Leahy Bill Assists Prosecutors
...Helps Keep Experienced Crime Fighters On The Job

Leahy has introduced bipartisan legislation to assist the nation's most experienced federal prosecutors as they work to combat terrorism, organized crime, and dangerous narcotics rings. The bill closes a loophole in the law to add federal prosecutors to the list of "law enforcement officers" for the purposes of retirement benefits.

"Our federal prosecutors are being placed front and center in the war against terrorism," said Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has oversight responsibility for federal law enforcement agencies. "At a time when the nation's United States Attorney's Offices have assumed the leadership in each federal district of the Department of Justice's Anti-Terrorism Task Forces to coordinate federal state and local law enforcement investigative efforts in terrorism cases, we need to correct the law and recognize the law enforcement role of federal prosecutors."

The bill (S. 1828), cosponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), would give federal prosecutors the same retirement benefits already enjoyed by other federal law enforcement officers, ranging from FBI agents to cooks and accountants at the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Assistant U.S. Attorneys and other federal prosecutors designated by the Attorney General would be eligible for immediate, unreduced retirement benefits at age 50 provided they had 20 years of service as federal prosecutors.

Few federal prosecutors remain on the job for 20 years. The Leahy bill would encourage the nation's most experienced federal prosecutors not to leave the government for higher paying jobs in the private sector. With the increasing complexity of federal cases, providing federal prosecutors with better retirement benefits would help preserve a cadre of experienced veterans to deal with such sensitive matters, said Leahy.

"This bill would allow the most experienced federal prosecutors to continue to fight crime. Facing the dangers that our country faces today, we need our best people to heed the call of public service. By encouraging our best federal prosecutors to stay in the business of putting the bad guys in jail, we both reward their courage and protect our safety," Leahy said.

Federal prosecutors are often the most conspicuous representatives of the government in the criminal justice system and are natural targets for threats of reprisals by vengeful criminals. "They march into court and battle these criminals face to face," Leahy said, "and sometimes pay a high price for their visibility."

Leahy cited the recent unsolved case of a federal prosecutor near Seattle who was murdered in what authorities have referred to as a 'hit.' Two other federal prosecutors from Chicago were also recently shot during training in South Carolina. Leahy noted other accounts of threats to federal prosecutors, who have been forced to relocate due to death threats, physically assaulted, and forced to install security systems at their homes and to change travel routes to and from the office to protect their safety and the safety of their families.