Judge John Gleeson, a prominent federal judge in New York, recently criticized U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft for regularly overruling local prosecutors by directing them to seek the death penalty though they have recommended against it. In an article appearing in the November 2003 issue of the Virginia Law Review, Gleeson noted that the policy “undermines the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes.” He stated, “For the sake of the death penalty in a few more federal cases, significant numbers of murderers and other criminals can elude investigation and prosecution, and thus remain at large, free to commit further crimes.” Gleeson notes that the policy will discourage defendants from cooperating in criminal cases in exchange for more lenient sentences, and it will likely demoralize prosecutors who think they know their cases better than Washington officials. The policy, he notes, will also drain crucial resources from prosecutors’ offices because death penalty trials are costly in time and money. (New York Times, December 26, 2003) See Federal Death Penalty and New Voices.