THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE’S EFFORTS TO COMBAT IDENTITY THEFT (or NOT!)

The Office of the Inspector General conducted an audit on DOJ's efforts to combat identity theft.   The report was released in March of this year. Not a glowing report by any means.


From the report:

Results in Brief
Overall we found that DOJ components responsible for combating identity theft have undertaken various efforts to fight this widespread crime. Several of the initiatives were in response to recommendations made by the President’s Task Force, while others were undertaken by the components before the Task Force was established. Although some of these efforts have had success, in other instances the components did not address the recommendations of the President’s Task Force. We also found that to some degree identity theft initiatives have faded as priorities.

In addition, we found that DOJ has not developed a coordinated plan to combat identity theft separate from the recommendations of the President’s Task Force. Representatives from every DOJ component involved in this review told us that they have not received guidance from DOJ’s leadership since the Task Force concluded its work. Further, DOJ did not assign any person or office with the responsibility to coordinate DOJ’s efforts to combat identity theft and to ensure that DOJ components further implement the recommendations of the President’s Task Force where appropriate. We believe the DOJ needs to ensure that its efforts to combat identity theft are coordinated and are given sufficient priority.

In our report, we make 14 recommendations to improve DOJ’s efforts to combat identity theft. The remaining sections of this Executive Summary provide a further description of our audit findings....

...Executive Office for United States Attorneys and United States Attorneys’ Offices
According to the President’s Task Force, one of the shortcomings in the federal government’s ability to understand and respond effectively to identity theft was the lack of comprehensive statistical data on law enforcement’s efforts to combat it....

Number of Defendants Charged and Convicted Pursuant to the Federal Identity Theft and Aggravated Identity Theft Statutes in 2009
Charged - 769
Convicted - 432

Attorney Work Years Charged to Federal Identity Theft and Aggravated Identity Theft Prosecutions
45.62 work years
(According to EOUSA, the term “work year” is used when defining the productive efforts of one individual for one year. One work year for a federal employee is typically equal to 2080 hours)

To read or download the whole 65 page audit click here!

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