U.S. Department of Justice

Seventeen Federal Agencies Recognize Decade of Federal Progress Addressing Elder Abuse At a meeting of the Elder Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC) on Wednesday, June 12, 17 federal agencies including the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will look back on a decade in which the federal government has significantly expanded efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation — including in the areas of enforcement, public education, training, interagency collaboration, research, and support for older adults who experience or are at risk of experiencing abuse. “We know that the vast majority of elder abuse cases go unreported. And that too many victims remain unseen,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “That is why the Department of Justice has aggressively targeted perpetrators of elder fraud and abuse, while providing victims with the support they need. In the last five years, the Department has pursued more than 1,500 criminal and civil cases involving conduct that targeted or disproportionately affected older adults. We have provided services to more than 1.5 million older victims. And we have returned hundreds of millions of dollars to elder fraud victims. The Elder Justice Coordinating Council has played a key role in our work.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/g7zHE_KW

Today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland marked the third anniversary of Joint Task Force Alpha, the highly successful national effort to investigate and prosecute #HumanSmuggling at the southern border, by convening senior leaders of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State to discuss their shared, ongoing work. Over the past three years, the work of JTFA has led to over 300 domestic and international arrests and over 240 convictions in the United States. Among other things, the meeting covered several new initiatives, including JTFA’s expansion to combat human smuggling in Colombia and Panama, which lie on either side of a region known as the Darién; a legislative proposal to increase penalties for the most prolific and dangerous human smugglers; and $8 million in rewards offers issued as part of the new Anti-Smuggling Rewards Initiative announced two weeks ago. “Today, we are doubling down on our efforts to strike at the heart of where human smuggling networks operate,” said Attorney General Garland. “In the next phase of Joint Task Force Alpha’s work, we are expanding its regional focus, offering new financial rewards for information about key leaders of smuggling criminal organizations, and asking Congress to enact longer sentences for human smugglers. We will continue to work across the federal government to disrupt and dismantle the human smuggling networks that prey on vulnerable migrants and endanger our national security.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/gv6thK6a

Justice Department Enters Agreement with the New York State Unified Court System to Resolve Title VI Language Access Review The Justice Department announced today a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the New York State Court System, Office of Court Administration (OCA) to improve access to the Rockland County, New York, Drug Treatment Court for people with limited English proficiency (LEP). The department enforces Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin by recipients of federal financial assistance. Prohibited discrimination may include a failure to provide meaningful language access. “Ensuring equal justice under law means doing so in a manner that is fair, accurate and understandable for all, but that does not happen unless people involved in the judicial process can communicate with each other,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “People should not be penalized for their limited English proficiency and should receive the language assistance services they need to fairly participate in court proceedings and court-mandated trainings or treatment programs. This agreement stands as a model for ensuring access to the courts, including their programs and services, for all people, regardless of English proficiency, and outlines the actions needed to eliminate barriers for court users with limited English proficiency.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/gzfwS2b6

Justice Department Secures More Than 500 Prosecutions Under New Firearms Statutes Enacted by Bipartisan Safer Communities Act The Justice Department announced it has charged more than 500 defendants under the new criminal provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which Congress enacted, and the President signed in June 2022. The Act is the first standalone federal statute specifically designed to target the unlawful trafficking and straw-purchasing of firearms. “Criminals rely on illegal gun traffickers and straw purchasers to obtain the weapons they use to harm our communities,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department is using the new tools given to us in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to hold accountable those who fuel gun violence.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/gf4d9giE

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Statement on FBI’s Quarterly Uniform Crime Report The Justice Department issued the following statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on the release of the FBI’s Quarterly Uniform Crime Report, which shows a decrease in violent crime and property crime in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same time period last year: “This data makes clear that last year’s historic decline in violent crime is continuing. In the first three months of this year, violent crime has decreased by over 15 percent compared to same period last year, and murder has decreased by over 26 percent. This continued historic decline in homicides does not represent abstract statistics. It represents people whose lives were saved — people who are still here to see their children grow up, to work toward fulfilling their dreams, and to contribute to their communities. When I became Attorney General over three years ago, we knew that grappling with the violent crime that surged early in the pandemic would be one of the greatest challenges we would face at the Justice Department. That is why we have poured every available resource into working with our law enforcement and community partners to drive down violent crime. But we know there is so much more work to do, and that the progress we have seen can still easily slip away. So, we will continue to deploy our technological and prosecutorial resources to identify and prosecute the principal drivers of gun violence. We will continue to invest in the essential programs that allow police departments to hire more officers. We will continue to build the public trust essential for public safety. And we will continue to support the evidence-based community violence intervention initiatives that save lives. Our work will not be done until all Americans feel safe in their communities.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/ggQ2F_t6

Last week, the Justice Department announced the launch of Access DOJ, a new and innovative Department-wide initiative led by the Office for Access to Justice (ATJ) that will use human-centered design to improve access to Justice Department programs and services for all communities and stakeholders. The Access DOJ Initiative will: ▪️ Annually conduct high-impact projects in partnership with offices across the Justice Department to improve and streamline access to programs, services, and resources for the public; ▪️ Provide resources, trainings, and hands-on coaching and support in methods like usability testing and writing with plain language; and ▪️ Chair a newly launched community of practice with representatives from across the Justice Department to share successes and challenges and identify solutions to advance the work together. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gcvevBUn

Justice Department and FDA Announce Federal Multi-Agency Task Force to Curb Distribution and Sale of Illegal E-Cigarettes The Justice Department and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the creation of a federal multi-agency task force to combat the illegal distribution and sale of e-cigarettes. Along with the FDA and the Justice Department, the task force will bring together multiple law enforcement partners, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); U.S. Marshals Service (USMS); U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to coordinate and streamline efforts to bring all available criminal and civil tools to bear against the illegal distribution, and sale of e-cigarettes, vapes, and other electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) responsible for nicotine addiction among American youth. Additional agencies may join the task force in the coming weeks and months. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gRsewhJM

Justice Department and FDA Announce Federal Multi-Agency Task Force to Curb Distribution and Sale of Illegal E-Cigarettes The Justice Department and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the creation of a federal multi-agency task force to combat the illegal distribution and sale of e-cigarettes. Along with the FDA and the Justice Department, the task force will bring together multiple law enforcement partners, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); U.S. Marshals Service (USMS); U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to coordinate and streamline efforts to bring all available criminal and civil tools to bear against the illegal distribution, and sale of e-cigarettes, vapes, and other electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) responsible for nicotine addiction among American youth. Additional agencies may join the task force in the coming weeks and months. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gRsewhJM

Yesterday, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer convened the Justice Department’s Reproductive Rights Task Force to discuss the Department’s ongoing work to protect reproductive freedoms under federal law. Read more:https://lnkd.in/gqvytJBC

#ThisWeekatJustice, ▶️ Attorney General Merrick B. Garland highlighted the historic decline in #ViolentCrime before the House Judiciary Committee ▶️ Charged 47 defendants, made dozens of arrests, and seized 2 million doses of fentanyl associated with the Sinaloa Cartel to combat #DrugTrafficking ▶️ Justice Department leadership underscored expansions in access to cutting-edge crime gun intelligence technology at ATF's Third Annual Chiefs of Police Executive Forum on Crime Guns ▶️ Announced 4 arrests and kilogram seizures of illegal substances by #LawEnforcement in relation to a drug trafficking conspiracy in Washington and New Jersey after a year-long wiretap investigation ▶️ Sentenced a white supremacist to 26 months and 3 years of supervised release for federal hate crimes targeting Black and Jewish people and desecrating a synagogue Keep up with the latest news from the Justice Department at justice.gov/news For closed captions: https://lnkd.in/gVX4RCvH