Jan 31 8:46 PM

Laws & disorder?

by The Stream Team @ajamstream

A corrections officer stands near a gate at Baltimore City Detention Center in 2013.

Ignorance isn’t bliss; it’s turning ordinary citizens into clueless criminals. In 2012, nearly 4,000 statutes were added to the federal criminal code – about one every 2 hours. The Congressional Research Service admits the code has too many penalties to count. So rules banning downloads from a CD to a laptop and tossing someone else’s junk mail are being enforced. But should you be expected to know what’s illegal if the Congress doesn’t? We discuss if you have the right to remain unaware at 7:30pm ET.

On this episode of The Stream, we'll speak to:

Molly Gill @mmgillwriter
Government Affairs Counsel, Families Against Mandatory Minimums
famm.org

Harvey Siverglate @HASilverglate
Author, Three Felonies a Day
harveysilverglate.com

Roscoe Howard Former
US Attorney for the District of Columbia

Rep. Karen Bass @RepKarenBass
US Congresswoman, California’s 37th district
bass.house.gov

What do you think? Record a video comment or leave your thoughts below.

View the story "Overcriminalization" on StorifyOvercriminalizationStorified by AJAMStream· Fri, Jan 31 2014 13:51:34Overcriminalization describes the growing trend of applying federal criminal law to enforce agency regulations. There are more than 400,000 federal regulations and 4,500 federal crimes. They can range from using an image of Smokey The Bear without government permission, to not returning a library book. blog.heartland.orgFor many, federal laws are considered necessary tools to combat political corruption and enforce civil rights. But some of these statutes are criticized for being too vague and infringing on the rights of states to prosecute its own citizens. Decriminalization experts also say rushed, vague laws and mandatory minimum sentences forfeit the criminal intent clause, called mens rea. Without the clause, people who commit minor offenses because they didn't know their activity was illegal are subject to harsh punishments.online.wsj.comAccording to attorney and author Harvey Silverglate, many people commit felonies everyday without knowing it. In 1996, Indianapolis 500 champion Bobby Unser, shown above, got stranded for two days in a blizzard while in the Rocky Mountains. After asking an officer for help locating his snowmobile, he was prosecuted and convicted because federal authorities discovered that he ended up in protected national wilderness. online.wsj.comPolicy analysts blame overcriminalization for the rise in the prison population. More than 2.4 million people are currently housed in prison, including 200,000 in federal prisons. The number has quadrupled since 1980. An increase in the prison population has an enormous effect on the economy. The average inmate in maximum-security federal prison costs $33,000 each year and people with criminal records experience additional consequences such as ineligibility to vote and to receive government benefits. In May, the House Judiciary Committee created a bipartisan task force to address the federal code. The Task Force on Over-Criminalization will conduct investigations and hearings to help reduce the size of the massive federal prison population. However, critics point out that the task force will not address drug laws, which are the leading criminal offenses that land people in federal prison.What do you think? What can the U.S. government do to minimize Americans serving prison time for minor offenses? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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