D.C. Sees Sharp Drop In Federal Prosecution

Prosecutions of nearly all federal crimes in the District have taken a steep dive, with one research group estimating a 67 percent decline in the past five years.

A depleted band of prosecutors in Washington pursued half as many federal gun and drug crimes in fiscal 2007 as were prosecuted a year earlier, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), which monitors federal prosecution statistics. Over the same period, the number of federal corruption cases filed against public officials dropped an estimated 64 percent and federal white-collar fraud cases dropped 25 percent.

Across the nation, Justice Department prosecutors have long felt the strain as law enforcement resources shifted toward national security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. FBI agents who were traditionally available to investigate fraud and some violent crimes disappeared to chase terrorism leads.

Washington's U.S. attorney, Jeffrey A. Taylor, acknowledges a steady decline in prosecutions in the federal courthouse by his office over the past five years but says that, because of an increase in cases this year, the decline is closer to 40 or 45 percent. And he says the federal numbers do not reflect a rise in his office's prosecution of some crimes in D.C. Superior Court.

Taylor said the downward trend, which has been more pronounced in the past two years, reflects his office's decision to marshal scarce resources and target the most serious white-collar criminals and the leaders of homicidal drug gangs in federal court.

"If it was just about bringing up the numbers, we could flood the federal courthouse with small, stand-alone drug and gun cases," Taylor said. "But it would not be serving justice, it would not be a wise use of resources and it would not be in the interest of public safety for this community."

In several large and well-respected U.S. attorney's offices, budgets, staffs and federal criminal caseloads have shrunk, but not as sharply as in Washington's. The Washington office, the largest in the nation, is unique in that it prosecutes local and federal crimes.

The Southern District of New York, based in Manhattan, as well as federal prosecutors' offices in San Francisco and Detroit have experienced significant drops in the number of defendants they have prosecuted in recent years, according to TRAC, which obtains and analyzes Justice Department enforcement data.

The organization's statistics show federal prosecutions also fell in the past five years in Maryland and in the Eastern District of Virginia, but to a lesser extent than in the District. The U.S. attorney for Maryland, Rod J. Rosenstein, disputed the findings, saying his records show that prosecutions by his office are up.

Nationally, the number of federal prosecutions has risen 13.8 percent in the past five years, largely because of an increase in immigration and national security cases.

Overall, TRAC reported, the number of federal prosecutions in the District fell from 728 in fiscal 2002 to 237 for fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30. White-collar prosecutions fell from 97 in fiscal 2002 to an estimated 39 in fiscal 2007. Public corruption cases dropped during the same period from 27 to five, TRAC reported.

Taylor said he is proud of the office's selectivity in targeting cases for federal court. He stressed that his office continues to aggressively pursue all solid gun or drug cases.