Tag Archives: Rule of Law

Criminalization Without Representation

Originally published at National Review by Rafael A Mangual | October 31, 2017
Regulators shouldn’t be able to create crimes.

In early October, Senate Republicans introduced three bills to reform the federal approach to criminal justice. Earlier versions of these bills had formed the core of a legislative package that stalled under President Obama. While these measures are worthy of serious consideration, they miss a key problem in need of reform: “criminalization without representation.” TOP ARTICLES2/5READ MOREWarren Rips Bloomberg for AllegedlyTelling Pregnant Employee to ‘Kill’ It Continue Reading

Overcriminalization: Administrative Regulation, Prosecutorial Discretion, and the Rule of Law

Originally published at The Federalist Society by Ronald A. Cass| December 16, 2014
Criminal law is the biggest, scariest tool in the arsenal of governmental powers: it can result in loss of property, loss of freedom, and even loss of life. That theme is repeated through history and literature, as readers of Crime and Punishment, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Gulag Archipelago, or countless other works from countries around the world understand. Criminal law is the means by which government’s coercive power over those within its domain ultimately is effected?either through the direct imposition of criminal punishments or the threat of their imposition. Continue Reading

Heritage Report: Overcriminalization: Sacrificing the Rule of Law in Pursuit of “Justice”

Originally published at The Heritage Report | 3/1/2011
Abstract: Those who commit real crimes should be prosecuted and appropriately punished. But the question of what kind of conduct is deserving of criminal punishment has become increasingly muddled in federal law. Although numerous ridiculous crimes that punish relatively trivial wrongs have crept into federal law, the greater danger comes from serious laws that are vague and overbroad. Further, Continue Reading