Washington, DC (October 18, 1996) -- "You'll notice that the federal districts with the highest rates of drug prosecution referrals are fairly rural, with low urban populations. They do not have large county and municipal budgets. Forming federal-local drug task forces helps bring federal tax dollars to small town police and sheriff's offices, not to mention providing the federal nexus for drug asset forfeiture, in which 90 percent of the proceeds of a federal forfeiture are returned to the seizing police agency. In Mississippi and West Virginia, two states with the highest percentages of federal drug prosecutions, drug investigations contribute significantly to local law enforcement budgets.
"Is this a misuse of valuable federal law enforcement resources? Maybe. In the areas with the highest rates of referral, if it weren't for federal drug prosecutions, there would hardly be any federal crimes to prosecute. And in low referral areas, like Los Angeles, which has plenty of drug activity, there would still be plenty of federal crimes like bank robbery and health care fraud to keep federal authorities and the U.S. Attorney's Office busy as bees, even without federal drug prosecutions in the mix."
Judy Clarke is Executive Director of Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho, and is a nationally-recognized expert and lecturer on federal criminal law and procedure. She is currently co-counsel with Quin Denvir, Federal Defender of Sacramento, Cal., in United States v. Kaczynski, the UNABOM case. Last year, Ms. Clarke returned to her home state to defend Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother convicted of drowning her two children. Smith was spared the death penalty.
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The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal legal system.
