The U. S. Justice Department allegedly conceals its own investigations of misconduct from the public.

The Justice Department often classifies as mistakes violations that result in overturned convictions. Even when judges have cited prosecutors for flouting constitutional rules, the government often clears the attorneys of wrongdoing and concludes the violations were unintentional. The agency's internal ethics watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), found wrongdoing in about one-quarter of the roughly 750 complaints it investigated during the past decade.

Even when investigators conclude that prosecutors committed misconduct, they are unlikely to be fired. Department records suggest that violations more often result in reprimands, suspensions or agreements that allow lawyers to leave the government with their reputations intact and their records unblemished.

After a judge in Massachusetts freed two convicted Mafia figures from prison because of " extremely serious government misconduct" by the lead prosecutor, for example, officials gave the prosecutor a written reprimand. U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf wrote in a 2008 letter to then-attorney general Michael Mukasey that the episode — which occurred before Mukasey became attorney general — "raises serious questions about whether judges should continue to rely upon the Department to investigate and sanction misconduct by federal prosecutors."

The Justice Department consistently conceals its own investigations of misconduct from the public. Officials say privacy laws prevent them from revealing any details of their investigations. That secrecy, however, makes it almost impossible to assess the full extent and impact of misconduct by prosecutors or the effectiveness of the department's attempts to deter it.


Links:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2010-12-08-prosecutor_N.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2010-12-09-RW_prosecutorbar09_ST_N.htm