NCJ Number
100071
Date Published
1984
Length
365 pages
Annotation
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Criminal Law of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary focuses on S. 804, a bill to reform the Federal criminal laws by establishing standards and limits for conducting Federal undercover operations and activities.
Abstract
S. 804 gives Justice Department law enforcement agencies express statutory authority to conduct undercover operations and grants these agencies permanent exemptions from some of the legal restrictions that have impeded undercover work in the past. These authorizations and waivers, however, would be conditioned on the adoption of detailed internal guidelines addressing a specified range of issues. The bill further prohibits undercover operations that fail to meet specified threshold standards of justification. It clarifies the rights of targets of undercover operations to financial compensation from the Government and reforms and rationalizes the affirmative defense of entrapment. The chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights recommends in his testimony that the bill require judicial warrants for undercover operations and that the mandated Undercover Review Committee be more diversified. Testimony by representatives of the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation argues that specific aspects of the bill put undue restrictions on undercover operations. The former chief counsel of the Senate Select Committee to Study Law Enforcement Undercover Operations supports the bill as a balanced approach to undercover operations. A representative of the American Civil Liberties Union also supports the bill. The bill, relevant studies, and written testimony.