Efforts to Protect Judges Fall Short
Threats against federal judges are rising, yet efforts to improve protection for them are “languishing,” according to a Justice Department report (PDF).
The U.S. Marshals Service, charged with protecting federal judges, had a backlog of 1,190 reported threats to review as of October 2006, according to the Associated Press. In about two-thirds of reported threats reviewed in 2005 and 2006, the service did not act within three days to seven days.
The report by the Justice Department’s inspector general also said the service has not given sufficient staff and resources to a new central intelligence center and has not yet established a rapid deployment team to respond to known threats, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The report found some successes, including an effort to put alarms in judges’ homes. About 95 percent now have such systems.
A 2006 survey found that almost 70 percent of federal judges had received at least one threat and that 87 percent were at least somewhat satisfied with the Marshals Service protection efforts.
