Investigating and Prosecuting Election Crimes

Today, the one-week OPDAT Investigating and Prosecuting Election Crimes course graduated.

The objective of this course is to introduce to prosecutors, investigators, and judges the conceptual framework for the enforcement of election crimes and related corruption offenses. This course explored three important types of crime in this area: cyber election offenses, campaign finance violations, and ballot fraud. It covered critical techniques related to evidence gathering, both domestic and international. It also focused on the importance of a non-interference policy designed to force law enforcement bodies to conduct effective investigations that do not otherwise impact the integrity of the electoral process. Participants engaged in problem solving exercises drawn from real life examples of voter fraud and election crimes. The course then culminated in a domestic and international evidence gathering exercise.