The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a

federal executive department The United States federal executive departments are the principal units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. They are analogous to ministries common in parliamentary or semi-presidential systems but (the United ...

of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

and

administration of justice The administration of justice is the process by which the legal system of a government is executed. The presumed goal of such an administration is to provide justice for all those accessing the legal system. The phrase is also commonly used to d ...

in the United States. It is equivalent to the

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

or interior ministries of other countries. The department is headed by the

U.S. attorney general The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

. The current attorney general is Merrick Garland, who was sworn in on March 11, 2021. The modern incarnation of the Justice Department was formed in 1870 during the Ulysses S. Grant presidency. The department comprises federal law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the

U.S. Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforceme ...

, the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevent ...

, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that ...

. It also has eight major divisions of lawyers who represent the U.S. federal government in litigation: the Civil,

Criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

, Civil Rights,

Antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...

, Tax, Environment and Natural Resources, National Security, and Justice Management Divisions. The department also includes the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. The primary actions of the DOJ are representing the U.S. government in legal matters and running the federal prison system. The department is also responsible for reviewing the conduct of local law enforcement as directed by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.

History

The office of the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789 as a part-time job for one person, but grew with the

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

. At one time, the attorney general gave legal advice to the U.S. Congress, as well as the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

; however, in 1819, the attorney general began advising Congress alone to ensure a manageable workload. Until March 3, 1853, the salary of the attorney general was set by statute at less than the amount paid to other Cabinet members. Early attorneys general supplemented their salaries by running private law practices, often arguing cases before the courts as attorneys for paying litigants. The lightness of the office is exemplified by Edward Bates (1793–1869), Attorney General under Abraham Lincoln (1861 to 1864). Bates had only a small operation, with a staff of six. The main function was to generate legal opinions at the request of Lincoln and cabinet members, and handle occasional cases before the Supreme Court. Lincoln's cabinet was full of experienced lawyers who seldom felt the need to ask for his opinions. Bates had no authority over the US Attorneys around the country. The federal court system was handled by the Interior Department; the Treasury handled claims. Most of the opinions turned out by Bates's office were of minor importance. Lincoln gave him no special assignments and did not seek his advice on Supreme Court appointments. Bates did have an opportunity to comment on general policy as a cabinet member with a strong political base, but he seldom spoke up. Following unsuccessful efforts in 1830 and 1846 to make attorney general a full-time job, in 1867, the

U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...

, led by Congressman William Lawrence, conducted an inquiry into the creation of a "law department" headed by the attorney general and also composed of the various department solicitors and United States attorneys. On February 19, 1868, Lawrence introduced a bill in Congress to create the Department of Justice. President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...

signed the bill into law on June 22, 1870. Grant appointed

Amos T. Akerman Amos Tappan Akerman (February 23, 1821 – December 21, 1880) was an American politician who served as United States Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant from 1870 to 1871. A native of New Hampshire, Akerman graduated from Dartmouth ...

as attorney general and

Benjamin H. Bristow Benjamin Helm Bristow (June 20, 1832 – June 22, 1896) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 30th U.S. Treasury Secretary and the first Solicitor General. A Union military officer, Bristow was a Republican Party reformer an ...

as America's first solicitor general the same week that Congress created the Department of Justice. The department's immediate function was to preserve civil rights. It set about fighting against domestic terrorist groups who had been using both violence and litigation to oppose the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. Both Akerman and Bristow used the Department of Justice to vigorously prosecute Ku Klux Klan members in the early 1870s. In the first few years of Grant's first term in office, there were 1000 indictments against Klan members, with over 550 convictions from the Department of Justice. By 1871, there were 3000 indictments and 600 convictions, with most only serving brief sentences, while the ringleaders were imprisoned for up to five years in the federal penitentiary in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City. ...

. The result was a dramatic decrease in violence in the South. Akerman gave credit to Grant and told a friend that no one was "better" or "stronger" than Grant when it came to prosecuting terrorists. George H. Williams, who succeeded Akerman in December 1871, continued to prosecute the Klan throughout 1872 until the spring of 1873, during Grant's second term in office.Williams (1996), ''The Great South Carolina Ku Klux Klan Trials, 1871–1872'', p. 123 Williams then placed a moratorium on Klan prosecutions partially because the Justice Department, inundated by cases involving the Klan, did not have the manpower to continue prosecutions. The "Act to Establish the Department of Justice" drastically increased the attorney general's responsibilities to include the supervision of all United States attorneys, formerly under the Department of the Interior, the prosecution of all federal crimes, and the representation of the United States in all court actions, barring the use of private attorneys by the federal government. The law also created the office of Solicitor General to supervise and conduct government litigation in the Supreme Court of the United States. With the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, the federal government took on some law enforcement responsibilities, and the Department of Justice was tasked with performing these. In 1884, control of federal prisons was transferred to the new department, from the Department of Interior. New facilities were built, including the penitentiary at Leavenworth in 1895, and a facility for women located in West Virginia, at Alderson was established in 1924. In 1933, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As th ...

issued an executive order which gave the Department of Justice responsibility for the "functions of prosecuting in the courts of the United States claims and demands by, and offsenses 'sic''against, the Government of the United States, and of defending claims and demands against the Government, and of supervising the work of United States attorneys, marshals, and clerks in connection therewith, now exercised by any agency or officer..."

Headquarters

The U.S. Department of Justice building was completed in 1935 from a design by

Milton Bennett Medary Milton Bennett Medary Jr. (February 6, 1874 – August 7, 1929) was an American architect from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, practicing with the firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary from 1910 until his death. Biography Medary attended the University ...

. Upon Medary's death in 1929, the other partners of his Philadelphia firm

Zantzinger, Borie and Medary Zantzinger, Borie and Medary was an American architecture firm that operated from 1905 to 1950 in Philadelphia. It specialized in institutional and civic projects. For most of its existence, the partners were Clarence C. Zantzinger, Charles Lou ...

took over the project. On a lot bordered by Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues and Ninth and Tenth Streets, Northwest, it holds over of space. The sculptor

C. Paul Jennewein Carl Paul Jennewein (December 2, 1890 – February 22, 1978) was a German-born American sculptor. Early career Jennewein was born in Stuttgart in Germany. At the age of seventeen, he immigrated to the United States in 1907. He was apprenti ...

served as overall design consultant for the entire building, contributing more than 50 separate sculptural elements inside and outside. Various efforts, none entirely successful, have been made to determine the original intended meaning of the Latin motto appearing on the Department of Justice seal, ''Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur'' (literally "Who For Lady Justice Strives"). It is not even known exactly when the original version of the DOJ seal itself was adopted, or when the motto first appeared on the seal. The most authoritative opinion of the DOJ suggests that the motto refers to the Attorney General (and thus, by extension, to the Department of Justice) "who prosecutes on behalf of justice (or the Lady Justice)". The motto's conception of the prosecutor (or government attorney) as being the servant of justice itself finds concrete expression in a similarly-ordered English-language inscription ("THE UNITED STATES WINS ITS POINT WHENEVER JUSTICE IS DONE ITS CITIZENS IN THE COURTS") in the above-door paneling in the ceremonial rotunda anteroom just outside the Attorney General's office in the Department of Justice Main Building in Washington, D.C. The building was renamed in honor of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 2001. It is sometimes referred to as "Main Justice".

Organization

Leadership offices

*Office of the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

*Office of the Deputy Attorney General *Office of the Associate Attorney General **Office of the United States Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General *Office of the

Solicitor General of the United States The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021. The United States solicitor general represent ...

Divisions

The Justice Department also had a War Division during World War II. It was created in 1942 and disestablished in 1945.

Law enforcement agencies

Several federal law enforcement agencies are administered by the Department of Justice: * United States Marshals Service (USMS) – The office of U.S. Marshal was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. The U.S. Marshals Service was established as an agency in 1969, and it was elevated to full bureau status under the Justice Department in 1974. * Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – On July 26, 1908, a small investigative force was created within the Justice Department under Attorney General Charles Bonaparte. The following year, this force was officially named the Bureau of Investigation by Attorney General

George W. Wickersham George Woodward Wickersham (September 19, 1858 – January 25, 1936) was an American lawyer and Attorney General of the United States in the administration of President William H. Taft. He returned to government to serve in appointed positio ...

. In 1935, the bureau adopted its current name. *

(BOP) – the Three Prisons Act of 1891 created the federal prison system. Congress created the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1930 by Pub. L. No. 71–218, 46 Stat. 325, signed into law by President Hoover on May 14, 1930. * National Institute of Corrections (NIC) – Founded in 1974, the National Institute of Corrections is organized under the

and has a legislatively mandated mission to assist state and local correctional institutions, and to manage the American Federal Prison System by keeping records of inmates. *

(ATF) – Except for a brief period during Prohibition, ATF's predecessor bureaus were part of the Department of the Treasury for more than two hundred years.Transfer of ATF to U.S. Department of Justice
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF was first established by Department of Treasury Order No. 221, effective July 1, 1972; this order "transferred the functions, powers, and duties arising under laws relating to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives from the Internal Revenue Service to ATF. In 2003, under the terms of the Homeland Security Act, ATF was split into two agencies – the new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was transferred to the Department of Justice, while the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) was retained by the Department of the Treasury. * Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – Created in 1973 as part of the War on drugs, the DEA was formed from various previously existing law enforcement agencies that were parts of either the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, Department of the Treasury or the Food and Drug Administration. The DEA enforces the

Controlled Substances Act The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is the statute establishing federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain substances is regulated. It was passed by the 91st United States ...

and also interdicts foreign drug trafficking. * Office of the Inspector General (OIG) – The Office of Inspector General performs basic internal auditing functions, and has the power to make arrests and prosecute members of the Department of Justice who are found to be in violation of laws regulating conduct of government officials.

Offices

* Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) *

Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys The Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) is the office within the Department of Justice that provides executive and administrative support for the 93 United States Attorneys located throughout the 50 states, District of Columbia, Gu ...

(EOUSA) * Executive Office of the United States Trustee (EOUST) *

Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management The Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management (OARM) is the office of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) responsible for the recruitment of law students and attorneys for the department. It is also responsible to oversee matters per ...

(OARM) *Office of the Chief Information Officer *:In May 2014, the Department appointed Joseph Klimavicz as CIO. Klimavicz succeeds Kevin Deeley, who served as acting CIO since November 2013 when the previous office holder,

Luke McCormack Luke J. McCormack was the chief information officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from December 16, 2013, to May 2, 2017. Early life and education McCormack is a native of Long Island, N.Y., and resides in Virginia. He has two s ...

, left to take the CIO post at the Department of Homeland Security. *

Office of Dispute Resolution An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

Office of the Federal Detention Trustee The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

(OFDT) *

Office of Immigration Litigation The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North Amer ...

Office of Information Policy An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

Office of Intelligence Policy and Review The Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) was a staff agency within the United States Department of Justice. It was responsible for handling all Justice Department requests for surveillance authorizations under the terms of the 1978 Forei ...

(OIPR) *

Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

(merged with Office of Legislative Affairs on April 12, 2012) * Office of Justice Programs (OJP) ** Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) **

Bureau of Justice Statistics The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of cri ...

(BJS) **

National Institute of Justice The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research, development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice. NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Juvenile ...

(NIJ) ** Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) ** Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) **

Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking Office (SMART) Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova ...

Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

* Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) *

Office of Legal Policy The Office of Legal Policy (OLP) is a division within the United States Department of Justice which describes itself as the "focal point for the development and coordination of Departmental policy." In addition to rendering legal advice to the Un ...

(OLP) * Office of Legislative Affairs *

Office of the Pardon Attorney The Office of the Pardon Attorney assists the president of the United States in his exercise of executive clemency as authorized by Article II, Section 2, of the US Constitution. It is part of the United States Department of Justice and is in co ...

Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

(OPCL) *

Office of Professional Responsibility The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), part of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and supervised by the FBI, is responsible for investigating lawyers employed by the Department of Justice who have been accused of misconduct ...

(OPR) *Office of Public Affairs *

Office on Sexual Violence and Crimes against Children An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...

Office of Tribal Justice An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) The United States Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was created following the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994.Professional Responsibility Advisory Office A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

(PRAO) * United States Attorneys Offices *

United States Trustee The United States Trustee Program is a component of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for overseeing the administration of bankruptcy cases and private trustees. The applicable federal law is found at and , et seq. In ...

s Offices *Office of

Community Oriented Policing Services The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is a component of the United States Department of Justice. The COPS Office was established through a provision in the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Since 19 ...

(COPS) *

Community Relations Service The Community Relations Service (CRS) is part of the United States Department of Justice. The office is intended to act as a peacemaker "for community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color, national origin, gender, gender id ...

Other offices and programs

Foreign Claims Settlement Commission The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States (FCSC) is a quasi-judicial, independent agency within the U.S. Department of Justice which adjudicates claims of U.S. nationals against foreign governments, either under specific jurisdic ...

of the United States *

INTERPOL The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

, U.S. National Central Bureau *

National Drug Intelligence Center The United States National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), established in 1993, was a component of the U.S. Department of Justice and a member of the Intelligence Community. ThGeneral Counterdrug Intelligence Plan implemented in February 2000, ...

(former) * Obscenity Prosecution Task Force (former) *

United States Parole Commission The United States Parole Commission is the parole board responsible for granting or denying parole to, and supervising the parole releases of, incarcerated individuals who fall under its jurisdiction. It is part of the United States Department of Ju ...

In March 2003, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service was abolished and its functions transferred to the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

. The Executive Office for Immigration Review and the

Board of Immigration Appeals The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is an administrative appellate body within the Executive Office for Immigration Review of the United States Department of Justice responsible for reviewing decisions of the U.S. immigration courts and certa ...

, which review decisions made by government officials under Immigration and Nationality law, remain under jurisdiction of the Department of Justice. Similarly the Office of Domestic Preparedness left the Justice Department for the Department of Homeland Security, but only for executive purposes. The Office of Domestic Preparedness is still centralized within the Department of Justice, since its personnel are still officially employed within the Department of Justice. In 2003, the Department of Justice created LifeAndLiberty.gov, a website that supported the USA PATRIOT Act. It was criticized by government watchdog groups for its alleged violation of U.S. Code Title 18 Section 1913, which forbids money appropriated by Congress to be used to lobby in favor of any law, actual or proposed.Dotgovwatch.com
, October 18, 2007 The website has since been taken offline. On October 5, 2021, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco has announced the formation of a "Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team" during the Aspen Cyber Summit.

Finances and budget

In 2015, the Justice Department's budget was as follows:2015 Department of Justice Budget Authority by Appropriation
, United States Department of Justice, Accessed July 13, 2015

Footnotes

References

External links

* *
Department of Justice
on

USAspending.gov ttp://www.usaspending.gov USASpending.govis a database of spending by the United States federal government. History Around the time of the Act's passage, OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, was developing a site that would do essentially ever ...

USDOJ
in the '' Federal Register'' {{DEFAULTSORT:United States Department Of Justice 1870 establishments in the United States

Government agencies established in 1870 Justice ministries National Central Bureaus of Interpol