 |
 |
| Federal Prosecutor Terrorism Definition* Criminal Terrorism Referrals That Were Declined Fiscal Years 2004 - 2008 |
| Reason Given by Assistant U.S. Attorney for Declining to Prosecute |
Number | Percent |
| All | 5,995 | 100.0% |
| Weak or insufficient admissible evidence | 1,328 | 22.2% |
| Lack of evidence of criminal intent | 1,261 | 21.0% |
| Agency request | 845 | 14.1% |
| No federal offense evident | 571 | 9.5% |
| Office policy | 309 | 5.2% |
| Suspect to be prosecuted by other authorities | 292 | 4.9% |
| No known suspect | 235 | 3.9% |
| Lack of investigative resources | 195 | 3.3% |
| Suspect being prosecuted on other charges (e.g., UFAPs) | 117 | 2.0% |
| Lack of prosecutive resources | 106 | 1.8% |
| Minimal federal interest or no deterrent value | 101 | 1.7% |
| Civil, admin or other disciplinary alternatives | 95 | 1.6% |
| Jurisdiction or venue problems | 65 | 1.1% |
| Staleness | 62 | 1.0% |
| Offenders age, health, prior record, or personal matter | 44 | 0.7% |
| Pretrial diversion completed | 41 | 0.7% |
| Juvenile suspect | 32 | 0.5% |
| Suspect deported | 28 | 0.5% |
| Suspect deceased | 26 | 0.4% |
| Suspect serving sentence | 22 | 0.4% |
| Witness problems | 21 | 0.4% |
| Statute of Limitations | 18 | 0.3% |
| Declined per instructions from DOJ | 15 | 0.3% |
| Suspects cooperation | 14 | 0.2% |
| Department Policy | 12 | 0.2% |
| Suspect a fugitive | 8 | 0.1% |
| Petite policy | 4 | 0.1% |
| Citation filed | 2 | 0.0% |
| Extradition | 2 | 0.0% |
| Local Agency Referral Presented by Federal Agency | 2 | 0.0% |
| By Action of the Grand Jury | 1 | 0.0% |
| Final order of forfeiture-asset substituted | 1 | 0.0% |
| * For details of definition see table. The reason was missing or there was an inconsistent code on 120 matters out of the 5,995. |
Copyright 2009