JAILer
Journal
Judicial Accountability
Initiative Law
______________________________________________________
Los
Angeles, March
24, 2009
Mission Statement JNJ Library ederal J.A.I.L.
Judges Fearing For Their Lives
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/24/judges.marshals/
By Terry Frieden
CNN Justice Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The federal judge whose husband and mother were slain in their family home in Chicago, Illinois, four years ago was honored Monday by U.S. marshals charged with combating a growing number of threats to the judiciary.
Judge Joan Lefkow, who eventually returned to the bench, credited the marshals who protect federal judges at work and at home with major improvements in judicial security in the years since her family tragedy.
"It's now four years later, and I do see dawn has broken," Lefkow told a crowd of friends and federal officials gathered at the Marshals Service headquarters across the Potomac River from Washington.
The improved security -- including home intrusion security systems and coordinated intelligence and threat analysis -- was badly needed, according to both judges and the Marshals Service. The number of threats has increased each year, and is expected to exceed 1,500 this year, up from 1,278 last year.
"We've already had 600 inappropriate communications reported in the first months of this year," said Marshals Service spokesman Dave Turner.
Whether real threats or hoaxes, every e-mail, phone call, written note and letter -- including some with white powder -- is investigated.
The scope and seriousness of the protective effort increased sharply after the Lefkow tragedy.
U.S. Marshals Director John Clark credits Lefkow's advocacy for better security as the catalyst for dramatic changes.
"Because of her courage to speak out and her advocacy for reform in the protection of judges, things started to happen," Clark said. He cited congressional funding for home-intrusion alarms in every judge's residence and a sharp increase in funding to hire more threat investigators, protections specialists, analysts and trainers.
The threat management center has been open for more than a year.
Deputy marshals in the judicial protection effort attribute a growing number of the threats to disgruntled members of what is known as the sovereign citizenship movement. The movement is a loosely organized network of individuals and groups claiming not to be accountable to the federal government. The movement includes tax protesters, white separatists, zealots of fringe religious groups and desperate individuals lashing out at bankruptcy courts or judges who had wronged them.
As a result, some judges have been given around-the-clock protective details by deputy marshals.
"While steady progress has been made, we must be ever vigilant and progressive in order to ensure we are providing the best possible protection to our nation's judiciary," Clark said.
J.A.I.L. (Judicial Accountability Initiative Law)www.jail4judges.org, has
been in existence for over 12 years, and is in all 50 states and several foreign countries.
To manage your email, place the word Subscribe or Unsubscribe
in 'subject' line and hit reply. Your request will be automatically & instantly
processed. (Note: Program will not permit re-subscribes once unsubscribed.)
Our Founding Fathers said, "...with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine
Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and
our sacred honor." Dec. of Independence. We are a ministry in great need of
your financial support. Donate to this vitally important work at;
"J.A.I.L." P.O. Box 207, North Hollywood, CA 91603
J.A.I.L. is a unique addition to our Constitution heretofore unrealized.
JAIL is powerful! JAIL is dynamic! JAIL is America's ONLY hope!
E-Group sign on at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jail4judges/join
Visit our active flash - http://www.jail4judges.org/Flash.htm
* * *
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to
our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to
their acts of pretended
legislation. - Declaration of
Independence
"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless
minority keen to set brush fires in people's
minds.." - Samuel Adams
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who
is
striking at the root." -- Henry David Thoreau ><)))'>
Return To JNJ Library Index for All Years