Month: May 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Amy. I am very happy to join you and Nancy today. I want to commend you and the entire OJP leadership team for putting science at the top of our nation’s public safety and justice agenda.

Nancy, thank you for your work leading NIJ and for creating this opportunity for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to gather under the same roof to discuss some of the most important criminal justice issues of our time. For 55 years, NIJ has been serving as the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. NIJ’s efforts to improve knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues through science and to ensure that information reaches decision-makers on the ground, could not be more important or more timely.

I also want to express my appreciation to everyone here for all you do to make that important connection between knowledge and practice. The public safety challenges we are facing in this country are complex.

There are no quick answers or simple solutions. And we know all too well that when we don’t make the effort to properly study causes, and when we fail to thoughtfully anticipate consequences, we are doomed to short-lived success, at best. Sometimes, we may even do more harm than good.

But when we do take the time and effort to study initiatives, programs, and services, it can help bring meaningful and lasting change. Research has shown us the value of diversion and alternatives to detention as ways to improve outcomes and increase public safety. Research has played a key role in shifting the full burden of responding to behavioral health issues away from law enforcement and toward trained treatment providers in appropriate cases. And research has helped us take note of the power of community-based actors in securing public health and safety.

These are encouraging developments that are reaping rewards, and we can thank researchers and science-minded professionals like all of you for putting us and keeping us on the right path.

We are generating momentum toward a justice system that is evidence-based and, thus, more just and effective, and we must continue to build on this progress. You have heard and will hear throughout this conference how researchers and practitioners are working together to address many of our most pressing problems. From my perspective, there are some sizeable additional challenges that research can help us meet – and thanks to NIJ investments, we are already taking the necessary first steps.

I’ll begin with policing.

Law enforcement is in the midst of a recruitment and retention crisis. Research highlights the urgency of diversity as a focus for recruitment and retention, including gender diversity. Women make up just 12% of our nation’s officers, and only 3% of police executives – numbers that have remained stagnant for decades. Yet studies show that we have so much to gain by having more women in law enforcement. With decisions and policies informed by that evidence, we can look toward a more inclusive and promising future for the profession.

As law enforcement leaders across the country fight to retain qualified and experienced personnel, that takes a toll on morale and officer health. Ripple effects extend into communities, fraying the bonds of police-community trust, which in turn undermines public safety.

Research has shown that the greatest source of occupational strain for law enforcement officers isn’t trauma, but routine stressors like overtime work, low pay, chronic fatigue  and a lack of emotional and psychological support.

Research from NIJ confirms that shift work — one of the traditional mainstays of policing – is one of the greatest contributors to poor officer health. Research like that helps better our understanding of the issue and inform solutions.

We also need evidence to help us assess what we can and should expect from the police. Law enforcement officers and agents today are called on to do more than ever. America’s ongoing overdose crisis and the growing prevalence of mental health disorders are driving more and more people into contact with the justice system, putting additional strain on our public safety officers.

Many communities are deploying models of response that pair law enforcement with behavioral health specialists. And through NIJ, the Justice Department is prioritizing research around community response models as a critical part of our investment in these strategies.

NIJ is making $9 million available to support evaluations of these approaches and to provide greater insights into law enforcement wellness and accountability measures.

Another way to relieve the burden on police is to focus on community-based and community-led responses to violent crime. Research shows that by engaging with the community to develop violence reduction strategies, we can benefit from the expertise and relationships of residents and thus be more effective. Our Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative provides the resources to implement these models and includes a meaningful research and evaluation component.

Second, corrections is another area that is ripe for research-informed strategies.

One effort I am thrilled to see coming to fruition is a partnership between NIJ and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which recently released a joint request for proposals (RFP) to examine all facets of the use of restrictive housing in federal facilities. The RFP calls for essential and comprehensive research on BOP’s use of restrictive housing and the identification of recommendations to reduce its use. This is the type of work that makes me proud to serve in this Justice Department, alongside leaders like Nancy and Director Peters of the BOP, who understand the importance of studying and addressing these issues.

As in policing, we know that strategies to retain correctional officers can benefit from improvements in workplace culture and climate. I am excited to share that just moments ago, NIJ and BJA released complementary solicitations, for a total of $7 million, to support research on and — we hope — transformation of correctional culture and climate.

BJA is seeking a provider to support agencies’ efforts to create safer and more humane environments for people who work, visit, and are confined there. And NIJ is inviting in rigorous evaluations of these models. In fact, this conference features one such model, Restoring Promise, that NIJ-sponsored research has found to be effective in improving conditions while reducing violence. I am excited about the potential of both of these solicitations, and the collective impact they will have on the field.

Finally, there is another crisis we are looking to researchers to help us confront. Sadly, crimes fomented by hate and bias are on the rise in this country. Data from the FBI show that hate crime incidents rose almost 12% in 2021, the most recent year for which we have federal data. We desperately need a better understanding of where hate originates and what leads to its violent expression.

With funding from NIJ, researchers gathered almost three decades worth of hate crimes data and analyzed it to help identify the pathways to the commission of these crimes. They found a wide diversity of motives, but certain patterns emerge that can give us important clues to prevention. For example, people who committed mass violent hate attacks were found to have high rates of poor work performance and documented mental health issues.

Findings from these and other studies can help us tailor our policies and practices and point us in the direction of solutions. The Department of Justice has sought to combat unlawful acts of hate since its founding more than a century-and-a-half ago. We are building on that work with new tools and funding resources, including more than $3 million in additional funding available for research and evaluation to better understand what works to prevent hate crimes. NIJ’s research solicitation is now open and will close at the end of this month.

The challenges we face in criminal justice — from improving the health and integrity of the law enforcement profession to building police-community trust to rooting out hate—will require a focused and collective commitment on the part of each and every one of us, and we will need to lean on evidence to guide our decisions.

Public safety and equal justice are goals worthy of the most rigorous study and deliberation, and you are all key to the success of this enterprise. I am grateful for your wisdom and leadership, for your dedication to applying evidence to action, and for all you do to build an informed, effective and humane system of justice — one that serves every American equally and well.

Thank you.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Amy, for that kind introduction. And thank you for your leadership of the Office of Justice Programs and its science agencies.

And thank you, Nancy La Vigne, Director of the National Institute of Justice, for having the vision to bring this conference back after a 12-year hiatus.

I particularly like the conference theme: “Evidence to Action.”

Far too often, research findings do not reach the people who can best use them to improve outcomes for individuals and communities. 

This conference – which brings together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers – gives us an opportunity to bridge that divide.

I also want to recognize Alex Piquero, the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Alex, I know that you and Nancy are making important efforts to reach a diverse set of practitioner and policymaker audiences throughout the country. Thank you both.

And thank you to the staff of NIJ – representing scientists, grant managers, communications professionals, and operations team members.

I know that planning this gathering represents just a fraction of the work you are doing every day. I am grateful to each of you.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to all of our partners who are here today.

You are taking time away from your work and home to exchange knowledge and identify new ways that research evidence can improve criminal justice policies and practices.

Welcome. And thank you for being here.

The Justice Department has a broad and wide-ranging mission: to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights.

In pursuit of that mission, and together with our partners in communities and law enforcement agencies across the country, we work to meet some of the most urgent challenges our country faces.

Good data and sound science are essential to every part of that effort.

Research is essential to the development of new technologies, policies, and programs that help the Justice Department fulfill its mission.

And rigorous evaluation helps tell us what works. Importantly, it also tells us how and why programs work, so we can replicate and build on their success.

For example, when it comes to keeping our country safe, we know that research and data are critical tools in our fight against gun violence.

Professionals across the Department are involved in our work to prevent and combat gun violence.

Experts from the ATF work every day with their state and local partners to coordinate comprehensive crime gun tracing and ballistics evidence analysis.

Our prosecutors bring cases against those responsible for the greatest violence.

And we invest in evidence-informed, community-centered initiatives aimed at preventing and disrupting that violence.

Earlier this year, I traveled to St. Louis where the Department hosted our partners for a first-of-its-kind convening on community violence intervention strategies.

As I said at that meeting, the Department is encouraging grantees to collaborate with researchers to conduct rigorous evaluations of their program models.

We know that research will help us build more effective programs that are rooted in a deeper understanding of effective violence reduction strategies.

NIJ grantees are on the frontlines of this work.

For example, NIJ has invested resources in the development of “Risk Terrain Modeling,” an analytic method that helps local governments better understand the relationship between a community’s physical conditions and crime.

Through this method, cities can develop tailored strategies to prevent and disrupt violence in collaboration with the people experiencing it.

Grantees have also conducted essential research related to understanding, and preventing, mass shootings.

This includes the development of a mass attack defense toolkit.

That toolkit is an evidence-informed guide to deterring, detecting, and stopping plots to commit mass shootings and other mass attacks.

Researchers studying the tragedy of mass shootings in schools have identified the impact of measures like threat assessments, tip lines, and safe storage of firearms in reducing the risk of those shootings.

NIJ’s grantees also have a critical role to play in the Department’s effort to protect our communities from deadly fentanyl.

Research featured at this conference demonstrates the value of methods for the early detection of emerging drugs that are subject to misuse.

Those methodologies can aid in understanding and addressing national challenges like the fentanyl epidemic.

I also appreciate the growing body of research by NIJ grantees studying officer wellness, training, and accountability.

This knowledge will help guide our efforts to provide the support that police officers need and to help build trust between police and the communities they serve.

As I have said many times to the Justice Department’s workforce, our responsibility to uphold the rule of law is one that must guide all of our work.

The rule of law dictates that our prosecutors treat like cases alike, that there not be one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless; one rule for the rich and another for the poor.

The rule of law dictates that we apply the law in a way that respects the Constitution.

I am grateful that NIJ has funded research on how prosecutors can better use data to drive decision-making in the pursuit of those principles and achieve more just outcomes.

Finally, I am grateful for the work NIJ grantees have done to help the Department fulfill its founding purpose to protect civil rights.

Grantees have conducted important research that strengthens our efforts to combat and prevent hate crimes, improve hate crimes reporting, and address the needs of victims.

In short, across the wide breadth of the Department’s responsibilities – your work informs ours.

I know the efforts I have noted are just a small sample of the work being done by NIJ’s grantees across the country and by so many of you in this room.

I am sorry that I can’t mention every single one.

But I can say that we are grateful to count everyone in this room as our partner in upholding the rule of law, keeping our country safe, and protecting civil rights.

Thank you for being here today.

I look forward to our continued work together in the days ahead.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Columbia, South Carolina, return preparer and regional manager of multiple tax preparation business locations pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the United States by preparing and filing false tax returns.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Georgina Gonzalez, formerly of Miami, Florida, worked as a tax return preparer since at least 2013. For the 2016 and 2017 tax filing seasons, Gonzalez temporarily relocated from Florida to South Carolina to prepare tax returns and manage multiple locations of a tax preparation business located in Columbia, South Carolina. At these offices, Gonzalez conspired with others to inflate client refunds by preparing returns that falsely claimed, among other things, business losses, household help income, and American Opportunity and education tax credits. Gonzalez and her co-conspirators charged clients up to $999 for preparing each return. In total, Gonzalez caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $420,000.

Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution, and other monetary penalties. U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs for the District of South Carolina made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Ashley Stein, Francesca Bartolomey, and Jessica Kraft of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday of the District of South Carolina are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Sheldon Marbley, 44, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to federal charges of distribution of fentanyl and cocaine, admitting that he distributed the drugs to customers in Southwest Washington, D.C. The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Special Agent in Charge Jarod A. Forget, of the Washington Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Interim Chief Ashan M. Benedict, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 

            Marbley pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper scheduled a sentencing hearing for September 7, 2023. Under the terms of the plea agreement, which is subject to the Court’s approval, Marbley is to be sentenced to 240 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release.

            According to evidence presented in court, Marbley admitted that he distributed fentanyl and cocaine to a male and female, both of whom subsequently died from consuming the fentanyl and cocaine that Marbley provided. Marbley also admitted that he distributed fentanyl and cocaine to another male and female, and they suffered serious bodily injury as a result of consuming the fentanyl and cocaine that Marbley provided.

            As part of his plea agreement, Marbley acknowledged that on the morning of January 28, 2022, and in the days thereafter, Emergency Medical Service and MPD officers responded to at least 13 fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses located near the area of First and O Street, S.W. in Washington D.C. Marbley admitted that, on that morning, he had distributed fentanyl and cocaine from the driver’s seat of a vehicle in Southwest Washington. Closed-circuit television (“CCTV”) footage from that morning depicts numerous individuals approaching the front driver’s side of the vehicle and appearing to engage in narcotics purchases. 

            After the mass overdose event on January 28, 2022, Marbley went to stay at the residence of another drug user and customer, where he continued to possess with the intent to distribute narcotics until he was arrested in the customer’s apartment building on March 23, 2022. Marbley knew that his prior drug distributions resulted in several overdoses resulting in serious bodily injury and death.

            This case was investigated by the DEA Washington Division and the Metropolitan Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David T. Henek and Andy Wang and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah J. Rasalam, of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal correctional officer at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin (FCI Dublin) made his first appearance before the Northern District of California after a federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment charging him for sexually abusing three female inmates in his custody.

According to the indictment, Darrell Wayne Smith, 54, now residing in Florida, was employed at FCI Dublin as a correctional officer when he engaged in sexual acts and sexual contact with three female inmates who were then serving prison sentences. The indictment describes 12 incidents between May 2019 and May 2021 during which Smith allegedly engaged in illegal sexual contact and acts with his victims, including digitally penetrating a victim’s anus by use of force.

“The charges announced today are the latest in the Justice Department’s campaign to root out sexual misconduct within the Bureau of Prisons,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “As alleged, Darrell Smith exploited his authority to sexually abuse three vulnerable victims in custody at FCI Dublin. To enforce the BOP’s dual mission of providing a safe, humane environment for those in custody while preparing them to return to society, we will hold accountable all BOP personnel who abuse their authority.”

“For years, the defendant allegedly used his position of authority, as a federal corrections officer, to commit unspeakable acts of abuse and violence against multiple victims in a correctional institution,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners are committed to aggressively pursuing those who violate the civil rights of others, no matter their rank or title. Nothing can undo the pain inflicted on the victims, but we hope today’s indictment is a further step towards justice.”

“The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General is committed to bringing to justice every single BOP employee at FCI Dublin who sexually abused inmates. To date, those efforts have already included arrests and convictions of FCI Dublin’s former Warden and Chaplain,” said Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. “Today’s indictment alleges brazen and violent sexual assault by Smith and alleges abuse of multiple inmates over several years. As evidenced by these charges, the OIG and FBI investigation remains ongoing, and we will continue to aggressively investigate allegations of abuse at FCI Dublin and across the Federal Bureau of Prisons.”

“This indictment shocks the conscience of anyone reading it,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California. “The alleged conduct falls far below the minimum standards of decency required – much less, the standards of integrity expected – of any Bureau of Prisons employee. Rest assured, the Department will root out any such conduct and prosecute all persons who are responsible.”

Each of the alleged victims is identified in the indictment by initials and was in official detention and under Smith’s custodial, supervisory, and disciplinary authority at the time of the alleged illegal conduct. In addition, each count in the indictment corresponds with one encounter during which Smith allegedly engaged in unlawful sexual acts or contact with one of the victims.

Smith is charged with five counts of sexual abuse of a ward, six counts of abusive sexual contact, and one count of aggravated sexual abuse.

Smith faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted of the aggravated sexual abuse, a maximum of 15 years of in prison for each count of sexual abuse of a ward, and a maximum of two years in prison for each count of abusive sexual contact. In addition, as part of any sentence, the court may order a term of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 for each count, restitution, and additional assessments. A federal district judge will determine sentencing after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Smith was arrested on May 11 and made his initial federal court appearance in the Northern District of Florida on the same day. Smith made his initial Northern District of California appearance this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore. Smith’s next federal court appearance is scheduled for July 10.

DOJ OIG and the FBI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Molly Priedeman and Andrew Paulson for the Northern District of California are prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Leeya Kekona.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.