"Their briefs and public statements are signs of an emerging consensus on the right that the criminal justice system is an aspect of big government that must be contained. ... 'It's a remarkable phenomenon,' said Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers [NACDL]. 'The left and the right have bent to the point where they are now in agreement on many issues. In the area of criminal justice, the whole idea of less government, less intrusion, less regulation has taken hold.' ... Edwin Meese III, who was known as a fervent supporter of law and order as attorney general in the Reagan administration, now spends much of his time criticizing what he calls the astounding number and vagueness of federal criminal laws. ... 'The problem of overcriminalization is truly one of those issues upon which a wide variety of constituencies can agree,' Mr. [Dick] Thornburgh said. 'Witness the broad and strong support from such varied groups as the Heritage Foundation, the Washington Legal Foundation, the [NACDL], the ABA, the Cato Institute, the Federalist Society and the ACLU.' In an interview at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group where he is a fellow, Mr. Meese said the 'liberal ideas of extending the power of the state' were to blame for an out-of-control criminal justice system. 'Our tradition has always been,' he said, 'to construe criminal laws narrowly to protect people from the power of the state.' ... Such so-called overcriminalization is at the heart of the conservative critique of crime policy. ... Harvey A. Silverglate, a left-wing civil liberties lawyer in Boston, says he has been surprised and delighted by the reception that his new book, 'Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent,' has gotten in conservative circles. ... Several strands of conservatism have merged in objecting to aspects of the criminal justice system. Some conservatives are suspicious of all government power, while others insist that the federal government has been intruding into matters the Constitution reserves to the states. ... 'Conservatives now recognize the economic consequences of a criminal justice leviathan,' said Erik Luna, a law professor at Washington and Lee University. ... 'Scalia and Thomas are vanguards of an understanding by the modern right that its distrust of government extends all the way to the criminal justice system,' said Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University", my emphasis, Adam Liptak at the NYT, 24 November 2009, link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/us/24crime.html.
Federal criminal law re-evaluation is long overdue. Chief Justice Rehnquist complained of criminal law's over-federalization about 30 years ago. "Conservative" Supremes, Roberts and Alito come "down consistently on the side of the government in these criminal justice cases," said Cato's Timothy Lynch. I can't stand those two. Roberts makes my skin crawl. Here's a post about Silverglate's book, 18 October 2009: http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2009/10/three-felonies-day.html.
5 comments:
It's seems like we are becoming a police state. The 9/11 reaction seems to have gone to the extreme.
But.
Minimal prosecutions for the financial crisis causes the people to wonder what our government is doing.
We need a better balance between freedoms and law enforcement. And focus on more substantial crimes.
Anonymous:
We have too much law. Texas has about 2,300 felonies in its Penal Code. We prosecute insignificant crimes and let the politically favored roam free. If they are important enough, we bail them out with billions of taxpayer dollars instead of sending them to prison. We fill our prisons with "drug addicts". Why? What a country. I have post after post about the misfeasance and malfeasance of our misnamed "Justice Department". The SDNY US Attorneys office is the worst prosecutorial agency in the US in my opinion. Again and again I take issue with its case selection. It can prosecute Martha Stewart over $53,000 in avoided losses! What a joke.
IA
Our country's anti-drug laws are an abomination. They cause far more harm than the drugs do.
Anonymous:
I've favored repealing our drug laws for over 40 years. But we need to lock them niggahs up with their crack rocks. Why? What do you care what they smoke? I don't, provided they don't: drive, fly or boat "under the influence".
IA
We definitely need more balance. We have over-criminalized minor drug infractions simultaneously with a major push to de-regulate the financial sector. It is a shame that we have a high percentage of the country locked up while prosecutors are struggling to find anything to procesecute when it is clear that there must have been massive frauds perpetrated in the financial sector.
We need clear, concise rules at all levels of society with rational, well-thought out penalties.
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