Congressional Research Service Reports - 43 Matching Results

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Terrorist Watch List Screening and Background Checks for Firearms

Description: This report examines potential policy issues that could arise under the Terror Gap proposal. For context, a basic overview of the U.S. government's post-9/11 terrorist watchlist procedures is provided, as well as an analysis of the Terror Gap proposal, which has been reintroduced in the 113th Congress.
Date: May 1, 2013
Creator: Krouse, William J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Identity Theft Laws: State Penalties and Remedies and Pending Federal Bills

Description: This report provides an overview of state laws on identity theft. It discusses state laws that penalize identity theft, as well as state laws that assist identity theft victims, including those that permit consumers to block unauthorized persons from obtaining their credit information, known as “security freezes.” The report also includes a survey of state “credit freeze” statutes. The report concludes with summaries of federal identity theft legislation pending in the 110th Congress.
Date: June 1, 2007
Creator: Rainson, Tara A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Terrorist Watch List Screening and Brady Background Checks for Firearms

Description: The November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, TX, renewed interest in terrorist watchlist screening and Brady background checks for firearms through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). In the 110th Congress, Senator Frank Lautenberg and Representative Peter King introduced a bill based on a legislative proposal developed by DOJ that would have authorized the Attorney General to deny the transfer of firearms or the issuance of firearms (and explosives) licenses/permits to "d… more
Date: February 1, 2012
Creator: Krouse, William J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Special Counsels, Independent Counsels, and Special Prosecutors: Options for Independent Executive Investigations

Description: This report analyzes the use of special prosecutors and independent counsels that were authorized under now-expired provisions of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as well as the use of special counsels that are currently authorized by Department of Justice (DOJ) regulations. It also addresses constitutional considerations in establishing independent inquiries to address perceived conflicts of interest between investigating officials and the officials being investigated.
Date: June 1, 2017
Creator: Brown, Cynthia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Habeas Corpus Relief: Background, Legislation, and Issues

Description: This report examines the issues surrounding the debate on whether to further restrict state prisoners’ access to federal habeas corpus filings. This report does not discuss issues related to federalism and the proper role of the federal court system in overseeing the actions of state courts pertaining to prisoners’ constitutional rights. The report opens with a discussion of a commission that was established in 1988 to study and make recommendations of the then-current federal habeas corpus sys… more
Date: February 1, 2006
Creator: Seghetti, Lisa M. & James, Nathan
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Gun Control Legislation in the 113th Congress

Description: This report looks at past gun control legislation and also how recent events (such as the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Aurora, Colorado, and Tucson, Arizona) have influenced current congressional discourse and legislation. The report also specifically examines certain contentious, gun related topics including universal background checks, gun trafficking, and military style firearms.
Date: August 1, 2014
Creator: Krouse, William J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Gun Control Laws: The Second Amendment and Other Constitutional Issues

Description: This report examines the historical, legal, and constitutional arguments for and against an individual right to bear firearms under the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Those who favor federal gun control laws tend to assert that the Second Amendment has been correctly interpreted by the courts to confer only a collective right, which may be exercised through state militias. Those who oppose gun control laws tend to assert that the Second Amendment should be interpreted to grant an individ… more
Date: February 1, 1995
Creator: Schrader, Dorothy
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: August 1, 2003
Creator: Cooper, Edith Fairman
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Criminal Justice Reform: One Judge's View

Description: This report briefly provides highlights from an article written by Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in which he recommended 26 changes in the U.S. criminal justice system, federal and state.
Date: January 1, 2016
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: Over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. Despite apparent national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other national policy goals and concerns. The mix of competing dom… more
Date: March 1, 2005
Creator: Perl, Raphael F.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Critical Infrastructure: Control Systems and the Terrorist Threat

Description: This report addresses the cyber-vulnerability of critical infrastructure industries which regularly use industrial control systems. Industrial control systems may be vulnerable to infiltration by different routes, including wireless transmission, direct access to control system computers, exploitation of dial-up modems used for maintenance, or through the Internet. This report will specifically discuss the potential for access to industrial control systems through the Internet.
Date: October 1, 2002
Creator: Shea, Dana A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)—Responsibilities and Potential Congressional Concerns

Description: This report looks at inadequacies present in the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) which prevent the Center from adequately performing its duty. These inadequacies include issues with agency organization, lack of resources, and a focus on threats from Yemen over domestic threats.
Date: February 1, 2011
Creator: Best, Richard A., Jr.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Crime Control: The Federal Response

Description: Under the federal system in the United States, the states and localities traditionally have held the major responsibility for prevention and control of crime and maintenance of order. For most of the Republic’s history, “police powers” in the broad sense were reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. Many still hold that view, but others see a string of court decisions in recent decades as providing the basis for a far more active federal role. Several bills are disc… more
Date: July 1, 2002
Creator: O'Bryant, JoAnne & Seghetti, Lisa M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Welfare Law and Domestic Violence

Description: The Family Violence Option (FVO) of the 1996 welfare law (P.L. 104-193) permits state programs of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to waive federal rules regarding required work, time limited benefits, and child support cooperation for victims of domestic violence.
Date: November 1, 2002
Creator: Cooke, Jacqueline & Burke, Vee
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Benefits for Prisoners

Description: On Mar. 24, 1983, the Congress adopted, as part of the Social Security Amendments of 1983 (P.L. 98-21), a measure to preclude virtually all incarcerated felons from receiving social security benefits of any kind, including retirement and survivor benefits. This action expanded previous legislation. In October 1980, legislation had been enacted (P.L. 96-473) that denied only social security disability benefits and student benefits to prisoners convicted of a felony.
Date: November 1, 1983
Creator: Koitz, David Stuart
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Homeless in America

Description: This report discusses questions dealing with the number of homeless Americans as well as trends in society's attitudes toward such people. The incidence of mental illness and the appropriateness, or lack thereof, of deinstitutionalization for such patients is another aspect of the problem which is covered in this packet. A CRS report gives an overview of the situation and of the Federal response.
Date: November 1, 1984
Creator: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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