What's the difference between the things DOJ Civil Rights Division and FBI do?

Attorney answers (1)

1. Licensed in MA

   

   Thomas Callahan

   Hanover Family Law Attorney

   Contributor Level 16

   Answered May 03, 2012 10:28. I will defer to my criminal law colleagues for more detail, but any DOJ division is the arm of the Federal govt. that has lawyers to both investigate and then prosecute in court violations of Federal law. FBI agents may be used as their investigators, and probably most usually are, but US Marshalls, customs agents and others do investigations as well depending on the offense. There are also local US Attorney offices that prosecute crimes, and the results of most FBI investigations will go to them for prosecution, unless the FBI is working on that case with DOJ Washington or some other particular Federal agency. So in a nutshell, FBI investigates, DOJ and US Attys. Offices prosecute. One would think that Federal agencies all coordinate their activities, but it is very possible that multiple investigations go on simultaneously or at least on the surface separately, depending on the alleged crime(s), perhaps to be consolidated into one prosecution later. It is also very likely that investigations go on before arrests or suspensions of officials or officers being investigated, perhaps without their knowledge - you have to have probable cause to believe something wrong has taken place before you can arrest, and that requires investigation first. I also suppose that for security reasons in a given case, the complaining party might not be acknowledged or contacted about his/her complaint until the investigation is completed. But if there is a question of whether they are pursuing your complaints, you should contact them.

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