Department of Justice Proposal 
Responding to the Executive Memorandum on 
Fairness in Law Enforcement

Executive Summary

On June 9, 1999, the President issued an executive memorandum to the
Secretary of the Interior, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of the
Treasury directing them "to design and implement a system to collect and
report statistics relating to race, ethnicity, and gender for law enforcement
activities in each department."  

Four tasks were required of the Departments:

(1)  within 120 days of the memorandum, develop a proposal for a
     system of a data collection and implementation plan; 

(2)  within 120 days of the memorandum, prepare a report describing
     training programs, policies, and practices regarding the use of
     race, ethnicity, and gender in law enforcement practices and
     recommendations for improvement;

(3)  to the extent practicable, data sufficiently detailed to permit
     further analysis will be collected on the activities of each
     Department's law enforcement agencies;  

(4)  after data have been collected for one year, prepare a report
     summarizing the information collected during the first year
     including (a) an evaluation of the field test, (b) an implementation
     plan for expanded data collection, and (c) recommendations for
     improving the fair administration of Federal law enforcement
     activities.

The Departments of Interior and Treasury were directed to coordinate the
preparation of their proposals with the Attorney General.  This report is
the Justice Department's response to task (1) and includes summaries of
the other Departments' proposals.


Data Collection

The Department of Justice proposal employs a two-part process.  Part 1
focuses on nonsuspect-specific encounters by the Drug Enforcement
Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.  Part 2
focuses on persons arrested by all DOJ law enforcement agencies and
persons prosecuted by U.S. attorneys.  

Data describing race and ethnicity will be collected in accordance with the
revised OMB Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race
and Ethnicity.

Nonsuspect-specific public encounters

Within the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration
and the Immigration and Naturalization Service were determined to be
the agencies that routinely engage in nonsuspect specific public
encounters on a regular basis.  The  Federal Bureau of Investigations,
U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Prisons do not engage in
nonsuspect specific public encounters.  

As part of the field test required by the Executive Memorandum, a
minimum of 11 data elements will be collected on each nonsuspect-specific
public encounter made by DEA special agents at up to five
airports (Newark; Chicago O'Hare; George Bush Houston; Miami; and
Detroit); two bus stations (Charleston, SC and Sacramento, CA), and two
train stations (Cleveland, OH and Albuquerque, NM); by INS inspectors
at three international airports (John F. Kennedy, George Bush Houston,
and Seattle/Tacoma) and one land border crossing (Del Rio, TX); and by
INS Border Patrol agents operating out of three stations along the
southwest border with Mexico (San Diego, CA; Yuma AZ; and El Paso,
TX).

The data elements to be collected are: (1) date of the encounter; (2) time
of the contact (start); (3) gender; (4) race and ethnicity; (5) national origin;
(6) location of contact; (7) suspected criminal activity; (8) reason(s) for
contact; (9) external sources of information on the person contacted; (10)
law enforcement action taken; (11) time of contact (end).

In addition, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in cooperation with the
National Institute of Justice, will pursue a variety of research and
monitoring techniques to estimate the demographic characteristics of
persons using the transportation facilities and land-border crossings
involved in the field test.

Arrests by Federal law enforcement agencies

The Bureau of Justice Statistics plans to incorporate Federal arrest data
into its ongoing Federal Justice Statistics Program.  Through its Federal
Justice Statistics Program, the Bureau of Justice Statistics currently
compiles Federal criminal case processing data from the U.S. Marshals
Service, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the Administrative Office
of the U.S. Courts, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and the Bureau of
Prisons.  By incorporating arrest data into an existing program, BJS can
ensure that these data are regularly and systematically analyzed and
reported.  The analysis of arrest and prosecution data will assist in
identifying racial or ethnic disparities in Federal law enforcement
agencies' activities related to arrests, prosecutorial decisions, and issues
relating to the sentencing of Federal offenders under the provenance of
the U.S. Attorneys, e.g., motions for downward departures for substantial
assistance to the government.


Overview of Proposals by the Departments of the Interior and the
Treasury

The Departments of the Interior and the Treasury submitted their
proposals to the President under separate cover.  As part of their
proposals, both Departments agreed to collect data in the manner
prescribed by the Department of Justice.  

The Interior data collection system will be field tested by the National
Park Service at seven National Parks (Lake Mead, Yosemite, Grand
Canyon, Glen Canyon, National Expansion Memorial, Indiana Dunes
Lake Shore, Valley Forge Historical Park, and the Delware Water Gap)
and on three Federally-maintained memorial highways (Blue Ridge
Parkway, Natchez Trace Parkway and the Baltimore Washington
Parkway).

The Treasury data collection system will be field tested by the U.S.
Customs Service at five international airports (John F. Kennedy, Newark,
Chicago O'Hare, Miami, and Los Angeles) and by the Uniformed Division
of the Secret Service in Washington, DC.


END OF FILE  10/14/99 PM