Department of Justice August 19, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) announces that the Review Panel on Prison Rape (Panel), will hold hearings in Orlando, Florida on August 27, 2008, Washington, DC, on September 10-11, 2008, Springfield, Massachusetts on September 24-25, 2008 and again in Washington, DC, on September 30 and October 1, 2008. The hearing times and location are noted below. The purpose of the hearings is to assist the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in identifying common characteristics of victims and perpetrators of prison rape, and prison and prison systems with the highest and lowest incidence of prison rape. On June 25, 2008, BJS issued the report Sexual Victimization in Local Jails Reported by Inmates, 2007. The report provides a listing of local jails ranked according to the prevalence of sexual victimization, and formed the basis of the Panel's decision about which facilities would be the subject of testimony.

On June 17, 2003, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division delegated to the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to settle administrative tort claims presented pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act where the amount of the settlement does not exceed $50,000. By including this delegation of authority in the Code of Federal Regulations, the Civil Division is alerting the general public to the delegation. This rule also implements the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act.