People's Daily Online : U.S. prosecutors reject 87% of international terrorism cases: report

U.S. prosecutors reject 87% of international terrorism cases: report

November 7, 2006

Federal prosecutors in the United States rejected 87 percent of international terrorism cases brought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during the first nine months of fiscal year 2006, the USA Today newspaper reported on Monday.

The report, citing an analysis by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, said the number of rejections had been generally increasing since 2001.

The rejection rate was 33 percent in fiscal 2001, increasing sharply to around 55 percent in fiscal 2002.

However, during the first nine months of fiscal 2006, up to Sept. 30, the figure soared to 87 percent.

There was a slight decrease for fiscal 2004, according to the report.

The findings were challenged by the Justice Department, which said the analysis represented an "astonishing misunderstanding" of the inner workings of the federal criminal justice system.

"This report contains inaccurate figures, relies on a faulty assumption that every referral from an investigative agency should result in a criminal prosecution and ignores the reality of how the war on terrorism is being conducted," department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse was quoted as saying.

In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Justice Department announced a dramatic transformation of its mission, from a prosecution-driven institution to an agency that emphasized prevention and the development of a domestic intelligence system. Additionally, as a result of the new mission, cases rejected for prosecution did not necessarily close investigations, Roehrkasse said.

The Justice Department had prosecuted 36 international terrorism defendants, nearly double the number reported in the analysis, in the nine-month period, and its rejection rate stood at 67 percent, not 87 percent, he said.

Source: Xinhua