June 3, 2020–During this time of national crisis, Due Process Institute is working hard to pass laws that would increase accountability of the people in our criminal legal system who wield so much power. As part of that effort, we urge the Senate to pass the bipartisan-supported Inspector General Access Act of 2019 (S. 685), which has already passed the House of Representatives.
Unlike most other federal agencies with inspectors general (IG), the Department of Justice’s IG does not have the authority to investigate matters of alleged professional misconduct by its own attorneys–including prosecutors. Instead, investigations into a federal prosecutor’s misconduct are handled by an internal process with no real independence from the attorneys it is investigating. While there are many well-documented instances of clear and egregious prosecutorial misconduct, these instances have been paired with relatively little accountability.
Without meaningful independent oversight, there is little public accountability for Justice Department prosecutors who engage in reckless or willful misconduct–including the violation of Constitutional rights. We urge the Senate to act quickly to pass this bill as a step toward restoring the public’s faith in the rule of law.