Threats Against Federal Judges, Prosecutors Are up

A government review has found threats to federal judges and prosecutors have increased dramatically in the past six years.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine concludes there are still gaps in reporting and responding to such threats. The inspector general found the number of threats and inappropriate communications more than doubled from 2003 to 2008.

The report also found that judges and prosecutors themselves are not consistently reporting threats, hampering the ability of federal marshals to take protective action. No federal judges or prosecutors have been killed in the six year period. But in 2005 in Chicago, the mother and husband of federal judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow were killed by a man angry that Lefkow had dismissed his lawsuit.