The incredible, ever-expanding, never-contracting Federal code
By Byron Tau | Related entries in NewsOver at the Volokh Conspiracy, Ilya Somin has an interesting statistic: a majority of criminals serving time in federal prisons are non-violent drug offenders, while “72% of state prisoners have committed either violent offenses (53%) or property crimes (19%).”
This ties into an important national discussion: the criminalization and potential abuse of the federal code and the overall federalization of criminal and civil law. Consider the following cases:
Lori Drew, a suburban mother dragged before a federal court across the country by a US attorney for impersonating a teenage boy on MySpace — and causing a tragic suicide. The charge? Violating “unauthorized access” computer laws in the federal code.
Krister Evertson, an entrepreneur in Alaska who didn’t use the proper federally-mandated stickers when legally selling chemicals via mail. When that charge didn’t stick with a jury, they prosecuted him for abandoning his dangerous materials while he was in jail facing unjust charges to begin with.
A group of American businessmen visiting Honduras — who violated an obscure Honduran fishing regulation and who were then prosecuted and imprisoned under the Lacey Act, which “makes it a federal crime to violate most American and even foreign fishing and wildlife regulations.”
A union rep being investigated for taking an illegal cash gift has federal agents show up at his door and question him about the supposed bribe. When he denied it, he was prosecuted for making false statements to federal officials — a statute with criminal penalties under the federal code.
Luckily, a Judiciary Committee subcommittee headed by Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) held hearings last week. According to Reason magazine’s Hit and Run blog, Krister Evertson testified — and immediately after returned to his federal prison to serve out the remainder of his time.
Our system of justice relies on impartiality. But it also leaves vast powers in the hands of prosecutors and US attorneys. With such a broad and expansive federal code that attaches criminal penalties to a vast number of vague statutes, it’s possible to be prosecuted by any federal attorney anywhere for minor violations of the federal criminal code. As Judge Alex Kozinski and Misha Tseytlin point out in an essay, almost everyone in the United States probably is a federal criminal under the most expansive definition of the statutes. That in and of itself should be a catalyst for reforming and completely overhauling our federal code and leaving the vast majority of prosecutions to the state justice systems.
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