Quote from article: "'You can't prosecute somebody for something they didn't know was a crime,' Scott said. He and Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, the senior Republican on the panel, held a hearing on the issue last year."
David,
I think it's time to bring out the shocked baby face again.
The truth is "Congress makes too many laws". Everything that should be illegal was already illegal a thousand years ago. The recent crap is just stupid government-protection schemes.
America is in the throes of overcriminalization: We are making and enforcing far too many vague, overbroad criminal laws that create traps for the innocent but unwary and threaten to make criminals out of Americans doing their best to be respectable, law-abiding citizens. Changes in criminal law and practice over the past few decades present troubling questions about the fairness of our criminal justice system as it affects the average American. Policy makers and average citizens alike must address these questions, analyze them, and subject them to serious, vigorous debate.
One Nation Under Arrest is a product of a major effort to return the criminal law to its traditional and proper role in society: ensuring public safety and protecting the innocent. With first-hand stories of victims of overcriminalization, One Nation Under Arrest sheds light on the insidious problems that trouble a growing number of policy makers and experts and which bear on the fundamental values of the Republic and our concept of justice. Overcriminalization has the potential of making almost everyone in America a criminal defendant. Ensuring that American criminal law once again routinely employs the right principles and purposes will require much work, but the alternative is to squander the great treasure that is the American criminal justice system.
good to see that mens rea is finally making a comeback.
ReplyDeleteQuote from article: "'You can't prosecute somebody for something they didn't know was a crime,' Scott said. He and Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, the senior Republican on the panel, held a hearing on the issue last year."
ReplyDeleteDavid,
I think it's time to bring out the shocked baby face again.
[W3]
The truth is "Congress makes too many laws". Everything that should be illegal was already illegal a thousand years ago. The recent crap is just stupid government-protection schemes.
ReplyDeleteCheck this out from Heritage, tomorrow:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heritage.org/Events/2010/05/One-Nation-Under-Arrest
America is in the throes of overcriminalization: We are making and enforcing far too many vague, overbroad criminal laws that create traps for the innocent but unwary and threaten to make criminals out of Americans doing their best to be respectable, law-abiding citizens. Changes in criminal law and practice over the past few decades present troubling questions about the fairness of our criminal justice system as it affects the average American. Policy makers and average citizens alike must address these questions, analyze them, and subject them to serious, vigorous debate.
One Nation Under Arrest is a product of a major effort to return the criminal law to its traditional and proper role in society: ensuring public safety and protecting the innocent. With first-hand stories of victims of overcriminalization, One Nation Under Arrest sheds light on the insidious problems that trouble a growing number of policy makers and experts and which bear on the fundamental values of the Republic and our concept of justice. Overcriminalization has the potential of making almost everyone in America a criminal defendant. Ensuring that American criminal law once again routinely employs the right principles and purposes will require much work, but the alternative is to squander the great treasure that is the American criminal justice system.