The FBI's terrorism trade-off

[suffragette]

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Thousands of white-collar criminals across the country are no longer being prosecuted in federal court -- and, in many cases, not at all -- leaving a trail of frustrated victims and potentially billions of dollars in fraud and theft losses.

Overall, the number of criminal cases investigated by the FBI nationally has steadily declined. In 2005, the bureau brought slightly more than 20,000 cases to federal prosecutors, compared with about 31,000 in 2000 -- a 34 percent drop.

Civil rights investigations, which include hate crimes and police abuse, have continued a steady decline since the late 1990s. FBI agents pursued 65 percent fewer cases in 2005 than they did in 2000.

White-collar crimes often affect the people least able to afford it -- lower-income and elderly people, according to Peter Henning, a former Justice prosecutor who teaches law at Wayne State University in Detroit. "If you keep it small, and act quickly and get out of the jurisdiction, you can avoid being prosecuted," he said. "Scam artists know that."



Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/311046_fbiterror11.html

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This investigative article clearly shows what little value the Bush administration has placed on the true safety and security of people in our nation.

Please do go to the article. It has graphics that clearly show the pattern of the drop in many types of investigations.

It is doubly alarming when read together with "PARTISAN CIVIL RIGHTS: Bush's Long History of Politicizing Justice" which shows how the DOJ's Civil Rights Division has been dismantled. http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,474911,00.html
Put together the lack of investigation by the FBI and the lack of prosecution by the DOJ and this is truly alarming.