Hyde Amendment

The Hyde Amendment (Pub.L. 105-119, § 617, Nov. 26, 1997, 111 Stat. 2519, codified as a note following 18 U.S.C. § 3006A) is a federal statute allowing federal courts to award attorneys' fees and court costs to criminal defendants "where the court finds that the position of the United States was 'vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith'". In such cases, the federal court may allow victims to recover some of the costs they incurred in fighting the government's investigation and prosecution by authorizing an award of attorneys' fees and court costs to a criminal defendant when the prosecution's evidence is so baseless as to be "frivolous." Compensation awarded under this statute would come out of the budget of the specific federal agency involved, typically the United States Attorney's Office. The measure was introduced by Representative Henry Hyde (Republican-Illinois) as a rider to an appropriation bill and worked into the final 1997 Department of Justice bill by the United States Congress. The Justice Department was intensely opposed to the statute. Need for restraint Prosecutorial abuse in the United States Attorney's Office has become a growing problem, as pressure to crack down on crime has increased. At the same time, maintaining sufficient oversight of the practices and ethics of the US Department of Justice has become increasingly difficult for Congress, the press, and the courts. Criminal defense attorneys are especially vulnerable to "bad faith" prosecutions and the burden that they place on the vindicated defendant. Most prosecutors are elected officials, but that is not true of federal prosecutors, whose conduct is subject to the Hyde Amendment. The decision to file charges can be affected by public opinion or politically-powerful groups. If prosecutors do not carefully screen the cases chosen to pursue, individuals may be charged even when there is insufficient evidence. The high public profile of the suspect or the sensational nature of the crime increasingly has more bearing on the decision to charge than the weight of the evidence or the nature of the crime.