Numerous Heritage research papers and postings on The Foundry in the past year have reported on the plight of Gibson Guitar, which has been accused by the Obama Administration of running afoul of the Lacey Act—one of the oldest U.S. environmental regulations. Gibson’s violations were deemed so severe that armed federal marshals entered its facilities in Nashville and Memphis in August 2011 and seized millions of dollars’ worth of guitars, which the government alleges may have been constructed of wood illegally harvested in Madagascar and India. As the months have … More
No Comments »
As part of an ongoing series, the Heritage Center for Legal and Judicial Studies periodically identifies a “Bill of the Week” that relates to the problem of overcriminalization in America. Our Bill of the Week segment usually highlights a piece of legislation that, due to its underlying policies, exacerbate the problem of overcriminalization. But this week we’re faced with a matter that shows why form must follow function. No reasonable person would recommend that the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee send a bill to the Senate floor restructuring our present … More
No Comments »
The law sometimes reflects common sense. Consider this example: Innocent people don’t remain silent when accused of a crime or misconduct; they deny it. Accordingly, it is reasonable to infer that such an accusation is true if someone doesn’t scream, “Not me. I didn’t do it.” In the law that is known as a “tacit admission.” Keep that point in mind for a minute. A current law, the Lacey Act, makes it a crime to import wildlife or plants in violation of any foreign law – however obscure, however unintelligible, … More
No Comments »
What do a legendary guitar maker and a lobster importer have in common? Both are alleged to have run afoul of the Lacey Act, one of the most egregious, overcriminalized statutes on the books. Now some Members of Congress are working to inject some much-needed fairness into the justice system. Originally enacted in 1900 as a modest law designed simply to protect states against poachers who fled across state lines, the Lacey Act today makes it a federal crime to import fish, wildlife, or plants in violation of any foreign … More
No Comments »
Imagine the police knocking on your door because you mistakenly forgot to fill out an obscure form required by foreign law before opening up a small business. Imagine your 80-year-old mother being arrested for failing to place the appropriate sticker on an otherwise properly shipped package. Imagine your cancer-stricken neighbor being criminally charged for failing to trim the shrubbery in front of their house. Or imagine your child being prosecuted for eating a French fry in a public place. Unfortunately, none of these situations is imaginary. While delivering the keynote … More
No Comments »
“Hallelujah” overstates the point, but we are pleased that the Senate on Thursday accepted the revisions to the STOCK Act made by the House of Representatives. As Heritage explained in two earlier Issue Briefs on this subject, the additional public corruption provisions that the Senate initially wanted to include in the bill gave rise to a batch of different potential overcriminalization issues. Some of them were definitional problems that, perhaps, could have been remedied by redrafting the bill. If Congress is going to outlaw conduct and send people to prison … More
No Comments »
As part of an ongoing series, Heritage’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies identifies a “Bill of the Week” which impacts overcriminalization in America. Not every Bill of the Week represents an unwise policy judgment. This week we celebrate a bill entitled “The Freedom from Over-Criminalization and Unjust Seizures Act of 2012” (the FOCUS Act), a measure that protects Americans from liability for violating foreign laws that they likely wouldn’t even know is a crime. Senator Rand Paul (R–KY) introduced the FOCUS Act in the Senate, and Representative Paul C. … More
No Comments »
By Ilya Shapiro
Cato legal associate Carl DeNigris co-authored this blogpost. Over the last few decades, the number of federal crimes has exploded. The U.S. criminal code has grown so large and so expansive that no one is exactly sure how many federal crimes are actually on the books, with estimates ranging from 4,000 to 300,000. As Justice [...]
Not Everything Can Be a Federal Crime is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
No Comments »
One of the three aspects of overcriminalization that we highlight in our weekly e-mail alerts is “Federalizing crime that properly belongs under state and local jurisdiction.” This edition, the first in a series entitled “Overcriminalization Bill of the Week,” contains a textbook example of such a policy mistake. The State Witness Protection Act of 2012, S. 2127, sponsored by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA), would make it a federal offense to commit a crime against a witness in state and local judicial proceedings. The enumerated crimes are “to kill, attempt to … More
No Comments »
Armed federal agents raided Gibson Guitar’s Nashville headquarters in August, creating a national outcry over the high-profile persecution. But today, six months after the raid, the Department of Justice has yet to file any charges against the company. Why did the government go after Gibson? A new video from Reason.tv explores the implications of the case, problems with the Lacey Act and how overcriminalization is threatening the American way of life. At the time of the August raid, the second on the company since 2009, agents were working off a … More
No Comments »