The Office of Legal Policy (OLP) is responsible for developing and coordinating the implementation of many of the Department's major criminal law initiatives. OLP works closely with other Department components and agencies to enhance the Department's effectiveness in combating violent crime, firearms offenses, and criminal gangs. OLP has also been heavily involved in sentencing policy and assists in developing new criminal statutes and enhancements to existing criminal statutes. Most recently, as part of the Attorney General's Safer Communities Initiative, Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand coordinated the Department's meetings with federal, state, and local law-enforcement agencies in eighteen metropolitan areas to investigate possible causes of violent crime in cities and to identify effective means of reducing it.

Testimony of Assistant Attorney General Rachel L. Brand on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (May 10, 2007)

Remarks of Assistant Attorney General Rachel L. Brand at the Memorial Plaza Dedication and Peace Officers Memorial Service (August 1, 2006)

The Attorney General's Announcement of the Safer Communities Initiative before the International Association of Chiefs of Policy (October 10, 2006)

The Department of Justice Initiative To Combat Gangs (February 16, 2006)

The Sentencing Fairness and Equity Restoration Act of 2006

The United States Attorney Bulletin on Gang Prosecutions