Congressional Research Service Reports - 63 Matching Results

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Transnational Organized Crime: Principal Threats and U.S. Responses: No Description Available.
Transnational Organized Crime: Principal Threats and U.S. Responses: No Description Available.
Gun Legislation in the 109th Congress: No Description Available.
Enron: A Select Chronology of Congressional, Corporate, and Government Activities: This report presents basic background information on the collapse of the Enron Corporation, identifying public policy issues in financial market oversight. This report briefly summarizes some federal laws carrying criminal penalties which may be implicated in the events surrounding the collapse of the Enron Corp. This report compares the auditing and accounting reform measures passed by the House (H.R. 3763) and reported by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. This report compares the major provisions of three auditor and accounting reform proposals: H.R. 3763, S. 2673, and a rule proposed on June 20, 2002, by the SEC that would create a new auditor oversight board by using the SEC’s existing authority to regulate corporate accounting. The report focuses on Section 404(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal statute that regulates employer-sponsored pension plans. Section 404(a) is considered the “touchstone for understanding the scope and object of an ERISA fiduciary’s duties.”
Criminal Money Laundering Legislation in the 109th Congress: This report gives a brief overview of U.S. law as it relates to the crime of money laundering by identifying bills in the 109th Congress that have amended definitions or sentencing for money laundering and predicated offenses.
Homeland Security: Protecting Airliners from Terrorist Missiles: This report discusses about the Homeland Security on Protecting Airliners from Terrorist Missiles where Recent events have focused attention on the threat that terrorists with shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles pose to commercial airliners. Most believe that no single solution exists to effectively mitigate this threat.
Family Violence Prevention and Services Act: Programs and Funding: This report describes programs authorized under the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) and related initiatives, and provides authorization and appropriation levels. The FVPSA was originally enacted in 1984, as Title III of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, to assist states in preventing incidents of family violence and to provide shelter and related assistance to victims of family violence and their dependents, with the expectation of preventing future acts of violence in families.
Gangs in Central America: This report describes the gang problem in Central America, discusses country and regional approaches to deal with the gangs, and analyzes U.S. policy with respect to gangs in Central America.
Obscenity, Child Pornography, and Indecency: Recent Developments and Pending Issues: No Description Available.
Obscenity, Child Pornography, and Indecency: Recent Developments and Pending Issues: No Description Available.
Selected Federal Crime Control Assistance to State and Local Governments: No Description Available.
Remedies Available to Victims of Identity Theft: No Description Available.
Enforcing Immigration Law: The Role of State and Local Law Enforcement: This report examines some of the policy and legal issues that may accompany an increased role of state and local law officials in the enforcement of immigration law.
Internet: Status Report on Legislative Attempts to Protect Children from Unsuitable Material on the Web: No Description Available.
Terrorism in South Asia: No Description Available.
United States Sentencing Guidelines After Blakely: Booker and Fanfan - A Sketch: No Description Available.
Material Support of Terrorists and Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Sunset Amendments: No Description Available.
United States Sentencing Guidelines and the Supreme Court: Booker, Fanfan, Blakely Apprendi, and Mistretta: For fifteen years, sentencing in federal court had been governed by the United States Sentencing Guidelines. During that time, the Supreme Court has upheld the Guidelines in the face of various challenges. In the meantime, however, it had decided a series of cases which called into question past assumptions relating to the role of the jury in the sentencing process. In Apprendi, the Court held that any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the statutory maximum assigned for that the offense must be submitted to the jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt. The federal Sentencing Guidelines were considered beyond the reach of Apprendi because they only govern sentencing beneath the maximum penalty assigned to the crime of conviction.
Drug Control: International Policy and Approaches: 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.
Military Tribunals: The Quirin Precedent: No Description Available.
Drug Control: International Policy and Options: 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 domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.
Terrorist Motivations for Chemical and Biological Weapons Use: Placing the Threat in Context: No Description Available.
Violence Against Women Act: History and Federal Funding: No Description Available.
Drug Control: International Policy and Approaches: 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 domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.
Drug Control: International Policy and Approaches: 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 domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.
NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia: Quick Facts and Issues for Congress: No Description Available.
Violence Against Women Act: History, Federal Funding, and Reauthorizing Legislation: No Description Available.
The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program: An Overview: 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.
Supreme Court Appellate Jurisdiction Over Military Court Cases: This report surveys military courts' jurisdiction, the structure of appellate review for military cases, interactions between military and civilian courts, and legislative proposals.
Environmental Streamlining Provisions in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century: Status of Implementation: At the state and local level, many observers have expressed long-standing concerns over delays, duplication of effort, and additional costs frequently associated with the environmental review process for highway projects that must be completed under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA, P.L. 91-190). To address these concerns, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA21, P.L. 105-178), enacted in 1998, requires the Federal Highway Administration(FHWA) to streamline the environmental review process for highway projects.
Terrorism, the Future, and U.S. Foreign Policy: No Description Available.
Crime Control: The Federal Response: 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 discussed in this report that address issues related to crime, juvenile justice, and Congress’ evolving role in crime legislation.
War on Drugs: Legislation in the 108th Congress and Related Developments: No Description Available.
Terrorism: The New Occupational Hazard: No Description Available.
Terrorism, the Future, and U.S. Foreign Policy: No Description Available.
Trafficking in Women and Children: The U.S. and International Response: No Description Available.
Environmental Streamlining Provisions in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century: Status of Implementation: This report describes the environmental documents required for highway projects, discusses the average amount of time to complete this documentation, summarizes the environmental streamlining provisions under TEA-21, and examines administrative and legislative actions taken to implement these requirements.
Trafficking in Women and Children: The U.S. and International Response: This report reviews the statistics and growth of human trafficking across the world. The report discusses how the Bush and Clinton administration both advocated against human trafficking and the acts put in place during both administrations to combat trafficking in the United States.
Trafficking in Women and Children: The U.S. and International Response: This report analyzes the statistics of human trafficking victims across the world. The report discusses the efforts of the United States to prevent trafficking and assisting victims from the Bush Administration to present day.
Analysis of Selected Legislative Proposals Addressing Guantanamo Detainees: This report discusses the approaches that selected legislative proposals take regarding Guantanamo detainees.
Treatment of "Battlefield Detainees" in the War on Terrorism: No Description Available.
Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act: No Description Available.
Enforcing Immigration Law: The Role of State and Local Law Enforcement: This report examines the role of state and local law enforcement in enforcing immigration law. The discussion is limited to the role of state and local law enforcement in the investigation, arrest, and detention of all immigration violators. The report does not discuss the prosecution, adjudication, or removal of aliens who violate the law. The report opens with a brief discussion of the types of immigration interior enforcement activities that the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) pursued and the current immigration activities that are now the focus of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). A discussion of the legal authority that permits state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration law under certain circumstances follows. Current administrative efforts to involve state and local law enforcement in enforcing immigration law as well as selected issues are discussed. The report concludes with a discussion of the pros and cons of such a policy and an analysis of policy options for Congress.
Bioterrorism: Legislation to Improve Public Health Preparedness and Response Capacity: This report shows that while lawmakers work towards final passage of new authorizing legislation, Congress has appropriated more than $3 billion to the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) to increase bioterrorism preparedness at the federal, state, and local levels. HHS anti-bioterrorism funding was included in the FY2002 Labor-HHSEducation appropriations bill and in the $20 billion emergency spending package that was attached to the FY2002 Defense appropriations bill. Until the new authorizing legislation is enacted, HHS is dispersing the funds according to existing authorities and the broad parameters set out in the appropriations bills.
First Responder Initiative: Policy Issues and Options: This report discusses a new block grant program proposed by the Bush Administration called the “First Responder Initiative” to help state and local first responders prepare for possible terrorist attacks
Child Pornography Produced Without an Actual Child: Constitutionality of 108th Congress Legislation: This report analyzes the First Amendment issues raised by S. 151, 108th Congress, in the versions passed by the Senate and the House. The Senate passed the version reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (S.Rept. 108-2). The House version began as H.R. 1161, which, except for its section 10, was adopted as an amendment (Title V) to H.R. 1104, which the House passed as S. 151, the Child Abduction Prevention Act.
Detention of American Citizens as Enemy Combatants: This report provides background information regarding the cases of two U.S. citizens deemed “enemy combatants,” Yaser Esam Hamdi, who has been returned to Saudi Arabia, and Jose Padilla, who remains in military custody. The report addresses the constitutional and statutory sources that arguably provide authority for the detention of enemy combatants, as well as those that may prevent the exercise of that power with respect to U.S. citizens. The report concludes that historically, even during declared wars, additional statutory authority has been seen as necessary to validate the detention of citizens not members of any armed forces, casting in some doubt the argument that the power to detain is necessarily implied by an authorization to use force. Finally, the report briefly analyzes the Detention of Enemy Combatants Act, H.R. 1029, which would authorize the President to detain U.S. citizens and residents who are determined to be “enemy combatants” in certain circumstances.
Detention of American Citizens as Enemy Combatants: This report provides background information regarding the cases of two U.S. citizens deemed “enemy combatants,” Yaser Esam Hamdi, who has been returned to Saudi Arabia, and Jose Padilla, who remains in military custody. A brief introduction to the law of war pertinent to the detention of different categories of individuals is offered, followed by brief analyses of the main legal precedents invoked to support the President’s actions, as well as Ex parte Milligan, which some argue supports the opposite conclusion. The report concludes that historically, even during declared wars, additional statutory authority has been seen as necessary to validate the detention of citizens not members of any armed forces, casting in some doubt the argument that the power to detain persons arrested in a context other than actual hostilities is necessarily implied by an authorization to use force.
Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds: From Summary: This report also discusses the amounts of money collected and distributed by some of the larger victim relief funds such as the New York State’s World Trade Center Relief Fund Distribution, the Twin Towers Fund (established by Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City), the Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Fund, September 11th Fund (organized by United Way), Safe Horizons, the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund and several Firefighters and Police Relief Funds.
The Department of Defense Rules for Military Commissions: Analysis of Procedural Rules and Comparison with Proposed Legislation and the Uniform Code of Military Justice: This report provides a background and analysis comparing military commissions as envisioned under M.C.O. No. 1 to general military courts-martial conducted under the UCMJ. The report notes some of the criticism directed at the President’s M.O., and explains how those concerns are addressed by the military commission orders and instructions. The report provides two charts to compare the regulations issued by the Department of Defense and standard procedures for general courts-martial under the Manual for Courts-Martial. The second chart, which compares procedural safeguards incorporated in the regulations with established procedures in courts martial, follows the same order and format used in CRS Report RL31262, Selected Procedural Safeguards in Federal, Military, and International Courts, in order to facilitate comparison with safeguards provided in federal court and the International Criminal Court.

Congressional Research Service Reports - 63 Matching Results

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