LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Janet Reno: Justice Department
built 344 days ago
One of the most popular United States attorneys general in recent times, Janet Reno has been one of the major figures in the Clinton administration. With 15 years of experience as a state attorney in Florida, Reno sought new frontiers for the Justice Department, which is the most powerful department in the Cabinet in terms of effecting social change.
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After receiving a B.A. from Cornell University, Reno attended Harvard Law School. She entered the law profession in the 1960's when the field was still relatively closed to women. After nine years in private practice, Reno was named staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives. Once there, she helped draft a revision of the state constitution. Her other positions included counsel for the Florida Senate's Criminal Justice Commission for Revision of the Criminal Code and state attorney for the Eleventh Judiciary Circuit of Florida.
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Reno has cited a number of factors to explain why she endorsed the tear-gas plan. She has said that she had concluded that negotiations with the Branch Davidians were indefinitely stalemated, that the FBI's hostage rescue team on duty at Waco was becoming fatigued, that the security perimeter established by the FBI around the compound was endangered and that the children inside the compound were at risk because of deteriorating sanitary conditions and the potential for sexual and physical abuse. According to Justice Department reports and congressional testimony, Reno gave only a cursory reading of the three-inch thick operations plan and back-up documentation about CS gas provided by the FBI two days before the assault on the compound.
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A Florida native, Reno became interested in public service at the age of 14 when she spent nine months studying in Germany. On a visit to Dachau one day, she asked Germans how they could have permitted the death camp to operate. "We just stood by, we just stood by," they told her. Reno realized that she couldn't stand by, and dedicated her life to fighting for equality and justice for all.
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A woman in a male dominated field (despite her education) Ms. Reno found it difficult to find work in her profession. In response, she went into the field of criminal justice. [Note: One of Miami's largest law firms denied her a position because she was a woman. Fourteen years later, the same firm made her a partner].
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Reno talked about the work being done at the AJS Institute, researching the role science plays in the justice system. She told students she has had one of her convictions overturned because of evidence that exonerated the person who was convicted. She says more work must be done to set aside wrongful verdicts.
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