Protecting Civil Liberties and Privacy

In addition to combating terrorism and fighting traditional crime, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is responsible for ensuring the fair administration of justice by protecting civil rights and civil liberties across all of its missions and functions. In some cases, the department has had long-standing obligations, such as fighting discrimination in voting and housing. In other cases in a post 9/11 environment, it has faced new responsibilities in protecting civil rights and civil liberties while implementing new counterterrorism tools and authorities. All of these responsibilities have posed a variety of challenges, such as the following:

• Concerns have been raised about how DOJ's Civil Rights Division carried out its enforcement responsibilities under a broad range of laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin (i.e., protected classes). GAO identified that the Division does not require sections to capture data on the protected class and subject of matters and cases—information that is key to ensuring that the Division executes its charge to enforce statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of protected class. Moreover, the Division does not require sections to capture information on the reasons that matters are closed. Further, the Division had not assessed the performance of its case management system since fiscal year 2006 and lacks documentation of its prior assessments.

  Full Report ofGAO-09-938R (PDF), Highlights of GAO-10-75 (PDF), Highlights of GAO-10-256T (PDF)

• Individuals advocating on behalf of crime victims have raised concerns that the criminal justice system has overlooked the individual interests and needs of victims and has limited victims' access to and participation in the prosecution of their cases, and Congress passed the Crime Victims' Rights Act in 2004 (CVRA) to address some of these issues. GAO has identified challenges DOJ and the courts have faced in implementing the provisions of this act.
• For example, while DOJ and the federal judiciary have take steps to increase victim's awareness of CVRA enforcement mechanisms including processes for victims to (1) submit complaints against DOJ employees who have allegedly violated or not provided rights to a crime victim and (2) assert their rights in court, the majority of victims GAO surveyed reported that they were not aware that these mechanisms exist.

  Highlights of GAO-09-54 (PDF)

• Concerns have been raised about the extent to which the department and components have accounted for privacy and civil liberties protections in utilizing sophisticated analytical techniques—such as data mining and analysis to uncover hidden patterns and relationships—that support the detection, identification, and tracking of individuals or entities that pose threats to the United States.

  Highlights of GAO-06-777T (PDF), Highlights of GAO-05-866 (PDF)

• DOJ has made strides in combating the crime of human trafficking as part of its efforts to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans. However, more collaborative and proactive strategies are needed to advance and expand U.S. efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking.

  Highlights of GAO-07-915 (PDF)

^ Back to topWhat Needs to Be Done

• Congress and the administration will need to be vigilant to ensure that the department maintains privacy and civil liberties protections within its long-standing and traditional missions and builds in protections as it addresses 21st century challenges with new tools and authorities.

  Highlights of GAO-08-603 (PDF), Highlights of GAO-06-777T (PDF), and Highlights of GAO-05-325SP (PDF)

• To strengthen DOJ's ability to manage and report on the Civil Rights Division's enforcement efforts, the Division needs to take several key actions. First, the Division needs to capture information on protected class and subject in its case management system in order to facilitate reporting of this information to Congress. Pursuant to a memorandum dated November 25, 2009, as of January, 2010 all Division Sections would be required to record data in both the protected class and subject fields of the Division’s official case management system. As a result, the Division can provide better accountability to Congress on its enforcement efforts. Also, as the Division considers options to address its case management system needs, it needs to determine how sections should be required to record data on the reasons for closing matters in the system in order to be able to systematically assess and take actions to address issues identified. Finally, the Division needs to conduct annual assessments of its case management system and ensure that these assessments are documented and maintained so they can be used to improve the performance of the system.

  Full Report ofGAO-09-938R (PDF), Highlights of GAO-10-75 (PDF), Highlights of GAO-10-256T (PDF)

• DOJ needs to explore opportunities to enhance publicity of the victim complaint process, such as by requiring all relevant components to incorporate this information on their Web sites, to help ensure that all victims are made aware of it. DOJ needs to also establish a mechanism for informing all victims of their ability to assert their CVRA rights. DOJ has established a working group to address these issues and anticipates the development of additional guidance in these areas.

  Highlights of GAO-09-54 (PDF)

• With respect to combating the crime of human trafficking, a strategic framework will be necessary to ensure DOJ resources are being expended with the greatest return on investment and to sustain and expand a coordinated effort to investigate and prosecute these crimes.

  Highlights of GAO-07-915 (PDF)

^ Back to topKey Reports

Information Sharing

U.S. Department of Justice

Crime Victims' Rights Act

Privacy

Human Trafficking

Privacy

Data Mining

21st Century Challenges

Civil Rights Division

Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Use of National Security Letters,

(Washington, D.C.: March 2007).

Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, The Department of Justice's Victim Notification System, 08-04

(Washington, D.C.: January 2008).

DOJ Inspector General Report 08-04

More Reports