IAD claims to work closely with the district attorney's office of Suffolk County. In rare cases, prosecutors initiate investigations into alleged criminal police misconduct, but the D.A.'s office reportedly does not maintain a list of cases involving police officers as defendants.47

In 1996, of the eighteen cases decided by federal prosecutors for the federal district containing Boston (Massachusetts), two were prosecuted (presented to a grand jury to seek an indictment), and sixteen were declined for prosecution.48 Between 1992 and 1995, 102 cases were considered, and one was prosecuted.

The IAD - federal prosecutor relationship is more distant. IAD rarely passes cases to federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's office. The U.S. Attorney generally relies on direct complaints, referrals from the Justice Department, or media coverage of a case.49 According to a lawyer with the U.S. Attorney's office, the last successful case prosecuted under the federal criminal civil rights statutes in the district was in 1984 from Lynn, Massachusetts.50 He stated that there are very few complaints coming from the city of Boston. The U.S. Attorney's office has prosecuted cases from surrounding towns, including Falmouth and Worcester.

47 Telephone inquiry, Suffolk County District Attorney's office, August 6, 1997.

48 According to data obtained by TRAC from the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, Justice Department. Cases prosecuted or declined represent only a portion of the total number of complaints alleging federal criminal civil rights violations in each district in a given year. Several steps prior to this decision narrow down the number of complaints actually received to those considered worthy of consideration.

49 As described above, federal prosecutors are investigating and prosecuting some of the officers involved in the Cox incident.

50 U.S. v. William T. Marler, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 756 F.2d 206, decided March 8, 1985, decision upholding conviction. Human Rights Watch interview, Theodore Merritt, U.S. Attorney's office, August 9, 1995.