Division overview | |
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Formed | 1919 |
Jurisdiction | United States government agency |
Headquarters | Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C., United States |
Division executives |
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Parent department | U.S. Department of Justice |
Website | Official website |
The United States Department of Justice Criminal Division is a federal agency of the United States Department of Justice that develops, enforces, and supervises the application of all federal criminal laws in the United States. Criminal Division attorneys prosecute many nationally significant cases and formulate and implement criminal enforcement policy. Division attorneys also provide advice and guidance to the Attorney General of the United States, the United States Congress, and the White House on matters of criminal law. The Division was founded in 1919. [1]
The Criminal Division is headed by an Assistant Attorney General, appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. [2] Kenneth Polite was appointed by President Joe Biden and sworn in as Assistant Attorney General on July 21, 2021. Nicholas McQuaid was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General on January 20, 2021, and served as Acting Assistant Attorney General until Polite's confirmation. [3] Polite's tenure ended on July 28, 2023 after it was announced he would step down to enter the private sector. [4]
The Criminal Division is headed by an Assistant Attorney General, who is a political appointee. The Assistant Attorney General is assisted by six Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, who are career attorneys, who each oversee two or more of the Criminal Division's 16 sections. [5]
The Division does not supervise the 94 U.S. Attorney's Offices. [6]
The Criminal Division's Counterterrorism and Counterespionage Sections were transferred to the newly created United States Department of Justice National Security Division in 2006. [1]
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States. It is equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries. The department is headed by the U.S. attorney general, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The current attorney general is Merrick Garland, who has served since March 2021.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, state attorney or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a local government area, typically a county or a group of counties. The exact scope of the office varies by state. Generally, the prosecutor represents the people of the jurisdiction. With the exception of three states, district attorneys are elected, unlike similar roles in other common law jurisdictions.
The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, members of Congress, cabinet officers, and other federal employees. Led by the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, the Division's litigation reflects the diversity of government activities, involving, for example, the defense of challenges to presidential actions; national security issues; benefit programs; energy policies; commercial issues such as contract disputes, banking insurance, patents, fraud, and debt collection; all manner of accident and liability claims; enforcement of immigration laws; and civil and criminal violations of consumer protection laws. Each year, Division attorneys handle thousands of cases that collectively involve billions of dollars in claims and recoveries. The Division confronts significant policy issues, which often rise to constitutional dimensions, in defending and enforcing various Federal programs and actions.
The United States Department of Justice National Security Division (NSD) handles national security functions of the department. Created by the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization, the division consolidated all of the department's national security and intelligence functions into a single division. The division is headed by the Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) is a federal drug enforcement program in the United States, overseen by the Attorney General and the Department of Justice. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the major drug trafficking operations and tackle related crimes, such as money laundering, tax and weapon violations, and violent crime, and prosecute those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.
The Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin.
The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice that enforces U.S. antitrust law. It has exclusive jurisdiction over U.S. federal criminal antitrust investigations and prosecutions. It also has jurisdiction over civil antitrust enforcement, which it shares with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Antitrust Division often works jointly with the FTC to provide regulatory guidance to businesses.
The United States Department of Justice Tax Division is responsible for the prosecution of both civil and criminal cases arising under the Internal Revenue Code and other tax laws of the United States. The Division began operation in 1934, under United States Attorney General Homer Stille Cummings, who charged it with primary responsibility for supervising all federal litigation involving internal revenue.
The California Department of Justice is a statewide investigative law enforcement agency and legal department of the California executive branch under the elected leadership of the Attorney General of California (AG) which carries out complex criminal and civil investigations, prosecutions, and other legal services throughout the US State of California. The department is equivalent to the state bureaus of investigation in other states.
Matthew Glen Olsen is an American attorney who has served as the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division since 2021. He is the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Stephanie Dawn Thacker is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
The Attorney General of Hawaii, the chief legal officer and chief law enforcement officer of Hawaii, is responsible for the Department of the Attorney General which is charged with advising the various other departments and agencies of the state government and for the prosecution of offenses under state law.
Joon Hyun Kim is an American attorney who served as the acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from March 2017 to January 2018. He was Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from July 2015 to March 2017 after serving as the chief of the criminal division since July 2014. From April 2013 to July 2014, Kim was the chief counsel to the U.S. Attorney. In March 2021, Kim was chosen by New York Attorney General Letitia James as independent counsel, along with Anne L. Clark, to co-lead the investigation into sexual harassment claims made against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Brian Allen Benczkowski is an American lawyer who served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. Prior to assuming that role, he was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis.
Richard Stephen Gebelein was an American politician and jurist who served as the Attorney General of Delaware from 1979 through 1983, as a judge on the Delaware Superior Court from 1984 through 2005, and as an international judge in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was a member of the Republican Party.
Carolyn Pokorny is a career federal prosecutor, currently serving as First Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Previously she served as the Inspector General for the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the Office of the MTA Inspector General. She is the first woman to hold that position.
Task Force KleptoCapture is a United States Department of Justice unit established in March 2022 with the goal of enforcing sanctions on Russian oligarchs in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Casey Thomas Arrowood is an American lawyer serving as an assistant United States attorney since 2016. He was nominated to serve as the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.