Prosecutors Drowning in Data Urged to Collect Less Evidence

Prosecutors struggling to pore through mushrooming amounts of electronic data they uncover during corporate crime investigations are beginning to hear counterintuitive advice from the Justice Department: Collect less evidence.

The nascent strategy of selectively seizing fewer computers, cell phones, and hard drives coincides with an exponential growth of available e-data. It comes amid repeated DOJ failures in processing and turning over evidence to the defense.

But it’s also controversial and still not practiced in much of the country. The instructions to narrow collections, which will be rolled out nationwide later this year in mandatory training for all 6,000 federal prosecutors, ...