The following post appears courtesy of Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary.

On January 13^th, the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) observes the day in 1996 when nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted in Arlington, Texas, while riding her bicycle.  Her abduction and brutal murder launched the creation of the AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert program.  On this day we remind everyone to recommit themselves and remain alert and responsive to these emergency broadcasts for missing children.       

Because of AMBER Alerts, 602 abducted children have been successfully recovered and brought home safely.

In the aftermath of Amber Hagerman’s abduction and murder, local broadcasters joined with law enforcement to create the AMBER Alert system.  AMBER Alerts are emergency messages issued when a law enforcement agency determines that a child has been abducted and is in imminent danger.  The broadcasts include information about the child and abductor that could lead to the child’s recovery, such as physical description and information about the abductor’s vehicle.

We know that the first few hours a child is missing are critical.  That’s why, as the National AMBER Alert Coordinator, I’m pleased to have seen a rapid expansion in our partnerships and ability to get the word out quickly. 

With funding from OJP, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) manages distribution of AMBER Alerts to a network of partners including law enforcement, radio and TV broadcasters, transportation agencies, lottery and highway signs, airports and truck stops, Yahoo, Facebook and AOL. 

In November 2011, Google joined the network, providing real-time AMBER Alert updates to users of Google Map and Google Search features.  And as of January 1, 2013, millions of cellphone users across the country now receive automatic notifications about abducted children in their area as part of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) program.

OJP provides targeted training and technical assistance to AMBER Alert Coordinators, law enforcement, child protection professionals and other key stakeholders to support their efforts to recover abducted, missing and endangered children and bring them home safely. 

Resources are also available through NCMEC’s website for parents on how to keep your child safer, know what to do if your child is missing, understand the importance of having a good quality photo of your child, and other frequently asked questions.

We will continue to work to protect our nation’s children from harm and to bring missing children home safely.

Courtesy of Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia
 
She was just 14 years old, barely a teenager, who had run away from home and was in desperate need of support, food and a place to sleep.
 
She was approached by a man who offered to take her in, give her a hot meal, a roof over her head and perhaps, a shoulder to cry on. She didn’t know that this man’s offer would come with such a price.  
 
At her most vulnerable, this young girl was lured into the vile world of sexual slavery, enduring unconscionable horrors, night after night, for weeks and then months as she was prostituted for profit by the MS-13 gang.   She was plied with drugs and alcohol, sedating her through the repeated and often brutal sexual encounters she suffered at the hands of her “clients” and the men who trafficked her throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia.  
 
Today, January 11^th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.  While most people think sex trafficking is limited to third-world brothels and remote places you ponder just long enough to change the news channel, the reality belies that myth. According to the International Justice Mission, each year, nearly 2 million children worldwide are exploited in the global commercial sex trade; 27 million men, women and children are held as slaves; 1 in 5 women is a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.  We cannot pretend that this is a problem that only occurs across our oceans.  With the globalization of the internet and the international reach of 21^st century criminal networks, the commercial sex trade has spread from the back alleys of far-off countries to our neighborhood cul de sacs.  Criminals know no borders, and that is especially true with regards to sex trafficking.  It is happening here in the United States, and is an emerging threat right here in our communities.  
 
Just in the last two years, my office, which covers the area of Northern Virginia, Richmond and the Tidewater region, has prosecuted 48 defendants; helped 34 juvenile victims seek justice; and secured substantial sentences, to include 40, 50 year and life terms in prison.   These cases involve young girls approached by traffickers at the Metro, at bus stops or even at school, luring them with empty and false promises.  These predators have adapted for the modern technological era- using Facebook and other social media outlets to prey on young victims, from all walks of life.  Victims have ranged from runaway teens to girls on the high school honor roll, but they all have one thing in common:  they need our help.  
 
The mantras to ‘be aware’ and ‘be vigilant’ are perhaps overused in law enforcement parlance, but here, it can truly make a difference.  Traffickers often pull up brazenly to convenience stores or shopping mall parking lots, shouting that they have “fresh girls” available.  These girls often live in groups together in their trafficker’s apartment or house, living in suburbia along-side unaware neighbors.  They post the girls’ pictures, advertising them on websites, exploiting their innocence in perpetuity on the internet.
 
We, in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice are working hard to put these predators behind bars, but we also need help from the eyes and ears of the community.  If only a shopper at the mall would call in a license plate number.  If only a neighbor who saw something amiss would call the police, instead of turning away.  If only a motel owner would report the line of men outside a motel room to the authorities.  
 
Thankfully, the 14 year old victim I speak of did not become an “if only.”  Her trafficker was caught, brought to justice and is currently where he belongs — in federal prison. With your help, we can prevent more young girls from becoming “if onlys” and stop the scourge of the commercial sex trade on our communities.

The following post appears courtesy of the Access to Justice Initiative.

On January 22, 2013,  the Department of Justice and the National Criminal Justice Association will host a webinar focused on understanding state and federal resources.

During the webinar, we will highlight some of the state and federal resources available to the public defense community, and discuss the Justice Department’s recent efforts to encourage jurisdictions to bring all system stakeholders together in the criminal justice planning process for the allocation of Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) funds.

Representatives from the Department of Justice will discuss funding opportunities available through the Byrne JAG program, federal support for public defense initiatives, current opportunities for training and technical assistance, and will highlight the work of DOJ’s Access to Justice Initiative.  In addition, webinar attendees will hear from state public defenders about the process of applying for grant funds and review strategies for integrating the indigent defense function into criminal justice resource planning.  

During this 50th anniversary year of Gideon v. Wainright, the landmark case that secured the right to counsel in criminal proceedings, the Justice Department is placing renewed emphasis on helping states meet their constitutional obligation to provide effective representation to indigent defendants. 

The webinar will be held on January 22^nd, 2013, at 3pm.

Register for the Strengthing Indigent Defense Webinar via the National Criminal Justice Association.

Learn more: Department of Justice Resources for Indigent Defense Providers(PDF).  

The following post appears courtesy of the Civil Rights Division.

The Civil Rights Division is tasked with enforcement of some of the most important laws enacted by Congress, which aim to fulfill our nation’s promise of equal opportunity and equal justice under the law.  In enforcing these laws, our goal is to be not simply the nation’s civil rights litigator, but also the nation’s civil rights problem-solver.

Among the ways that we can help solve problems is through technical assistance tools that encourage and facilitate voluntary compliance with civil rights requirements.  One such requirement – a requirement that will remain a continuing focus for the Civil Rights Division – is the obligation that state and local court systems provide meaningful access to all of their operations regardless of language ability.  For tens of millions of limited English proficient (LEP) individuals in our nation who may need to interact with state courts, the absence of effective court services and policies can make communication difficult or impossible.  Comprehensive language access programs are therefore a critical undertaking for states that want to ensure meaningful access to LEP individuals, comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and increase public confidence in the justice system while also improving judicial outcomes.

With these interests in mind, the Department of Justice is committed to providing technical assistance tools that will help courts develop – short of formal enforcement efforts – the kinds of programs that provide meaningful access to court operations regardless of language ability.  The Division’s Federal Coordination & Compliance Section has developed a draft Language Access Planning Technical Assistance Tool for Courts.  This tool is based on our experience working with state court systems around the country for more than a decade, and is designed to assist individuals involved in planning and implementing measures to improve access to court proceedings and operations for LEP parties, witnesses and other participants.  The draft tool highlights the importance of assessment and planning and identifies questions for state judges and court staff to consider as they identify challenges and opportunities for improvement. 

We developed this tool in order to respond to the many requests for technical assistance from courts and interested stakeholders.  It draws upon years of experience working with and hearing from courts, attorneys, LEP individuals, advocates and others.  Courts can use this tool to identify those areas that are already well-covered, as well as those that may require more long-term planning and implementation to accomplish. 

We welcome your feedback on this draft technical assistance tool.  Please send your comments and feedback to lep@usdoj.gov and make sure to include “Feedback on LEP Self-Assessment for Courts” in the subject line.  All comments must be submitted by Feb. 15, 2013.

The Civil Rights Division has also prepared additional other technical assistance tools regarding state court language access, accessible online in the State Courts section of the Resources by Subject page of www.LEP.gov.

The following post appears courtesy of Tom Perez, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division

Last week, I had the great honor of visiting the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, Wis., where I met with leaders of the gurdwara and the families who worship there. It is clear that the hate crime committed on Aug. 5, 2012, when six beloved people were murdered and others injured as they worshipped in the gurdwara, has had an indelible impact on the community of Oak Creek, and far beyond.

Yet it also is clear that although the gurdwara has witnessed the very worst of human kind, its members have reacted with the best of human kind — with courage, compassion and strength.

At a memorial service for the victims of the mass shooting in August, Attorney General Eric Holder said:

“Although we have been brought together by an unspeakable tragedy, we are bound together by far more. We are united . . . not only by a shared sense of loss, but also by a common belief in the healing power of faith, and in the universal principles that are glorified in our nation’s churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, gurdwaras, and other houses of worship; but also by the principles of compassion, kindness, tolerance, inclusion, and love.”

Visiting the gurdwara, the overwhelming message I took back from the congregation is one of unity – a resolve to work together, with members of every faith to foster understanding, and to ensure that such tragic acts of violence are never repeated.

The attack on the Oak Creek gurdwara was a crime driven by hate. Sadly this hate crime does not stand alone, and the Justice Department will continue to combat hate crimes committed against Sikhs and Muslims wherever they occur. For example, last year the Civil Rights Division prosecuted and convicted a man who attacked a Sikh student in Texas because of his turban and beard, and we are currently prosecuting several arson and bomb threat cases against houses of worship.

I attended a town hall meeting hosted by the Justice Department where 22 diverse religious and interfaith groups came together at to discuss how religion-based hate crimes are tracked by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. There was strong support from these groups for adding anti-Sikh and anti-Hindu, as well as anti-Arab, to the hate crime categories tracked by the Uniform Crime Report. Based on this meeting and the division’s own law enforcement experiences, the division and the Community Relations Service made arecommendation that these categories be added, both to the coding sheets that police fill out and the hate crime reports the FBI produces each year. We believe adding these categories would improve the data about hate crimes that helps inform our enforcement work.

Finally, bullying and harassment of Sikh children remains a serious problem, and schools are not permitted to turn a blind eye: the Division is committed to using the federal civil rights laws to ensure that schools are providing all students with the equal educational opportunities to which they are entitled. I was pleased to have the opportunity to speak with students at the East Oak Creek Middle School during my visit, where I shared the stories of other students the Division has helped and asked the students to speak out about the problems they are facing. Bullying is not a rite of passage, and every student has the right to go to a safe and bully-free school.

We recently marked the anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Sikh Guru. In light of the unspeakable violence directed against the Sikh congregation in Oak Creek, President Obama asked that we celebrate the anniversary by “recommit[ting] ourselves to the spirit of pluralism, equality and compassion that define both the Sikh community and our nation.” The Division has the great honor of joining the President and the Attorney General, and all people of good will, in this effort as we continue to enforce laws that move us toward a more tolerant, peaceful, and just society.

Learn more about the Division’s efforts to confront discrimination post-9/11 by downloading our Post-9/11 Civil Rights Summit Report (pdf). For more information about the Division’s hate crime prosecutions, download Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roy Austin’s September testimony (pdf), or visit http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/matthewshepard.php.

This post appears courtesy of the Consumer Protection Branch of the Civil Division at the Department of Justice.

The holiday season is now upon us and consumers are beginning to turn their focus towards the timeless ritual of exchanging gifts.  Although this may be the most wonderful time of the year—especially for those young children eagerly anticipating a present or two— consumers may not realize that sometimes even the most innocuous gift may pose a hazard far worse than any lump of coal.

According to statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, (CPSC), an estimated 262,300 toy-related injuries merited a trip to the emergency room in 2011.  The vast majority of these injuries—seventy-four percent—involved children under the age of fifteen.  In addition, the CPSC, working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, seized record amounts of unsafe products at U.S ports in fiscal year 2012; more than two million units of toys and children’s products either posed safety hazards to U.S consumers or failed to meet federal safety standards.

Before you mutter, “Bah! Humbug!” you should know that one can go a long way towards safeguarding young recipients of holiday generosity by reading and following the CPSC’s tips and publications available at http://www.cpsc.gov/.  Browsing the CPSC’s website while you are nestled snugly in bed, or near a (safely-maintained) fireplace, will reveal what you need to know about voluntary and mandatory safety standards, product bans and recalls (Yes, the CPSC does keep a list, and they do check it twice), and potential product hazards, such as those detailed in the CPSC’s Four Keys to Holiday Safety: 

• For children under the age of three, avoid toys with small parts, which can cause choking.
• Select toys to suit the age, abilities, skills and interest level of the intended child.
• For children under the age of eight, avoid toys with sharp edges and electric toys with heating parts.
• Look for labels with age and safety advice.

In addition to information provided by the CPSC directly, consumers can also read reports written by other consumers involving harm or a risk of harm related to the use of a consumer product via the CPSC’s searchable online database, http://SaferProducts.gov.  And if you, or someone you know, experience harm or a risk of harm related to the use of a consumer product, you can submit a report to the CPSC’s database as well.  If published, the CPSC, the public, and product manufacturers will have the opportunity to read your report online. 

As a final reassurance that you can safely enjoy this holiday season, the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch routinely assists the CPSC in its enforcement work by initiating civil or criminal litigation when retailers or manufacturers distribute goods that fail to comply with pertinent standards or labeling requirements or fail to report to the CPSC when they learn of a defect or product safety hazard.

Just remember that if you are well-informed about the types of gifts, toys, and consumer products you are giving, as well as who should and should not receive them, you are bound to have a very happy, enjoyable, and safe holiday season!