Report Finds U.S. Marshals Underprotecting Federal Judges

WASHINGTON — Three years after being warned to improve security, the U.S. Marshals Service is still not doing enough to protect federal judges, according to a report by the Justice Department.

Authored by Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine, the report states the Marshals Service must demonstrate a greater degree of urgency and improve its capabilities in assessing and responding to threats against the 2,200 federal judges in the United States .

The report credits the agency with implementing some improvements, such as deploying alarms in the homes of judges, following an increase in acts and threats of violence during 2005 and 2006.

However, as of 2006, the service had a backlog of almost 1,200 cases involving reported threats against federal judges, according to the report. Marshals assessed about one-third of the cases reviewed during 2005 and 2006, within three to seven days of the reported threat, according to the report.

Of the threats that were reviewed, the report found that judges’ safety and security was potentially jeopardized because cases were not investigated sufficiently enough.

In 2004, the Marshals service created a specialized office dedicated to identifying potential threats against members of the judiciary, federal prosecutors and court staff, but resources were diverted due to budgetary constraints, officials say.