Resources Devoted by the Department of Justice To Combat White-Collar Crime and Public Corruption

Gao ID: GGD-79-35 March 19, 1979

Both the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have designated white-collar crime and public corruption as a top priority area along with narcotics, organized crime, and foreign counterintelligence. As a result of this priority designation, GAO was requested to undertake a comparative study of the total federal law enforcement resources utilized in the detection, investigation, and prosecution of the so-called index crimes as opposed to the federal resources utilized in the detection, investigation, and prosecution of white-collar crime and political corruption.

Because most index or street crimes are investigated and prosecuted by state and local resources, the study could only determine the resources devoted by the various components of the Justice Department to the investigation and prosecution of white-collar crime and public corruption. In fiscal years 1977 and 1978, the expenditures by Justice components to white-collar crime and public corruption was approximately 5.1 percent of its total budget each year. The planned expenditures in 1979 by five of the six components of Justice is approximately 4.2 percent of the total 1979 budget for Justice, exclusive of the United States attorneys. The appendices contain the specific statistics for each Justice component and FBI.



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