Originally published at Cato Institute by Jonathan Blanks | April 13, 2016
People who fly a lot will invariably have a bad experience at the airport, sooner or later. Delays, cancellations, huge lines, and overbooked flights can wear on people, and sometimes individuals take their frustrations out on an airline employee. And, once in a while, the person goes too far and crosses the line into assaulting that employee. Continue Reading
Originally published at The Heritage Foundation by Jordan Richardson | June 1, 2015
Overcriminalization—the overuse or misuse of the criminal law to address societal problems—is a troubling phenomenon that touches every segment of society.[1] It manifests itself in a variety of ways, including overly broad definitions of criminal acts, excessively harsh sentencing, and criminal sanctions for simple mistakes or accidents under a theory of strict liability. Continue Reading
Originally published at National Review by Conrad Black | May 6, 2015
The criminal-justice system is a disaster. It would be ungracious of me not to acknowledge with gratitude the column on Sunday of my old friend Fareed Zakaria, citing several sources, including me, as he recounts the almost unmitigated moral bankruptcy of the U.S. criminal-justice system. Continue Reading
Originally published at The Heritage Foundation by Paul J. Larkin, Jr | 1/9/12
Abstract: Are maple syrup felons sufficiently heinous that they should be imprisoned for perhaps as long as 45 years? Some members of the U.S. Senate seem to believe the answer is yes: How else to explain the provisions of the Maple Agriculture Protection and Law Enforcement Act of 2011? Continue Reading
Originally published at National Review by Ammon Simon | 1/15/13
On Friday, 26-year-old internet activist Aaron Swartz—who was facing 13 federal charges, along with a potential $1 million fine and 35 years in prison—committed suicide. Federal prosecutors had charged Swartz with using an unlocked MIT computer closet to download, for free, articles from subscription-based academic service JSTOR. Unfortunately, this tragedy is one more example of the increasing problem of over-criminalization. Continue Reading
Originally published at Cato Institute by Walter Olson | November 11, 2011
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, enacted in 1977 and the subject of a high‐profile federal enforcement campaign in recent years, is a feel‐good piece of overcriminalization that oversteps the proper bounds of federal lawmaking in at least four distinct ways, any of which should have prevented its passage. It is extraterritorial, purporting to punish overseas misdeeds which deprive no Americans of liberty or property and whose punishment is better left in the hands of authorities elsewhere. Continue Reading