Mr. ROONEY. This is for people in your office? Mr. KENNEDY. That is correct. Mr. ROONEY. And it includes $2,700 for communications and $500 for printing, a total increase of $6,700. Are there any questions, gentlemen, in regard to this? OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL If not, we shall proceed to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, which is to be found under tab 4 of these justifications. We shall insert at this point in the record pages 4-1 through 4–6 of the justifications. (The pages follow :) Appropriation, 1962. $552, 000 577,000 25, 000 The Deputy Attorney General as the second ranking officer of the Department assists the Attorney General in the overall supervision and direction of the Department, including coordination of the activities of the departmental divisions and other units. In the absence of the Attorney General, he is the Acting Attorney General. This Office handles all legislative matters and is the Department's chief liaison with the Congress and State and Federal departments and agencies. It formulates or approves departmental policies and programs, and oversees their execution; prepares, for the consideration of the Attorney General, recommendations for Presidential appointments to judicial positions and positions with the Department; and handles the recruitment and appointment of attorneys. The executive offices for U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals are part of this Office. Legislative proposals of the Department of Justice are drafted and cleared as are reports and recommendations relative to pending legislation originating elsewhere in the Government. AMOUNT REQUESTED An appropriation of $577,000 is requested for the fiscal year 1963. The increase over 1962 of $25,000 is needed to implement statutory provisions relating to employees' compensation, to cover increased travel requirements, and to permit the employment of two additional attorneys to assist with the greatly increased workload of this Office, as follows: Cost of statutory provisions: Within-grade promotions (Ramspeck Act). Cost of additional positions: Salaries of 2 attorneys, GS-9-- Personnel benefits (retirement $800, health $100). Rent (to be tranferred to GSA). Total cost of new positions-- Total increase_ $5, 700 3, 500 12, 900 900 2,000 15, 800 25, 000 GENERAL STATEMENT The workload of this Office has increased substantially as the result of the change in administration; the recent legislation adding 73 new Federal judges (Public Law 87-36); the turnover in U.S. attorneys' and marshals' offices of Presidential appointees; and the large number of new legislative proposals such as the new anticrime laws and other legislation. Correspondence, interviews, telephone calls, and other work in connection with these matters is voluminous and require thorough analysis and careful review. In addition this Office is handling much of the regular business of the Attorney General's Office while the Attorney General is undertaking a number of important assignments for the President. The present staff is not able to handle the heavy load of work without considerable overtime and frequent delays. The two positions requested should help relieve this situation. The upward trend in the workload of this Office in recent years continues. The views of the Department of Justice were requested by congressional committees, the Bureau of the Budget, and miscellaneous sources on 1,221 public bills and 81 private relief bills, or a total of 1,302 for the 1st session of the 87th Congress. This represents a new high in the volume of this type of work. The executive office for U.S. attorneys during fiscal year 1961 has been primarily concerned with the continuing drive to reduce the heavy load of pending cases in the attorneys' offices and the indoctrination and orientation programs for the new U.S. attorneys. Almost 400 new attorneys (assistant U.S. attorneys and the U.S. attorneys) entered on duty during the calendar year 1961. The entry on duty of these new attorneys has necessarily increased the workload of the executive office for U.S. attorneys which is, among other things, responsible for the processing of these applications and which provides general executive assistance and supervision to the 91 offices of U.S. attorneys. The executive office for U.S. marshals provides executive assistance, direction, and supervision to the individual marshals' offices. Representatives of this Office participate in annual regional conferences of U.S. marshals, held at Federal penal institutions, which provide a forum for the exchange of mutual ideas and the resolution of problems common to all districts. The travel incident to such conferences is, whenever possible, combined with prisoner transportation to minimize expenses. 1 This total does not include 286 requests disposed of other than by report to a congressional committee or the Bureau of the Budget. Mr. ROONEY. These pages indicate that the request is in the amount of $577,000, which would be an increase of $25,000 over the amount appropriated to date in the current fiscal year for this office. We referred to this awhile ago. The increases to which I referred awhile ago are set forth at page 4-3 and, as mentioned previously, there is included therein a request for two GS-9 attorneys in the amount of $12,900. Mr. Deputy Attorney General, do you have a statement with regard to this item? Mr. WHITE. No; I have no particular statement, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ROONEY. You might dwell upon the alleged necessity of the two GS-9 attorneys. Mr. WHITE. In the past year, and this probably still continues, we have had a substantially heavier load in making recommendations for new Federal judgeships and U.S. attorneys and marshals. We still have practically 35 to 40 judgeships to make recommendations about. This is a substantial task in our Deputy's Office and also the Department's legislative program has been quite heavy in the past year and will continue to be heavy this year. This is in addition to commenting upon bills which are submitted to the Department for comments by committees, Senators, and Congressmen. This past year, and it will continue this year, this legislative program of the Department has required manpower somewhat in excess of the requirements in years gone by. This year, and I think it will continue, the work of the Department of Justice in connection with bills sent to the Department for comment by Congress, and the work of the Department in connection with other departments has increased a good deal. Mr. ROONEY. The facts with regard to these bills beginning in the 78th Congress are set forth on page 4-6 of these justifications? Mr. WHITE. Yes, sir. Mr. ROONEY. Are there any questions with regard to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General? Mr. Bow. I have one, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ROONEY. Mr. Bow? Mr. Bow. You stated that some of this additional personnel will be needed for new judgeship determinations. The Attorney General, in his statement, said that these positions would all probably be filled within 60 days. Mr. WHITE. That is right. Mr. Bow. Which would be within the present fiscal year. This is not important so far as the next fiscal year, with respect to these two positions, is concerned, is it? Mr. WHITE. I think that is true, Mr. Bow. Of course, there will always be continuing vacancies. Mr. Bow. That is all; thank you. Mr. ROONEY. Are there any further questions? If not, gentlemen, we thank you Mr. Attorney General, for having appeared and spent your morning with us. We have learned a great deal about what you have been doing in the Department of Justice and we are very well pleased with it. I should like to suggest that we resume at 1: 30 this afternoon when we will have the Pardon Attorney before us. Mr. KENNEDY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. AFTERNOON SESSION OFFICE OF THE PARDON ATTORNEY WITNESS REED COZART, PARDON ATTORNEY Mr. ROONEY. The committee will please come to order. The first item to which we shall direct our attention this afternoon is the item for the Office of the Pardon Attorney, which is to be found. under tab 5 of the justifications. We shall insert at this point in the record pages 5-1 through 5–5 of the justifications. (The pages follow:) Appropriation, 1962. Increase_ $73, 000 74,000 1,000 The Pardon Attorney performs a specialized service under the Attorney General, which deals with the receipt, investigation, and disposition of applications to the President for pardon, or other forms of Executive clemency. AMOUNT REQUESTED It is estimated that this Office will need an appropriation of $74,000 for 1963 to maintain its present staff and scale of operations. The increase over 1962 of $1,000 is required to meet the cost of within-grade promotions as authorized by the Ramspeck Act. GENERAL STATEMENT The Pardon Attorney performs a specialized service under the Attorney General which deals primarily with the receipt, investigation, and disposition of applications to the President for all types of Executive clemency. In addition, related matters are reviewed, considered, and disposed of on an "administrative basis" in accordance with established procedure. During fiscal year 1961 new cases and matters received were 10 percent above those for 1960, and terminations were up by 28 percent. This upward trend in workload for 1961 was predicted in the budget estimates for 1962 and it is expected to continue into 1962 and 1963. During July and August 1961, 131 cases have been received as compared with 68 cases received during the same 2 months of 1960. This is an increase of almost 100 percent and it represents 281⁄2 percent of all the cases received in 1961. Every person convicted of a Federal offense is a prospective petitioner for some form of Executive clemency, and the increase in the rate of crime with proportionate conviction will enlarge their number. Moreover, persons whose veterans' rights or benefits have been duly forfeited in the past, even without criminal prosecution, because of their infractions of various laws relating to veterans are potential applicants. The needs and desires of the individual dictate the time when he may feel impelled to seek clemency. Then too, there is always the prospect that groups active in behalf of certain classes of offenders, for example, selective service violators, may prevail upon a large number to file petitions in concert. Apart from consideration of the formal applications, this office must necessarily examine, review and dispose of many, many informal requests for pardon or other forms of Executive clemency, or for information or advice concerning the various aspects of clemency and loss and restoration of civil rights. All positions in the office are filled at the present time, and we anticipate no vacancies. Figures relating to actual workload for 1959, 1960, and 1961 and estimates for 1962 and 1963 are attached. Mr. ROONEY. They indicate that the request is in the amount of $74,000 which would be an increase of $1,000 and it would appear that this increase is entirely concerned with within-grade promotions; is that right, Mr. Cozart? Mr. COZART. Yes, sir. That is correct. Mr. ROONEY. Is there anything you need to say about this? Mr. COZART. I do not know of anything further to say. Of course, in the statement prepared and submitted, we made our preliminary estimates for our work load. In the first 6 months of this fiscal year, we have almost hit it right on the button. We predicted about 600 new cases this year. We had 301 filed in the first 6 months and disposed of 237. So it sounds like we are pretty close to being right on our estimate. Mr. ROONEY. Fine. Are there any questions? (No response.) Mr. ROONEY. If not, thank you, Mr. Cozart. Mr. COZART. Thank you. I appreciate this opportunity to appear before you. BOARD OF PAROLE WITNESS R. A. CHAPPELL, CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF PAROLE Mr. ROONEY. The next item is that for the Board of Parole which is to be found under tab 6 of the justifications. The request is in the amount $472,800, which would be an increase of $19,800. These increases are set forth at page 6-2. We shall insert at this point in the record pages 6-1 through 6-8 of the justifications. (The pages follow:) Appropriation, 1962- $453, 000 472, 800 19, 800 AMOUNT REQUESTED The Board of Parole estimates that $472,800 will be required to meet its needs for the fiscal year 1963. This amount exceeds the amount allotted to the Board in 1962 by $19,800. The amount requested is necessary primarily to meet the increased costs of handling a large increase in Board workload. It does not include funds for additional staff, but does include funds to permit the Board to maintain its presently authorized strength. The changes are as follows: Deduct nonrecurring provision for rent (to be transferred to GSA) ---- —$1,500 Cost of statutory requirements: Within-grade salary increases (Ramspeck Act). Other increases: Salaries (reduction in lapses) – Total____. 4,900 16, 400 19, 800 GENERAL STATEMENT Because of legislation enacted by Congress in 1959, which directly affected the Board's responsibilities generally, the workload of the Board has continued to increase steadily and rapidly. Since 1959, the number of hearings conducted by the Board has increased 20 percent. The number of hearings conducted by Youth Division members as a separate group has increased 35 percent. Correlated with the increase in number of Board hearings is, of course, a related increase in total operations performed by the members and staff of the Board. It is, therefore, imperative that the Board maintain its fully authorized staff. A complete staff is needed to assist the members in their many duties other than the holding of hearings and voting on cases. Funds are needed to maintain the staff without the necessity of absorbing unrealistically large lapses amounting to 7 to 10 percent which it has had to absorb during the past few years. |