Congressional Research Service Reports - 523 Matching Results

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Fifth Amendment Privilege Against SelfIncrimination May Not Be Extended in Cases Where Only a Foreign Prosecution Is Possible

Description: Several courts in the various circuits have considered whether the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination applies to fear of incrimination in foreign countries, and they have come to divergent conclusions. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in United States v. Balsys, and on June 25, 1998, decided that a witness may not invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in which only a foreign prosecution is possible. This report provides background on… more
Date: July 16, 1998
Creator: Wallace, Paul S., Jr.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The International Criminal Court Treaty: Description, Policy Issues, and Congressional Concerns

Description: This report discusses the events leading to the creation of a permanent international criminal tribunal and U.S. perspectives on the Court including: problematic provisions in the ICC Treaty, congressional considerations, and potential implications for U.S. foreign policy.
Date: January 6, 1999
Creator: Grigorian, Ellen
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Description: This report gives an overview of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which was intended to prohibit bribery of foreign officials by American corporations. It includes information about the original legislation, amendments in 1988, and amendments in 1998 that brought the legislation into conformance with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's agreement on bribery.
Date: March 3, 1999
Creator: Seitzinger, Michael V.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Gun Industry Liability: Lawsuits and Legislation

Description: This report discusses gun industry liability issues after the Maryland Court of Appeals announced that it was changing the common law "to hold the manufacturers and marketers of Saturday Night Special handguns strictly liable to innocent persons who suffer gunshot injuries from the criminal use of their products." Kelley v. R.G. Industries, Inc., 497 A.2d 1143, 1159 (Md. 1985).
Date: March 30, 1999
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Crime and Forfeiture: The Innocent Third Party

Description: Forfeiture has survived through time in American law, and since 1984, the use of forfeiture statutes to divest felons of their spoils has increased substantially. This report reviews the case law which raises the issue concerning many relative to whether some civil forfeiture proceedings constitute punishment which may violate the Eighth Amendment's excessive fines clause.
Date: June 29, 1999
Creator: Wallace, Paul S., Jr.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes: An Overview of Legislation in the 106th Congress

Description: This report discusses federal mandatory minimum sentencing statutes, which demand that execution or incarceration follow criminal conviction. They cover drug dealing, murdering federal officials, and using a gun to commit a federal crime. They circumscribe judicial sentencing discretion. They have been criticized as unthinkingly harsh and incompatible with a rational sentencing guideline system; yet they have also been embraced as hallmarks of truth in sentence and a certain means of incapacita… more
Date: January 11, 2001
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Terrorism Legislation: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001

Description: This report discusses wiretapping and other controversial issues as a part of USA PATRIOT Act which bolsters the ability of federal authorities to conduct criminal and intelligence investigations, to bar and expel foreign terrorists from the United States, to separate terrorists from their sources of financial support, to punish acts of terrorism, and to address the needs of the direct victims of the events of September 11.
Date: October 26, 2001
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Selected Procedural Safeguards in Federal, Military, and International Courts

Description: This report compares selected procedural safeguards employed in criminal trials in federal criminal court with parallel protective measures in military general courts-martial, military commissions as authorized under the Military Order of November 13, and, as a possible benchmark of international standards, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Date: January 30, 2002
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Federal Grand Jury

Description: This report is a brief general description of the federal grand jury, with particular emphasis on its more controversial aspects—relationship of the prosecutor and the grand jury, the rights of grand jury witnesses, grand jury secrecy, and rights of targets of a grand jury investigation.
Date: February 5, 2002
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Capital Punishment: An Overview of Federal Death Penalty Statutes

Description: This report lists the current federal capital offenses and summarizes the procedures for federal civilian death penalty cases. Several laws are relevant to the topic including: P.L. 103-322, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994; the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996; and P.L. 107-197, the Terrorist Bombings Convention Implementation Act of 2002.
Date: July 23, 2002
Creator: Bazan, Elizabeth B.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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First Responder Initiative: Policy Issues and Options

Description: Following the terrorist attacks of September 2001, Congress has given considerable attention to the role of first responders in the nation’s homeland security efforts. This report discusses the “First Responder Initiative”, a recent proposal by the Bush Administration to help state and local first responders prepare for possible terrorist attacks.
Date: October 7, 2002
Creator: Canada, Ben
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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First Responder Initiative: Policy Issues and Options

Description: This report discusses the “First Responder Initiative,” a proposed block grant program to help state and local first responders prepare for possible terrorist attacks. Under the Administration proposal, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would administer the program, which, if approved, would provide $3.5 billion to states and localities.
Date: December 11, 2002
Creator: Canada, Ben
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Homeland Security - Reducing the Vulnerability of Public and Private Information Infrastructures to Terrorism: An Overview

Description: This report assesses the impact of September 11, 2001 attack on public and private information infrastructures in the context of critical infrastructure protection,continuity of operation (COP) and homeland security.
Date: December 12, 2002
Creator: Seifert, Jeffrey W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Combating Terrorism: First Emergency Supplemental Appropriations - Distribution of Funds to Departments and Agencies

Description: This report provides background on the 2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States, P.L. 107-38 (H.R. 2888) as well as the criteria for use of the funds developed by The Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It also outlines information about supplemental fund distributions in three tables.
Date: January 7, 2003
Creator: Riehl, James R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statues Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping

Description: This report provides an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping. It also appends citations to state law in the area and contains a bibliography of legal commentary as well as the text of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This report also includes a brief summary of the recently expired Protect America Act, P.L. 110-55 and of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of … more
Date: January 13, 2003
Creator: Stevens, Gina & Doyle, Charles
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program: An Overview

Description: This report provides an overview of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which provides financial assistance to eligible police departments to help improve community policing efforts. It includes a brief discussion of the establishment of the program, guidelines and requirements for grantees, and a summary of various Department of Justice initiatives under the COPS program.
Date: March 6, 2003
Creator: Teasley, David & O'Bryant, JoAnne
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Drug Control: International Policy and Approaches

Description: This report discusses various U.S. international narcotics policy approaches meant to achieve two main goals: to reduce the supply of illicit narcotics flowing into the United States, and to reduce the amount of illicit narcotics cultivated, processed, and consumed worldwide.
Date: March 6, 2003
Creator: Perl, Raphael
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes: An Overview of Legislation in the 107th Congress

Description: This report examines legislation in the 107th Congress pertaining to federal mandatory minimum sentencing statutes (mandatory minimums), which demand that execution or incarceration follow criminal conviction. They cover drug dealing and using a gun to commit a federal crime, among other crimes.
Date: April 17, 2003
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Obscenity and Indecency: Constitutional Principles and Federal Statutes

Description: This report examines federal law regarding obscenity and indecency. The First Amendment provides: “Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” In general, the First Amendment protects pornography, with this term being used to mean any erotic material. The Supreme Court, however, has held that the First Amendment does not protect two types of pornography: obscenity and child pornography. Consequently, they may be banned on the basis of their content, and fede… more
Date: May 2, 2003
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Missing and Exploited Children: Overview and Policy Concerns

Description: This report presents an overview of two national incidence studies prepared by Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to determine annually the number of reported missing and recovered children in the nation. It also discusses the AMBER Alert System created to help recover reported missing children, legislation introduced in the 108th Congresses to address the missing children issue, and questions that remain regarding concerns about missing children. S. 151, the Prosecut… more
Date: May 13, 2003
Creator: Cooper, Edith Fairman
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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First Responder Initiative: Policy Issues and Options

Description: This report provides background information and policy analysis pertinent to proposals to restructure first responder assistance programs. Specifically, this report provides information on existing programs, appropriations, legislation in the 107th and 108th Congress, and selected policy issues. This report does not discuss all relevant policy issues, but, rather, those issues that may be germane to any significant restructuring of existing programs.
Date: June 4, 2003
Creator: Canada, Ben
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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First Responder Initiative: Policy Issues and Options

Description: This report provides background information and policy analysis pertinent to proposals to restructure first responder assistance programs. Specifically, this report provides information on existing programs, appropriations, legislation in the 108th Congress, and selected policy issues. This report does not discuss all relevant policy issues, but, rather, those issues that may be germane to any significant restructuring of existing programs.
Date: June 19, 2003
Creator: Canada, Ben
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Missing and Exploited Children: Overview and Policy Concerns

Description: This report presents an overview of two national incidence studies prepared by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to determine annually the number of reported missing and recovered children in the nation. It also discusses the AMBER Alert System created to help recover reported missing children, legislation introduced in the 108th Congresses to address the missing children issue, and questions that remain regarding concerns about missing children.
Date: June 25, 2003
Creator: Cooper, Edith Fairman
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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