Administration of Justice Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1996-98 (Letter
Report, 05/01/96, GAO/IAP-96-14).

GAO presented its Administration of Justice issue area plan for fiscal
years 1996 through 1998.

GAO plans to: (1) assess federal progress in implementing major crime
control initiatives and enforcement programs; (2) identify ways to
improve federal, state, and local enforcement efforts; (3) analyze
enforcement budgets and identify opportunities for resource
consolidation and cost savings; (4) focus on future incarceration
trends; (5) ensure that prison construction standards are developed and
implemented; (6) ensure that the Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) is addressing management weaknesses and improving its enforcement
activities against illegal and criminal aliens; (7) recommend actions
that INS can take to improve alien services; (8) determine the
effectiveness of Customs' drug interdiction and trade enforcement
efforts; and (9) determine if Customs is maximizing its opportunities to
reduce costs and generate revenue.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  IAP-96-14
     TITLE:  Administration of Justice Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 
             1996-98
      DATE:  05/01/96
   SUBJECT:  Law enforcement
             Illegal aliens
             Correctional facilities
             Government facility construction
             Crimes or offenses
             Customs administration
             Immigration and naturalization law
             Intergovernmental relations
             Cost control
             Federal aid for criminal justice
IDENTIFIER:  NAFTA
             North American Free Trade Agreement
             Customs' Cargo Compliance Measurement Program
             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


General Government Division

May 1996

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE ISSUE
AREA PLAN - FISCAL YEARS 1995-97

GAO/IAP-96-14



Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV


FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0

As the investigative arm of Congress and the nation's auditor, the
General Accounting Office is charged with following the federal
dollar wherever it goes.  Reflecting stringent standards of
objectivity and independence, GAO's audits, evaluations, and
investigations promote a more efficient and cost-effective
government; expose waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in federal
programs; help Congress target budget reductions; assess financial
information management; and alert Congress to developing trends that
may have significant fiscal or budgetary consequences.  In fulfilling
its responsibilities, GAO performs original research and uses
hundreds of databases or creates its own when information is
unavailable elesewhere. 

To ensure that GAO's resources are directed toward the most important
issues facing Congress, each of GAO's 32 issue areas develops a
strategic plan that describes the significance of the issues it
addresses, its objectives, and the focus of its work.  Each issue
area relies heavily on input from congressional committees, agency
officials, and subject-matter experts in developing its strategic
plan. 

The Administration of Justice issue area covers the Department of
Justice, the Department of the Treasury's investigative agencies, the
judicial branch of the federal government, and several independent
agencies.  GAO's work in the justice area generally seeks to improve
the efficiency and effectiveness of the justice system.  The
principal issues in the justice area are

  -- federal law enforcement's response, in partnership with state
     and local governments, to violent crime, drugs, and other major
     threats facing society;

  -- the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal judicial and
     corrections systems, as well as federal aid to state courts and
     prison systems;

  -- the Immigration and Naturalization Service's ability to support
     its enforcement and service delivery missions; and

  -- the U.S.  Customs Service's effectiveness in implementing its
     drug interdiction mission, fulfilling its trade enforcement
     mission, and collecting appropriate revenues. 

In the pages that follow, we describe our planned work relating to
these issues. 


Events in the justice area tend to move swiftly.  Therefore, we
designed a flexible planning process that will allow us to respond
quickly to emerging issues.  If you have any questions or suggestions
about this plan, please call me at (202) 512-3610. 

Norman J.  Rabkin
Director, Administration of
 Justice Issues


CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1


   FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1

1


   TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2

4


   TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3

6


   TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:4

7


TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
============================================================ Chapter 2

Issue                         Significance
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
Law enforcement: How can      Crime has become one of the foremost concerns of
federal law enforcement,      the American public. To address this concern,
working with state and local  Congress has made federal offenses of many crimes
governments, more             involving drugs and firearms and increased the
efficiently and effectively   Department of Justice's (DOJ) and the Department
respond to violent crime,     of the Treasury's budgets to investigate and
drugs, and other major        prosecute them. Congress also has made billions of
threats facing society?       dollars available to states and localities to help
                              them combat violent and other crime in their
                              communities. In addition, the President in his
                              1996 State of the Union message cited violent
                              crime, gangs, and drugs as major challenges facing
                              America; proposed several strategies; and called
                              for a federal, state, and local partnership to
                              address the crime problem.







Adjudication and              Increasing the scope of federal crimes and DOJ's
corrections: What can be      resources to investigate and prosecute them has
done to improve the           created tremendous demands on the federal
efficiency and effectiveness  judiciary and corrections systems. For example,
of federal courts and the     criminal trials in district courts have increased
corrections system, as well   24 percent since 1989. While both the Judiciary
as federal aid to state       and Bureau of Prisons (BOP) have received more
courts and prison systems,    resources, including 85 more federal judges and
given the increasing demands  39,000 more prison beds since 1989, questions are
placed on them in an era of   being raised about how efficiently the courts and
budget constraints?           prisons are operating. The overall costs of our
                              correctional systems, as a result of our "get
                              tough on crime" policies, has become a significant
                              issue.







Immigration: What actions     Reflecting the increased public concern over
can strengthen the            increasing legal and illegal immigration, criminal
Immigration and               activity by these illegal aliens, and INS'
Naturalization Service's      apparent inability to effectively enforce
(INS) ability to enforce      immigration laws, the federal government is
immigration laws and enhance  increasing INS' resources. The President's fiscal
service delivery?             year 1996 budget of $2.6 billion for INS was
                              almost a 25-percent increase over 1995. However,
                              INS' past management record raises questions about
                              its ability to properly spend these funds. For
                              example, backlogs of applications continue to
                              grow.




Customs: Is the U.S. Customs  The U.S. Customs Service enforces the nation's
Service effectively           trade laws and generates the second highest amount
performing its drug           of revenue annually--about $26 billion in fiscal
interdiction mission,         year 1995. Customs faces increased demands from
fulfilling its trade          recent trade agreements (NAFTA and GATT), its
enforcement mission, and      involvement in drug interdiction activities, and
collecting appropriate        pressure from domestic and foreign businesses to
revenues?                     facilitate the movement of goods and people across
                              U.S. borders. Customs has undertaken a major
                              reorganization effort to more efficiently and
                              effectively satisfy these competing demands and is
                              investing in a $100 million modern information
                              system.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objectives                    Focus of work
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
 Assess federal progress in  Assess progress of DOJ's major crime control
implementing major crime      initiatives, including violent crime and drug
control initiatives and       enforcement.
enforcement programs.         Evaluate efforts to stem money laundering and the
                              illegal possession of firearms.
Identify ways, such as       Assess federal support for community policing and
"best practices," to improve  other local crime control efforts.
federal assistance to and     Analyze DOJ/Treasury enforcement budgets to
cooperation with state/       identify potential savings.
local enforcement efforts to
combat serious crime.

Develop approaches/
methodologies for analyzing
enforcement budgets and
identify opportunities for
resource consolidation and
cost savings.



Report periodically to       Analyze budgets to identify major drivers of
Congress on the judiciary     judiciary and BOP workload and cost growth, and
initiatives to increase       assess initiatives to reduce cost.
efficiency and "best          Assess impact of criminal cases on judiciary
practices," including         workload, resource needs, and civil case
automation reforms.           processing.
                              Assess state practices that may be applicable to
 Focus attention on future   federal court and prison operations.
incarceration trends.         Describe the projected costs of prisons to house
                              the future inmate population.
 Ensure that the 1994 Crime
Bill prison construction
standards have been
developed and implemented.




Ensure that INS is           Assess INS' management system and organizational
addressing previously         changes
identified management         Evaluate the process for identifying and removing
weaknesses.                   criminal aliens.
                              Assess the implementation of border control
Identify ways INS can        initiatives.
improve its enforcement       Evaluate initiatives to enforce Immigration
efforts against illegal and   Reform and Control Act work provisions.
criminal aliens.              Evaluate INS' provision of services to legal
                              aliens and effectiveness in denying benefits to
Recommend steps INS can      illegal aliens.
take to improve services to
the aliens entitled to them.

Determine the effectiveness  Evaluate Customs' drug interdiction and
of Customs' drug              investigative efforts.
interdiction and              Assess Customs' cargo compliance measurement
investigative efforts.        program, in-bond transfers, and trade enforcement
                              versus facilitation efforts.
 Determine the               Assess the adequacy of Customs' current user fee
effectiveness of Customs'     system.
cargo and trade enforcement
efforts.

 Determine if Customs is
maximizing its opportunities
to reduce costs and generate
fee revenue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3

Issue                         Planned major job starts
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
Law enforcement               Justice and Treasury policies, procedures, and
                              controls for developing and approving arrest and
                              search warrants
                              Community policing "best practices"
                              Reauthorization of the Office of National Drug
                              Control Policy
                              Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' efforts
                              to detect criminal sources of firearms
                              Survey of Justice and Treasury law enforcement
                              budgets to identify programs and activities
                              involving potential unnecessary duplication and
                              overlap



Adjudication and              Follow up on judiciary initiatives to reduce
corrections                   costs and spread best practices
                              The Judiciary's ability to manage growth in
                              supervised release
                              Judiciary implementation of automation fund
                              reforms for fiscal year 1997 reauthorization
                              Issues, such as costs and accountability,
                              involved in prison privatization
                              Trends in federal and state incarceration costs



Immigration                   Institutional Hearing Program to deport criminal
                              aliens after incarceration
                              Border enforcement activities at ports of entry
                              Efforts to implement employer sanctions
                              Efforts to establish a verification system to
                              determine employment eligibility
                              Efforts to improve processing of aliens'
                              applications



Customs                       Analyze Customs' efforts to interdict drugs,
                              including its air and marine programs.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
============================================================ Chapter 4


      DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.1

Norman J.  Rabkin (202) 512-3610


      ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.2

Laurie E.  Ekstrand (202) 512-8787


      ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.3

James M.  Blume (202) 512-8643
Danny R.  Burton (214) 777-5741
Darryl W.  Dutton (213) 346-8086
Daniel C.  Harris (202) 512-8720
William O.  Jenkins, Jr.  (202) 512-8757
Weldon McPhail (202) 512-8644
Evi L.  Rezmovic (202) 512-2580

*** End of document. ***