According to a report by the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, an F.B.I. pol­i­cy to pro­tect Boston infor­mants who were known mur­der­ers result­ed in the Bureau allow­ing at least two inno­cent men to be sent to death row. Investigators not­ed that the pol­i­cy ​“must be con­sid­ered one of the great­est fail­ures in the his­to­ry of fed­er­al law enforce­ment” and had ​“dis­as­trous con­se­quences.” According to the report, the F.B.I. was so intent on pro­tect­ing guilty infor­mants that it passed up oppor­tu­ni­ties to try them for mur­der. On at least one occa­sion, this pol­i­cy result­ed in the Bureau know­ing­ly allow­ing four men who had noth­ing to do with a killing to be tried and con­vict­ed of the crime. Two of the men were sen­tenced to life in prison and two were sen­tenced to death. Two of the four men died in jail, and the remain­ing two had their sen­tences com­mut­ed and were freed after serv­ing 30 years behind bars. (New York Times, November 21, 2003) See Federal Death Penalty and Innocence.

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