal cases arising under the Internal Revenue Code and other tax laws of the United States...
- War Division (defunct)
Law enforcement agencies
Several federal law enforcement agencies are administered by the Department of Justice:
- United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
(USMS)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI)
- Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
(BOP)
- National Institute of Corrections
The National Institute of Corrections is an agency of the United States government. It is part of the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons....
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice...
(ATF)
- Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
(DEA)
- Office of the Inspector General
The Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Justice is the Office of the Inspector General specific to the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for conducting nearly all of the investigations of DOJ employees and programs. The present Inspector General is Glenn A...
(OIG)
Offices
- Executive Office for Immigration Review
The Executive Office for Immigration Review is an office of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for adjudicating immigration cases in the United States. The EOIR oversees immigration courts in the United States through the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge...
(EOIR)
- Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA)
- Executive Office of the United States Trustee (EOUST)
- Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management
- Office of the Chief Information Officer
- Office of Dispute Resolution
- Office of the Federal Detention Trustee (OFDT)
- Office of Immigration Litigation
- Office of Information Policy
- Office of Intelligence Policy and Review
The Office of Intelligence Policy and Review is a staff agency within the United States Department of Justice.This government agency handles all Justice Department requests for surveillance authorizations under the terms of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, advises the Attorney...
(OIPR)
- Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison
- Office of Justice Programs
The Office of Justice Programs is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that focuses on crime prevention through research and development, assistance to state and local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies through grants, and assistance to crime victims.The major bureaus...
(OJP)
- Bureau of Justice Assistance
The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, within the United States Department of Justice.On Monday, December 13, 2010, President Barack Obama sent to the U.S. Senate the nomination of Denise Ellen O'Donnell, of New York, to be the Director of the Bureau, in...
- Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Community Capacity Development Office
The Community Capacity Development Office is an office of the United States Department of Justice and a component of the Office of Justice Programs...
- National Institute of Justice
The National Institute of Justice is the research, development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice. NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics , Bureau of Justice Assistance , Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention , Office for Victims of Crime ,...
- Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is an office of the United States Department of Justice and a component of the Office of Justice Programs....
- Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking Office (SMART)
- Office for Victims of Crime
The Office for Victims of Crime is a part of the Office of Justice Programs, within the U.S. Department of Justice.The OVC's mission is to provide aid and promote justice for crime victims....
- Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education
- Office of Legal Counsel
The Office of Legal Counsel is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General in his function as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies.-History:...
(OLC)
- Office of Legal Policy
The Office of Legal Policy is a division within the United States Department of Justice which describes itself as the "focal point for the development and coordination of Departmental policy." In addition to rendering legal advice to the United States Attorney General and subordinate offices within...
(OLP)
- Office of Legislative Affairs
The Office of Legislative Affairs is a division within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibility is for the development and implementation of strategies to advance the Department's legislative initiatives and other interests relating to Congress....
- Office of the Ombudsperson
- Office of the Pardon Attorney
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, in consultation with the Attorney General of the United States or his designee, assists the President of the United States in the exercise of executive clemency as authorized under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution. Under the Constitution, the President's...
- Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties (OPCL)
- Office of Professional Responsibility
The Office of Professional Responsibility is part of the United States Department of Justice responsible for investigating attorneys employed by the DOJ who have been accused of misconduct or crimes in their professional functions...
(OPR)
- Office of Public Affairs
The NASA Office of Public Affairs is tasked with media and public relations. Its mission is to "provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information to the media and general public concerning NASA activities and results" The function was created in the National...
- Office on Sexual Violence and Crimes against Children
- Office of Tribal Justice
- Office on Violence Against Women
The Office on Violence Against Women , a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, provides national leadership in developing the nation's capacity to reduce violence against women through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act ....
- Professional Responsibility Advisory Office (PRAO)
- United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
s Offices
- United States Trustees Offices
- Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services is an agency within the United States Department of Justice. COPS was established through a provision in the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Since 1994, COPS has provided $11.3 billion in assistance to state and local law...
(COPS)
- Community Relations Service
The Community Relations Service is part of the United States Department of Justice. The office is intended as a peacemaker "for community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color, and national origin" and was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964...
Other offices and programs
- Foreign Claims Settlement Commission
The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States is a quasi-judicial, independent agency within the U.S. Department of Justice which adjudicates claims of U.S. nationals against foreign governments, either under specific jurisdiction conferred by Congress or pursuant to international...
of the United States
- INTERPOL
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
, U.S. National Central Bureau
- National Drug Intelligence Center
The U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center , established in 1993, is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice and a member of the Intelligence Community...
- Obscenity Prosecution Task Force
The Obscenity Prosecution Task Force was an organization created in 2005 by the United States Department of Justice. The OPTF's job was to investigate and prosecute producers and distributors of hardcore pornography that meets the test for obscenity, as defined by the Supreme Court of the United...
- United States Parole Commission
The United States Parole Commission is the parole board responsible to grant or deny parole and to supervise those released on parole to incarcerated individuals who come under its jurisdiction. It is part of the United States Department of Justice....
In March 2003, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service was abolished and its functions transferred to the
United States Department of Homeland SecurityThe United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
. The
Executive Office for Immigration ReviewThe Executive Office for Immigration Review is an office of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for adjudicating immigration cases in the United States. The EOIR oversees immigration courts in the United States through the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge...
and the
Board of Immigration AppealsThe Board of Immigration Appeals is the part of the Executive Office for Immigration Review that reviews the decisions of the Immigration Courts and some decisions of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is an administrative appellate body that is part of the United States Department...
which review decisions made by government officials under Immigration and Nationality law remain under jurisdiction of the Department of Justice. Similarly the Office of Domestic Preparedness left the Justice Department for the Department of Homeland Security, but only for executive purposes. The Office of Domestic Preparedness is still centralized within the Department of Justice, since its personnel are still officially employed within the Department of Justice.
In 2003, the Department of Justice created LifeAndLiberty.gov, a website that supported the PATRIOT ACT. It was criticized by government watchdog groups.
Finances and Budget
Recently, the department became embroiled in a scandal for spending $121,000,000 on extravagant conferences that included $16 muffins and $8 beverages. The Justice Department was authorized a budget for
Fiscal Year 2010The United States Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2010, titled A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America's Promise, is a spending request by President Barack Obama to fund government operations for October 2009–September 2010...
of $27.7 billion and was authorized 111,993 positions. The budget authorization is broken down as follows:
| Program |
Funding (in billions) |
| Administration |
$0.9 |
| Law Enforcement |
$12.7 |
| Litigation |
$3 |
| Prisons |
$7.6 |
| State and Local Assistance |
$3.6 |
| Total |
$27.7 |
See also
- Bybee memo
- Capital punishment in the United States
Capital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
- Incarceration in the United States
- Inslaw
Inslaw, Inc. is a small, Washington, D.C.-based, information technology company. In the mid-1970s, Inslaw developed for the United States Department of Justice a highly efficient, people-tracking, software program known as: Prosecutor's Management Information System...
- Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
- Litigation
- Punishment
Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....
- Stare decisis
Stare decisis is a legal principle by which judges are obliged to respect the precedents established by prior decisions...
- United States incarceration rate
The United States of America has an incarceration rate of 743 per 100,000 of national population , the highest in the world. In comparison, Russia has the second highest 577 per 100,000, Canada is 123rd in the world with 117 per 100,000, and China has 120 per 100,000...
External links