Inspector General: DOJ Inaccurately Collects Data

An internal audit found deficiencies in 9 of 21 key indicators used by the Justice Department to measure annual progress toward meeting its strategic goals, the Office of Inspector General Glenn Fine reported today.

Fine's office conducted the audit to assess "whether DOJ is accurately and completely collecting, storing, validating, and verifying the key indicator data."

Among the findings:

• The FBI inaccurately reported the number of child pornography websites or web hosts shut down as a result of its investigative efforts because it counted the number of subpoenas it served on the web hosts rather than the actual sites that were shut down.

• The Justice Department was not accurately reporting the percent of civil and criminal cases that were favorably resolved because the U.S. attorney’s offices and the litigating divisions were using different case disposition dates and also at times were double counting the same cases.

• The department improperly measured the reduction of homicides per site attributed to the Weed and Seed Program because it was using data drawn from different grant recipients from year to year. Thus, the information was not comparable to draw a conclusion about yearly changes in the crime rate.

The department's key indicators are covered in the Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2003‑2008. They also include the number of terrorist acts committed by foreign nationals against U.S. interests within U.S. borders, the number of priority drug trafficking organizations disrupted and dismantled, the percent reduction in the DNA backlog, and the rate of assaults in federal prisons.