According to the New York Times, the Attorney General is not only interfering with the independence of agencies that collect crime statistics and do research on crime, for example, the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Institute of Justice, he has imposed a gag order on the bureau's employees. Employees received an e-mail not to speak with the press about the issue.

Former directors of the agencies say that "the agencies, created by Congress, have long been independent of the attorney general and had been allowed to release reports or make research grants without clearance by the attorney general's office."

Employees, former officials of the agencies and legal scholars have said " over the last year and with increasing speed recently, political appointees under Mr. Ashcroft have worked to undermine that independence."

"At stake, they say, is the integrity of statistics about whether crime is increasing or decreasing and the findings of scholars about what causes crime and how to reduce it. "

"One result of this change, the employees say, is that statistical reports and decisions about research grants are now being sent to Ms. Henke and Ms. Daniels and then to the attorney general for clearance before being publicly released. Another result, said the employees, who spoke on the condition of not being named, is that some reports and grants are being delayed for two to three months awaiting clearance. "

One of the Founders of the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 1968, Professor Blumstein, called Ashcroft's changes "the most intrusive effort by the political appointees in the Justice Department to control the shaping and dissemination of statistics since I've been involved."

We agree. We have served on a National Institute of Justice Panel (Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence) and while defense lawyers were far outnumbered by prosecutors and police, the process over a two year period was fair and the input of the defense bar can be seen in the final publication, Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement , that is now being used by law enforcement around the country to establish more accurate procedures for interviewing eyewitness to crime.

If Ashcroft and Justice are allowed to censor or delay reports they don't like, no one other than prosecutors and law enforcement is likely to agree to serve on future projects. The researchers, scholars and defense bar will abandon them if they are not independent. There is no financial payment for the work, and it involves a serious time commitment over a year or two period. Why bother if the results can be sat on, or worse, altered?

It would be a shame to see these agencies' work compromised due to one controlling Attorney-General.