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United States Department of Justice

 

"As the largest law firm in the Nation, the Department of Justice serves as counsel for its citizens. It represents them in enforcing the law in the public interest. Through its thousands of lawyers, investigators, and agents, the Department plays the key role in protection against criminals and subversion, in ensuring healthy competition of business in our free enterprise system, in safeguarding the consumer, and in enforcing drug immigration, and naturalization laws. The Department also plays a significant role in protecting citizens through its efforts for effective law enforcement, crime prevention, crime detection, and prosecution and rehabilitation of offenders" (U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Department of Justice Home Page, 1998).

 

While the Department of Justice is not ordinarily paired with homelessness, the Department does become involved where drugs and domestic violence are at issue. The results for a query on "homelessness" on the archive for the U.S. Department of Justice, made on January 2, 1998, netted the following results:

 

 

 

 

Homelessness and Drugs

 

Dr. William Olson, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, outlined the magnitude of the social costs borne now by U.S. taxpayers because of drugs. In his 1994 essay, "Drug Legalization: Getting to No," he included homelessness among the social costs related to drugs, writing that "25 - 60 percent of the homeless are addicts, whose homelessness is in large part the result of addiction and their inability to manage money or make rational, reasonable decisions. They are increasingly supported at public expense" (DEA, Claim IV, "Any Revenues Generated by Taxing Legalized Drugs Would Quickly Evaporate in Light of the Increased Social Costs", posted on December 30, 1997).

 

Homelessness and Domestic Violence

 

"About 40% of the sheltered homeless population is made up of family members and the majority of those families -- in some areas more than 90% -- are headed by women. The number of homeless women and children is growing, and recent research shows that one of the leading causes of homelessness among women and children is domestic violence. In its hearings, the Senate Judiciary Committee cited a Ford Foundation study which found that 50% of the homeless women and children in the U.S. are fleeing abuse" (National Clearing House for Legal Services Fact Sheet, posted June 24, 1997).

 

The Challenge of Homelessness

 

"You are graduating into an amazing era. In 1960, nobody had ever heard of the Internet. No one had been to the moon. The CAT scan was not invented until1973. But even though our world is more safe, our country is more just, and new technologies are changing our lives, nobody would say that we are a nation without serious, serious challenges.

 

Many of these challenges seem so stubborn and unyielding, such as violent crime, homelessness, and poverty. Others seem complex and inscrutable, like the international economy and the spread of AIDS. And others seem overwhelming, like the fear of terrorism and environmental catastrophe. But America is a nation of optimists and problem-solvers. Each generation looks to its children to keep our society moving and to make life better. After the parties and the vacations and the graduate degrees yet to come, America will look to you for help. For no matter where you go, and what you do, you can make a difference" (U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, University of South Carolina Spring Commencement Keynote Address, May 3, 1996, posted October 23, 1996).

 

 

 

 

"Three-story pilasters, pedimented pavilions, and a nifty deco main entrance combine to make the Constitution Ave facade of the Justice Department a slightly syncopated version of the standard (Federal) Triangle component. The cheerful interior courtyard also deserves note" (AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C., 3rd Edition, 1994).

 

Iin 1990, this visitor to the Federal Triangle called the Department of Justice building home.

 

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