Congressional Research Service Reports - 36 Matching Results
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- Body Armor for Law Enforcement Officers: In Brief
- This report contains an overview of the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Initiative (BPV program). It also provides a discussion of data on law enforcement agencies that require their officers to wear armor vests while on duty, research on why officers may choose to wear armor vests, research on the life cycle for armor vests, data on the use of body armor by law enforcement officers who were killed with a firearm, and research on the effectiveness of armor vests.
- D.C. Gun Laws and Proposed Amendments
- In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which declared three firearms provisions of the D.C. Code unconstitutional, a flurry of legislation was introduced both in Congress and in the District of Columbia Council. This report provides an analysis of the District's firearms laws and congressional proposals.
- Can Body Worn Cameras Serve as a Deterrent to Police Misconduct?
- This report discusses various issues regarding body worn cameras (BWCs), including the potential merits, concerns, and financial costs of use. The report also briefly states a possible method for allotting federal funds to help law enforcement agencies purchase BWCs.
- Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center: Legal Issues
- This report provides an overview of major legal issues that are likely to arise as a result of executive and legislative action to close the Guantanamo detention facility. It discusses legal issues related to the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees, the continued detention of such persons in the United States, and the possible removal of persons brought to the United States. It considers selected constitutional issues that may arise in the criminal prosecution of detainees. Issues discussed include detainees’ right to a speedy trial, the prohibition against prosecution under ex post facto laws, and limitations upon the admissibility of hearsay and secret evidence in criminal cases.
- Comparison of Rights in Military Commission Trials and Trials in Federal Criminal Court
- This report provides a brief summary of legal issues raised by the choice of forum for trying accused terrorists and a chart comparing selected military commissions rules under the Military Commissions Act, as amended, to the corresponding rules that apply in federal court.
- Congress' Power to Legislate Control Over Hate Crimes: Selected Legal Theories
- Congress has no power under the commerce clause over “noneconomic, violent criminal conduct” that does not cross state lines said Chief Justice William Rehnquist in United States v. Morrison. Congress, however, enjoys additional legislative powers under the spending clauses and the legislative clauses of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Extensive, if something less than all encompassing, national legislation may be possible under the confluence of authority conveyed by the commerce clause, spending clause, and the legislative clauses of the constitution’s Reconstruction Amendments, provided the limitations of the First, Sixth and Tenth Amendments are observed.
- Cybercrime: An Overview of the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Statute and Related Federal Criminal Laws
- The federal computer fraud and abuse statute, 18 U.S.C. 1030, protects federal computers, bank computers, and computers used in interstate and foreign commerce. It shields them from trespassing, threats, damage, espionage, and from being corruptly used as instruments of fraud. It is not a comprehensive provision, but instead it fills crack and gaps in the protection afforded by other federal criminal laws. This is a brief sketch of section 1030 and some of its federal statutory companions.
- Cybercrime: The Council of Europe Convention
- Forty-three countries, including the United States, have signed the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime of November 2001. The U.S. Senate ratified the Convention on August 3, 2006. The Convention seeks to better combat cybercrime by harmonizing national laws, improving investigative abilities, and boosting international cooperation. Supporters argue that the Convention will enhance deterrence, while critics counter it will have little effect without participation by countries in which cybercriminals operate freely. Others warn it will endanger privacy and civil liberties.
- Cybersecurity: Authoritative Reports and Resources, by Topic
- This report provides references to analytical reports on cybersecurity from CRS, other government agencies, trade associations, and interest groups. The reports and related websites are grouped under a variety of cybersecurity topics.
- Cybersecurity: Cyber Crime Protection Security Act (S. 2111, 112th Congress)— A Legal Analysis
- This report discusses the Cyber Crime Protection Security Act (S. 2111) that would enhance the criminal penalties for the cyber crimes outlawed in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Those offenses include espionage, hacking, fraud, destruction, password trafficking, and extortion committed against computers and computer networks. S. 2111 contains some of the enhancements approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee when it reported the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act (S. 1151), S.Rept. 112-91 (2011).
- Deprivation of Honest Services as a Basis for Federal Mail and Wire Fraud Convictions
- The United States Supreme Court in Skilling v. United States construed the honest services branch of the federal mail and wire fraud statutes to reach no more than cases involving bribery or kickbacks. The mail and wire fraud statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343, impose criminal penalties for the use of mail or interstate wire communications to deprive another of money or property through a "scheme or artifice to defraud." This report discusses wire and mail fraud and examines relevant court cases.
- Detention of U.S. Citizens
- In 1971, Congress passed legislation to repeal the Emergency Detention Act of 1950 and to enact the following language: “No citizen shall be imprisoned or otherwise detained by the United States except pursuant to an Act of Congress.” The new language, codified at 18 U.S.C. §4001(a), is called the Non-Detention Act. This statutory provision received attention after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when the Administration designated certain U.S. citizens as “enemy combatants” and claimed the right to detain them indefinitely without charging them, bringing them to trial, or giving them access to counsel. In litigation over Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla, both designated enemy combatants, the Administration has argued that the Non-Detention Act restricts only imprisonments and detentions by the Attorney General, not by the President or military authorities.
- Environmental Protection: Defense-Related Programs
- The Department of Defense (DOD) operates six environmental programs that address cleanup of past contamination at military facilities, compliance with environmental laws and regulations that apply to current activities, cleanup at military bases being closed, pollution prevention, natural resource conservation, and environmental technology. In addition, the Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for managing defense nuclear waste generated from the past production of atomic materials used to construct nuclear weapons and for remediating contaminated sites. For FY1999, the Administration has requested a total of $10. 14 billion for DOD and DOE's defense-related environmental activities, which represents about 3.7% of the total request of $271.6 billion for national defense and is roughly 1.6% below the FY1998 funding level of $l0.30 billion.
- Federal Habeas Corpus: An Abridged Sketch
- This report discusses federal habeas corpus, which is a procedure under which a federal court may review the legality of an individual’s incarceration. It is most often invoked after conviction and the exhaustion of the ordinary means of appeal. It is at once the last refuge of scoundrels and the last hope of the innocent. It is an intricate weave of statute and case law whose reach has flowed and ebbed over time.
- First Responder Initiative: Policy Issues and Options
- 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.
- Gangs in Central America
- This report describes the gang problem in Central America, discusses country approaches to deal with the gangs, and analyzes U.S. policy with respect to gangs in Central America. It concludes with possible questions for oversight that Congress may consider.
- Internet Firearm and Ammunition Sales
- This report discusses the sale of firearms and ammunition over the Internet, with a focus on the extent to which federal law regulates such activity.
- Internet: Status Report on Legislative Attempts to Protect Children from Unsuitable Material on the Web
- No Description Available.
- Juvenile Justice Legislation: Overview and the Legislative Debate
- No Description Available.
- Middle East Free Trade Area: Progress Report
- The purpose of this report is to describe Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) in terms of: (1) its impetus, (2) its major elements; (3) background trade data, (4) details; and (5) arguments for each.
- Obscenity, Child Pornography, and Indecency: Recent Developments and Pending Issues
- No Description Available.
- Perjury Under Federal Law: A Brief Overview
- This report discusses the three general federal perjury laws. It is an abbreviated version of CRS Report 98-808, Perjury Under Federal Law: A Brief Overview, by Charles Doyle, stripped of most footnotes, quotations, citations, and bibliography.
- Perjury Under Federal Law: A Sketch of the Elements
- This report discusses the three general federal perjury laws. It is an abbreviated version of CRS Report 98-808, Perjury Under Federal Law: A Brief Overview, by Charles Doyle, stripped of most footnotes, quotations, citations, and bibliography.
- Polygraph Testing: Employee and Employer Rights
- No Description Available.
- Sex Trafficking of Children in the United States: Overview and Issues for Congress
- This report provides an overview of sex trafficking of children in the United States. It first conceptualizes the issue, discussing the victims and perpetrators involved. It then outlines the federal response to investigating and prosecuting perpetrators as well as providing services to victims. The report concludes with a discussion of select issues concerning the federal response to sex trafficking of minors in the United States.
- Southwest Border Violence: Issues in Identifying and Measuring Spillover Violence
- This report focuses on how policy makers would identify any spillover of drug trafficking-related violence into the United States. It provides an overview of Mexican drug trafficking organization structures, how they conduct business, and the relationship between the drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and their partnerships operating here in the United States; a discussion of the illicit drug trade between Mexico and the United States, as well as a discussion of factors implicated in drug trafficking-related violence; an analysis of the possible nature of any spillover violence that may arise, as well as issues involved in accurately identifying and measuring such violence; and an evaluation of available crime rate data and a discussion of how this data may or may not reflect changes in drug trafficking-related crime.
- Standards For Retroactive Application Based Upon Groundbreaking Supreme Court Decisions in Criminal Law
- This report discusses the Supreme Court decision to announce the “new rule”, supreme courts decision that addresses an issue of law in a new way or for the first time. In criminal law new rules apply prospectively, but they also apply retroactively sometimes.
- State Statutes Governing Hate Crimes
- Concerns about hate crimes have become increasingly prominent among policymakers at all levels of government in recent years. This report compiles state statutes pertaining to hate crimes, including in the context of federal legislation such as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (the latter of which was signed by President Obama on October 28, 1999).
- Terrorist Motivations for Chemical and Biological Weapons Use: Placing the Threat in Context
- No Description Available.
- Terrorists and Suicide Attacks
- This report analyzes the increasing global threat of suicide attacks by terrorist organizations and assesses their relevance and threat toward the interests of the United States. It focuses on several issues, such as the historical background of suicide attacks, personal and organizational motivations of suicide attacks, suicide attacks in Iraq, women and suicide attacks, how to counter attacks, and the implications for U.S. Policy
- Trafficking in Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean
- This report describes the nature and scope of the problem of trafficking in persons in Latin America and the Caribbean. It then describes U.S. efforts to deal with trafficking in persons in the region, as well as discusses the successes and failures of some recent country and regional antitrafficking efforts. The report concludes by raising issues that may be helpful for the 113th Congress to consider as it continues to address human trafficking as part of its authorization, appropriations, and oversight activities.
- Treatment of "Battlefield Detainees" in the War on Terrorism
- No Description Available.
- Trying Terrorists as War Criminals
- On November 13, 2001, President Bush signed a Military Order pertaining to the detention, treatment, and trial of certain non-citizens in the war against terrorism. The President’s Military Order makes it apparent that he plans to treat the attacks as acts of war rather than criminal acts, and to prosecute those responsible as war criminals, trying them by special military commission rather than in federal court. The purpose of this the report is to clarify the legal basis for treating the acts as war crimes and the ramifications of applying the law of war rather than criminal statutes to prosecute the perpetrators. The discussion focuses on the trial of alleged terrorists and conspirators by a military commission rather than the federal courts. A longer treatment of the issues in this report and an analysis of other relevant issues, including the Military Order, are contained in CRS Report RL 31191.
- USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199): A Side-by-Side Comparison of Existing Law, H.R. 3199 (Conference) and H.R. 3199 (Senate Passed)
- The Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which legislatively approved the United States' membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), also contains provisions setting out the legislative procedure for revoking such approval, potentially leading to the withdrawal of the United States from the WTO. This report sets out the functional timetable and requirements for taking legislative action for United States withdrawal from the WTO.
- The War Crimes Act: Current Issues
- This report discusses current issues related to the War Crimes Act of 1996 and Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which sets out minimum standards for the treatment of detainees in armed conflicts "not of an international character (e.g., civil wars, rebellions, and other conflicts between State and non-State actors).
- Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act
- No Description Available.