Third installment in a five-part series on Silverglate’s book, Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. “As a result of a burgeoning number of fraud investigations and prosecutions, I have become convinced that a concerted interagency effort is needed. We want to bring this additional firepower to bear on behalf of investors […]
Archive | Criminal Law
Dangers of the Overexpansion of Federal “Regulatory Crimes”
Marie Gryphon of the Manhattan Institute, a generally conservative think tank with strong libertarian leanings, has an excellent report summarizing several dangers of the overexpansion of federal criminal law in the field of “regulatory crimes.” Here is the executive summary: Since the dawn of Anglo-Saxon common law, conviction for committing a crime required evidence of […]
Keeping the Nation Safe, or Making Citizens Vulnerable? The Dangers of Vagueness in Anti-terrorism Laws
By Harvey Silverglate on December 15, 2009 8:32 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Criminal Law, Cyberspace Law, Freedom of Speech, Uncategorized
Second installment of a five-part series on Silverglate’s book, Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. Sami Omar al-Hussayen was a doctoral candidate at the University of Idaho when he was arrested in February 2003. Federal prosecutors alleged that al-Hussayen, a Saudi citizen studying computer science in the United States, provided “material […]
Honest Services Fraud: Your Third Felony Today?
Last week, the Supreme Court heard two cases challenging the scope of so-called “honest services” fraud, a 28-word provision tacked onto the generic federal mail-and-wire fraud statute that makes it illegal to “deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.” If you’re asking what this statute means, you’re in august company: Justice Antonin Scalia […]
Criminal Charges for the White House State Dinner Crashers?
CBS/AP reports: America’s most successful party crashers, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, who stormed the gates of a White House state dinner and somehow managed to get in, may soon be facing criminal charges, according to the Secret Service. Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin says the agency is moving closer to beginning a criminal investigation. He […]
Conservatives Discover Criminal Defendants
The NYT reports on increasing involvement by conservative organizations and business groups on behalf of criminal defendants. While libertarians have long complained about “overcriminalization” and excessive federalization of criminal law, such concerns have gained increasing currency in more traditional conservative circles. This is a good thing. [UPDATE: But not according to Media Matters.] QUICK ADDENDUM: […]
Bleg on criminal prosecution of people for transient possession of illegal objects they want to give to the police
In a recent case in Surrey, England, a man found a black bag in his garden one evening. He looked into the bag, and found that it contained a shotgun. He took the shotgun into his home, and the next day he called the police, and brought the shotgun to the police station. He was […]
Should Crime Victims Have the Right to Be Heard on Federal Sentencing Guidelines Issues?
I recently argued that they should to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Currently the procedures at sentencing envision the parties arguing the various factors, but not a crime victim. This approach reflects an outdated way of thinking about criminal procedure — that only the state and the defendant have legitimate interests in the outcome of a criminal […]
Crime and punishment, race and class
Not a melodrama, but a tragedy.
Benefits and costs: crime, crime avoidance, crime control
Most of the costs imposed by crime are the costs of crime avoidance.
Criminal justice efforts are cheap in budgetary terms, but expensive in terms of the loss of liberty and the suffering they impose.
Programs that control crime without inflicting punishment can justify large costs for modest crime reductions.
How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment
We could have half as much crime, and half as many prisoners, a decade from now as we have today.
The Wall Street Journal on Alvarez v. Smith
By Ilya Somin on October 25, 2009 7:33 pm in Criminal Law, Due Process Clause Property Rights, Property Rights, War on Drugs
The Wall Street Journal has an editorial urging the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the property owners in Alvarez v. Smith, an important property rights case that I have been trying to draw attention to for a long time (see my recent Findlaw column on it and previous posts on the subject here […]
A Step Toward Sanity on Medical Marijuana
The AP reports that the Justice Department will issue a memo formally establishing a new policy regarding the federal prosecution of marijuana possession and sale in states that have decriminalized medical marijuana. The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new […]
When Did Sex Offenders Have to Register?
This morning, in United States v. Cain, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit split over whether a sex offender convicted prior to the enactment of the federal Sexual Offenders Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) was required to update his sex offender registration before the Attorney General adopted regulations implementing the law’s registration […]
First Circuit upholds federal ban on juvenile handgun possession
By David Kopel on October 6, 2009 2:02 pm in Commerce Clause, Constitutional History, Criminal Law, Guns
The decision is here, and includes extensive analysis of 19th and early 20th century state laws (and court decisions upholding them under state constitution RKBA provisions) against juvenile handgun possession, or sale of handguns to juveniles. The decision also rejects a challenge that the federal ban on simple possession in one’s own home exceeds congressional […]