Over criminalization

According to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers INC. LLC 

Over criminalization

Over criminalization is a dangerous trend that NACDL battles daily. With over 4,450 crimes scattered throughout the federal criminal code, and untold numbers of federal regulatory criminal provisions, our nation's addiction to criminalization backlogs our judiciary, overflows our prisons, and forces innocent individuals to plead guilty not because they actually are, but because exercising their constitutional right to a trial is prohibitively expensive and too much of a risk. This inefficient and ineffective system is, of course, a tremendous taxpayer burden.

Although the harm caused by over criminalization is frequently amplified by the executive and judicial branches, it generally originates in the legislative process. It can take many forms, but most frequently occurs through:

• Ambiguous criminalization of conduct without meaningful definition or limitation;
• Enacting criminal statutes lacking meaningful mens rea requirements;
• Imposing vicarious liability with insufficient evidence of personal awareness or neglect;
• Expanding criminal law into economic activity and regulatory and civil enforcement areas;
• Creating mandatory minimum sentences un-related to the wrongfulness or harm of the underlying crime;
• Federalizing crimes traditionally reserved for state jurisdiction; and

Adopting duplicative and overlapping statutes.

For more information concerning Over criminalization, Pardon and Expungement call:302-747-6728, or e-mail: [email protected]