Justice Switched Focus to Sex, Terror & Immigrants

Feds back off from mob and white collar crime
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 17, 2007 5:09 AM CDT
Justice Switched Focus to Sex, Terror & Immigrants
Retired federal judge Michael Mukasey listens in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington as President Bush announces him as his nominee for attorney general replacing Alberto Gonzales in this Sept. 17, 2007 file photo. As the highest-ranking judge in the federal courthouse near New York's...   (Associated Press)

As the Senate Judiciary Committee today considers the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, data shows a profound shift in focus by the Justice Department over the 7 years of the Bush administration. The prosecution of mobsters, white collar criminals, environmental crimes and civil rights violations have taken a back seat to immigration, sex trafficking, obscenity and terrorism cases, the Washington Post reports.

The change has been so profound that FBI Director Robert Mueller has called for a return to traditional crime fighting. "We are realizing that national security is as much about reducing the number of homicides on our streets as it is about reducing the threat of terrorism," Mueller told a conference of police chiefs in New Orleans. (More Justice Department stories.)

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