A new study for the Federalist Society finds that the U.S. Code now defines well over 4,000 crimes, and that the count has risen by more than a third since the early 1980s. A substantial share of the newer offenses, around a third, are environmental in nature, and the rate of enactment of federal criminal statutes spikes in election years, finds the author, Prof. John S. Baker, Jr. of Louisiana State University Law Center. Moreover, the trend is toward a chipping away of the traditional requirement for a mens rea — that is, a guilty or otherwise knowing state of mind — in favor of the criminalization of what may be inadvertent regulatory infractions. (“Measuring the Explosive Growth of Federal Crime Legislation”, study in PDF format/supplementary reading). More: William L. Anderson and Candice E. Jackson, “Washington’s Biggest Crime Problem”, Reason, Apr.
4,000 federal crimes
A new study for the Federalist Society finds that the U.S. Code now defines well over 4,000 crimes, and that the count has risen by more than a third since the early 1980s. A substantial share of the newer offenses, around a third, are environmental in nature, and the rate of enactment of federal criminal […]
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