The GAO has been making select reports available via FTP, at
cu.nih.gov:/GAO-REPORTS (login: anonymous, password: guest). Lately a
series of transition reports prepared for the new Congress and
administration have been made available. Here is an excerpt from a report
on National Security Issues, and most of the text from a report on Justice
Issues.
-- Chris
-------------------------------------------------------------
from CG09T93.TXT (National Security Issues):
"In the post-Cold War era, the military services will be challenged to
perform new and enhanced missions in such areas as peacekeeping, narcotics
interdiction, and disaster relief. United Nations' requests for DOD
assistance--including supplies, military airlifts and sealifts, logistics,
and personnel--for peacekeeping operations have increased substantially in
the past 2 years and may likely continue in the near future. Similarly,
DOD's involvement in narcotics control and the agency's assistance in drug
interdiction efforts have expanded considerably: DOD's contribution rose from
$300 million in fiscal year 1989 to $1.2 billion this year. DOD has also
increased its involvement in providing humanitarian and disaster assistance
in such places as Somalia and Bangladesh as well as within the United
States. The value of these missions, as well as the resources devoted to
them, must be assessed in the context of the military's more traditional
role of protecting the nation."
_______________________________________________________________________________
Title: Justice Issues
Subtitle:
Report No.: GAO/OCG-93-23TR Date: December 1992
_______________________________________________________________________________
Author: United States General Accounting Office
Office of the Comptroller General
Addressee: Transition Series
This file contains the text of a GAO report. Delineations within the text
indicating chapter titles, headings, and bullets are preserved. No attempt has
been made to display graphic images or pagination of the typeset report.
Footnotes appear in brackets at the reference point in the text. Underlined
text is indicated by underscore characters (_Introduction_). Superscript
characters are preceeded by a backslash (\a). Figures may be omitted or
replaced with tables. Tables may not resemble those in the printed version.
A printed copy of this report may be obtained from the GAO Documents
Distribution Facility by calling (202) 512-6000 or faxing your request
to (301) 258-4066 or writing to P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.
_______________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
Justice Issues
Strengthening the Department of Justice's Leadership and Management Functions
Investigating and Prosecuting White Collar Crime
Making Needed Policy and Management Decisions on Immigration Issues
Responding to a Rapid Rise in the Federal Prison Population
Making Antidrug Efforts More Effective
Related GAO Products
Transition Series
- Economics
- Management
- Program Areas
_______________________________________________________________________________
Office of the Comptroller General
Washington, DC 20548
December 1992
The Speaker of the House of Representatives
The Majority Leader of the Senate
In response to your request, this transition series report discusses major
policy, management, and program issues facing the Congress and the new
administration in the justice area. These issues include
(1) strengthening leadership and management functions at the Department of
Justice, (2) investigating and prosecuting white collar crime, (3) making
needed policy and management decisions on immigration issues, (4) responding
to a rapid rise in the federal prison population, and (5) making the
government's antidrug efforts more effective.
The GAO products upon which this report is based are listed at the end of the
report.
We are also sending copies of this report to the President-elect, the
Republican leadership of the Congress, the appropriate congressional
committees, and the Attorney General-designate.
Signed: Charles A. Bowsher
_______________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE ISSUES
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The role of the Department of Justice in dealing with the nation's crime
problems has expanded significantly in recent years. Today, the Department has
more staff and is conducting more investigations than ever before. Between
1981 and 1992, the Department's budget increased from $2.35 billion to $10.4
billion. The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is housing the largest number of federal
inmates in its history. Between 1986 and 1992, the federal prison population
grew by more than 70 percent to 80,000, as of November 1992; from now through
1996, the government will have to spend more than $2 billion to build new
prisons. Inmates convicted of drug offenses now comprise 57 percent of all
federal inmates, demonstrating that the Department's antidrug efforts have met
with some success. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain.
When we issued our first transition series report on justice issues 4 years
ago, we said that the Department needed to strengthen its central management
capabilities and to set priorities for its antidrug programs. Both of these
issues still pose major challenges today. Greater progress has been made in
resolving other issues that we raised in 1988--reforming sentencing, reforming
immigration, and preventing discrimination caused by immigration reform.
The decentralized operations and independence of organizations like the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Attorneys complicate efforts by
the Department of Justice to coordinate and direct a wide variety of
initiatives and programs to fight crime. The central issue facing the
Department of Justice is how best to provide leadership and ensure that its
priorities are carried out as effectively as possible.
Since 1988, the Department has taken new steps in the area of immigration,
built new federal prisons at a record pace, and dramatically increased its
budget for drug control. It has also had to respond to significant new
challenges, such as the wave of criminal referrals and prosecutions generated
by the savings and loan and banking crises. Financial institution fraud has
also become a major problem. In some areas, the volume of work is overwhelming
the justice system.
In this environment, the issue of leadership is even more important today than
it was in 1988. Additionally, to respond effectively to a rising crime rate,
an exploding prison population, and an intractable drug problem, the
Department requires strong management processes and systems.
_______________________________________________________________________________
STRENGTHENING THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'S LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
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Leading the nation's law enforcement and administration of justice effort has
always been a difficult task. A balance must be struck between the need for
strong leadership in important areas and the benefits of a decentralized law
enforcement mechanism in the hands of U.S. Attorneys. As world history has
shown, too much central police authority can lead to grave abuses. In our
country's system of justice, the creative tension that exists between
centralized and decentralized management and leadership functions has led to
progress on various issues. Nonetheless, given the national scope of some of
the law enforcement issues that we face today, it may be necessary to
reexamine the leadership role of the Attorney General and the relationship
between the Department of Justice and its components and the U.S. Attorneys.
Too little central direction can stymie implementation of national initiatives
as well as lead to inconsistency and inefficiency.
During the 1980s, mounting public concern over crime in general and drugs in
particular turned law enforcement into a growth industry at the state, local,
and federal levels. However, after a decade of higher spending and promises to
reduce the nation's vulnerability to crime, the incidence of violent crime
continues to grow. In view of this growth, the efficiency and effectiveness of
the Department of Justice is critical.
However, the success of the Department in accomplishing its mission is
complicated by its highly decentralized operations and the independence
afforded its agencies and offices. The Department needs to strengthen its
central management systems to ensure that they provide the Attorney General
with the information necessary to effectively establish, communicate,
coordinate, and oversee national goals and priorities.
There is an issue as to whether the Department is currently able to give
proper perspective to the interrelationships among its components.
Coordination among the various components of the criminal justice system is
essential. At present, in enforcing drug laws, FBI and the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) independently develop investigative strategies and
priorities, operate separate intelligence systems, and use different systems
for reporting and measuring their effectiveness. This degree of independence
requires good central oversight to ensure overall efficiency and
effectiveness. Anticipated federal budget cuts and the continued growth in
violent crime--particularly in the use of firearms-- further highlight the
need for better interagency coordination.
It is also important to ensure that field level decisions are sufficiently in
keeping with national law enforcement priorities. Justice components, located
throughout the country, have the flexibility to structure their programs
differently. They are able, for example, to set different operating thresholds
for investigating and prosecuting offenses for which mandatory sentences have
been established by law. Yet despite the existence of workload constraints and
local priorities, as well as the desirability of prosecutorial discretion,
strong central oversight is needed to ensure that national law enforcement
programs are focused on--and consistent, efficient, and effective in
pursuing--national goals and priorities.
Such oversight, however, cannot be brought to bear without good management
information systems and meaningful measures of performance. In each of these
areas, there is room for the Department to improve. For example, after a
number of false starts and over a decade of effort, the Department still does
not have in place a case management system that can track cases being
litigated and the total number of staff in the litigating organizations
working on them. Similarly, while the Department has several numerical
measures of its activities, these measures do not readily indicate the degree
to which the Department's national goals are being achieved.
The Department also needs to resolve jurisdictional disputes. For example,
within the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), conflicts exist between the five
OJP bureaus and OJP management over individual bureau autonomy. To address the
disputed lines of authority, the Attorney General in 1991 conferred on the
Assistant Attorney General for OJP certain grant-related authorities
traditionally held by the bureau directors. This solution not only created
additional management problems but violated the statutes establishing the
bureaus. Although OJP and the bureaus are working to resolve the management
conflicts, tensions remain.
Given the national significance of law enforcement issues and the problems
inherent in addressing them, it is important to assess the appropriate
leadership role for the Office of the Attorney General. Central to this
assessment is achieving consensus within the Department on how to focus
federal resources effectively on key issues.
_______________________________________________________________________________
INVESTIGATING AND PROSECUTING WHITE COLLAR CRIME
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[deleted for t.p.d audience]
_______________________________________________________________________________
MAKING NEEDED POLICY AND MANAGEMENT DECISIONS ON IMMIGRATION ISSUES
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[deleted for t.p.d audience]
_______________________________________________________________________________
RESPONDING TO A RAPID RISE IN THE FEDERAL PRISON POPULATION
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A growing prison population was perhaps the most visible result of the
increases in federal resources--investigative, prosecutorial, and
judicial--devoted to federal criminal law enforcement in the 1980s. Policy
initiatives--such as an expanded "drug war," implementation of federal
sentencing guidelines, and the enactment of mandatory minimum sentences for a
number of drug and firearms offenses--have led to a rapidly growing federal
prison population that generally serves longer sentences. This rising
population has strained prison capacity and budgetary resources. Indeed, the
major issue facing the federal corrections system is finding less costly ways
of achieving the corrections goals of deterrence and public safety while
providing inmates with humane care and services that equip them to become
law-abiding citizens upon release.
Between fiscal years 1986 and 1992, the federal prison population grew from
41,500 to 70,630; by 1996, a population of about 106,000 is projected. One
reason for this expected future growth is the implementation of federal
sentencing guidelines, which took effect on November 1, 1987. Reflecting the
"get tough on crime" policies of the last decade, the guidelines offer judges
fewer nonprison sentencing options for most offenders. Consequently, a greater
proportion of convicted offenders are going to prison for longer terms,
decreasing the turnover in the federal prison population and increasing
capacity requirements. In 1990, about 74 percent of offenders sentenced under
the guidelines were sent to prison, as compared with 53 percent in 1986,
before the guidelines took effect. The length of the average sentence in 1990
had increased by about a year--from 53 to 61 months. Moreover, because parole
had been eliminated under the guidelines, an inmate could expect to serve, on
average, almost 3 years longer--from about 19 to 52 months.
Drug offenders will continue to have a major impact on the federal corrections
system. Inmates convicted of drug offenses now comprise 57 percent of all
federal inmates, and they are expected to constitute about two-thirds (71,000)
of the 1996 population. Under the guidelines, almost 9 in 10 convicted drug
offenders are sentenced to prison for an average of 83 months--at least 70
months of which they can expect to serve.
The costs of housing and caring for this growing population continue to rise.
Between 1986 and 1992, corrections budgets, primarily for federal prisons,
nearly quadrupled from about $600 million to about $2.3 billion. Despite the
increased use of 2-person cells and plans to activate 44 additional facilities
with a capacity of about 30,000 inmates between 1992 and 1996, BOP expects the
growth in the inmate population to outstrip the increase in capacity by about
6,000 inmates. The estimated cost of constructing these new facilities is
almost $2.2 billion. BOP estimates the costs of operating these new
facilities, over their useful life, at about 15 to 20 times the construction
costs.
These rapidly rising costs have focused attention on the costs of traditional
incarceration. Given an average annual cost of about $18,000 per inmate for
traditional imprisonment, the Sentencing Commission, BOP, and the courts need
to explore means of reducing corrections costs. Where possible, less costly
minimum security facilities should be used. The current limited use of prison
alternatives--such as "boot camps" (also called "shock incarceration") for
first offenders, halfway houses, electronic home detention, and intensified
supervision--should be evaluated and expanded where feasible. Furthermore, BOP
may need to use intermediate forms of confinement, such as halfway houses,
more extensively to reintegrate long-term inmates into the community upon
release. To do this, BOP must also work more closely with the federal courts'
probation service to provide prerelease plans that include an inmate's medical
profile, substance abuse history, and other information needed to develop an
appropriate supervision plan.
Regardless of the form of confinement used, BOP faces a challenge in meeting
the medical needs of its growing and aging inmate population, many of whom
have special needs. About half of all entering inmates have a substance abuse
or dependency problem, but fewer than half of these are receiving treatment.
In 1992, BOP spent almost $5 million treating about 1,200 HIV positive
inmates, about 200 of whom had AIDS--a problem that is expected to grow as the
prison population expands. In the close confines of prison life, the emergence
of a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis is also a potentially grave medical
problem. The female inmate population, now about 8 percent of the total
federal prison population, is growing faster than the male population and
requires special medical procedures, such as breast cancer screening.
BOP is grappling with the rising costs of meeting inmates' medical care needs
and hiring trained medical staff. BOP reprogrammed over $4 million in 1991 and
1992 to provide for increased outside medical care costs and requested an
additional $4.5 million in fiscal year 1993. BOP must decide whether to
increase its own medical care capacity or meet rising medical care needs
through contract care. Even with the additional capacity planned between now
and 1996, BOP anticipates that its ratio of medical beds to inmates will fall
from the current 27 beds per 1,000 inmates to about 23.
Building even more medical facilities would add to an already costly
construction program, and BOP may have difficulty staffing any new facilities.
Despite an enhanced recruitment effort, at the end of fiscal year 1991, BOP
had filled about 59 percent of its authorized positions for nurses and 66
percent of its positions for medical officers. Given the difficulties of
recruiting qualified medical personnel, predicting the amount and type of
medical care that inmates may need, and meeting the costs of increasing
existing medical care capacity to accommodate those anticipated needs, BOP
should consider alternative methods of health care delivery. These
alternatives might include contracting out for prison medical services and
enhancing preventive care programs. In contracting out, health maintenance
organizations or preferred provider models might be used.
_______________________________________________________________________________
MAKING ANTIDRUG EFFORTS MORE EFFECTIVE
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To combat the drug problem, the Congress created a Drug Czar--Director, Office
of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)--in the Executive Office of the
President. Starting in 1989, ONDCP was to plan a drug war (establish a
national drug control strategy, including long- and short-term goals),
annually develop a governmentwide budget to carry out the war, and annually
report to the Congress on the progress of the war and revise the underlying
strategy as appropriate. Despite the creation of ONDCP, the drug problem
persists.
Under ONDCP's guidance, the federal government dramatically increased drug
control funding in three key program areas: (1) stopping drugs from entering
the country, (2) enforcing domestic laws against drug trafficking and
possession, and
(3) providing drug treatment and prevention services. For fiscal years 1989
through 1992, the federal government committed $39 billion to reduce drug use.
Of the $12 billion currently spent each year on drug programs, over 70 percent
is expended on law enforcement as opposed to treatment; almost $3 is spent on
law enforcement for every $1 spent on treatment.
While the number of illicit drug users has declined somewhat, the numbers of
drug-related homicides and hospital emergency visits and deaths remain near
record highs, as does drug use by arrested criminals. Policymakers will be
asked to consider what more can be done to alleviate our nation's persistent
long-term drug problem and halt the spread of drug-related crime and violence.
Should the new administration stay the course, as ONDCP advocates, or place
greater emphasis on drug prevention and treatment?
ONDCP's annual strategies have not set clear expectations for each drug
control program. Without such expectations and without objective data to
measure progress toward meeting those expectations, there is little basis for
judging either the efficiency of the strategy in committing resources or the
efficacy of the strategy's program components. For example, intelligence data
indicate that overseas production of cocaine has grown consistently over the
past 10 years and that domestic prices are much lower today than they were 10
years ago. Neither the strategy nor the drug budget relates these conditions
to the missions of drug programs or evaluates the implications of these
conditions for current strategy. In short, accountability is lacking for the
billions of dollars being spent on the nation's drug control programs.
ONDCP, through its annual drug strategy, should and must establish
accountability for the billions being spent on the drug war. Developing
accountability and performance measures is difficult. However, tying the
financial costs of drug control programs to program results is fundamental to
making informed policy decisions.
To achieve accountability over the nation's drug control efforts, ONDCP needs
to develop outcome-oriented goals for each drug control program. Currently,
the drug strategy does not include such goals. Furthermore, there is little
information for judging whether the new administration should place more or
less emphasis on drug prevention and treatment programs. Specifically, ONDCP
needs to develop databases to collect baseline data on law enforcement and
treatment efforts.
During 1993, the Congress will hold hearings on the reauthorization of ONDCP.
As a focal point for these hearings, ONDCP, the drug control
agencies--including the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and
Human Services--and the oversight committees need to focus on identifying
appropriate measures of accountability. By and large, these collaborative
efforts should be aimed at reaching agreement on the best available benchmarks
of performance and the most reasonable expectations for programs, given the
level of resources committed.
_______________________________________________________________________________
RELATED GAO PRODUCTS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Office of Justice Programs: Discretionary Grants Reauthorization_
(GAO/GGD-93-23, Nov. 20, 1992).
_Bank and Thrift Criminal Fraud: Information on Justice's Investigations and
Prosecutions_ (GAO/GGD-93-10FS, Oct. 5, 1992).
_Sentencing Guidelines: Central Questions Remain Unanswered_ (GAO/GGD-92-93,
Aug. 14, 1992).
_Immigration Control: Immigration Policies Affect INS Detention Efforts_
(GAO/GGD-92-85, June 25, 1992).
_Asset Forfeiture: U.S. Marshals Service Internal Control Weaknesses Over Cash
Distributions_ (GAO/GGD-92-59, May 8, 1992).
_Drug Control: Difficulties in Denying Federal Benefits to Convicted Drug
Offenders_ (GAO/GGD-92-56, Apr. 21, 1992).
_The Drug War: Counternarcotics Programs in Columbia and Peru
(GAO/T-NSIAD-91-9_, Feb. 20, 1992).
_Bank and Thrift Fraud: Overview of the Federal Government's Response_
(GAO/T-GGD-92-12, Feb. 6, 1992).
_Adolescent Drug Use Prevention: Common Features of Promising Community
Programs_ (GAO/PEMD-92-2, Jan. 16, 1992).
_Prison Alternatives: Crowded Federal Prisons Can Transfer More Inmates to
Halfway Houses_ (GAO/GGD-92-5, Nov. 14, 1991).
_Prison Costs: Opportunities Exist to Lower the Cost of Building Federal
Prisons_ (GAO/GGD-92-3, Oct. 25, 1991).
_ADMS Block Grant: Drug Treatment Services Could be Improved by New
Accountability Program_ (GAO/HRD-92-27, Oct. 17, 1991).
_Drug Control: Impact of DOD's Detection and Monitoring on Cocaine Flow_
(GAO/NSIAD-91-297, Sept. 19, 1991).
_Drug Treatment: Despite New Strategy, Few Federal Inmates Receive Treatment_
(GAO/HRD-91-116, Sept. 16, 1991).
_Prison Expansion: Staffing New Facilities Will be a Challenge for BOP_
(GAO/GGD-92-75, May 12, 1991).
_The War on Drugs: Arrests Burdening Local Criminal Justice Systems_
(GAO/GGD-92-40, Apr. 3, 1991).
_Border Patrol: Southwest Border Enforcement Affected by Mission Expansion and
Budget_ (GAO/GGD-92-72BR, Mar. 28, 1991).
_Federal Prisons: Revised Design Standards Could Save Expansion Funds_
(GAO/GGD-91-54, Mar. 14, 1991).
_Financial Management: INS Lacks Accountability and Controls Over Its
Resources_ (GAO/AFMD-92-20, Jan. 24, 1991).
_Immigration Management: Strong Leadership and Management Reforms Needed to
Address Serious Problems_ (GAO/GGD-91-28, Jan. 23, 1991).
_Information Management: Immigration and Naturalization Service Lacks Ready
Access to Essential Data_ (GAO/IMTEC-90-75, Sept. 17, 1990).
_Immigration Reform: Employer Sanctions and the Question of Discrimination_
(GAO/GGD-90-62, Mar. 29, 1990).
_Immigration Control: Deporting and Excluding Aliens From the United States_
(GAO/GGD-90-18, Oct. 16, 1989).
_Controlling Drug Abuse: A Status Report_ (GAO/GGD-88-39, Mar. 1, 1988).
_Justice Issues_ (GAO/OCG-89-13TR, Nov. 1988).
_Justice Department: Improved Management Processes Would Enhance Justice's
Operations_ (GAO/GGD-86-12, Mar. 14, 1986).
_______________________________________________________________________________
TRANSITION SERIES
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===============================================================================
ECONOMICS
_Budget Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-1TR).
_Investment_ (GAO/OCG-93-2TR).
===============================================================================
MANAGEMENT
_Government Management Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-3TR).
_Financial Management Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-4TR).
_Information Management and Technology Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-5TR).
_Program Evaluation Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-6TR).
_The Public Service_ (GAO/OCG-93-7TR).
===============================================================================
PROGRAM AREAS
_Health Care Reform _ (GAO/OCG-93-8TR).
_National Security Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-9TR).
_Financial Services Industry Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-10TR).
_International Trade Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-11TR).
_Commerce Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-12TR).
_Energy Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-13TR).
_Transportation Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-14TR).
_Food and Agriculture Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-15TR).
_Environmental Protection Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-16TR).
_Natural Resources Management Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-17TR).
_Education Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-18TR).
_Labor Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-19TR).
_Health and Human Services Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-20TR).
_Veterans Affairs Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-21TR).
_Housing and Community Development Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-22TR).
_Justice Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-23TR).
_Internal Revenue Service Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-24TR).
_Foreign Economic Assistance Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-25TR).
_Foreign Affairs Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-26TR).
_NASA Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-27TR).
_General Services Issues_ (GAO/OCG-93-28TR).