You don’t say
A conservative think tank and criminal defense lawyers are forming an unusual alliance to try to get Congress to quit writing criminal laws so loosely that they subject innocent people to unjust prosecution and prison.
A new study by the Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers finds that nearly two dozen federal laws enacted in 2005 and 2006 to combat nonviolent crime lack an adequate provision that someone accused of violating the laws must have had a “guilty mind,” or criminal intent.
“It is a fundamental principle of criminal law that, before criminal punishment can be imposed, the government must prove both a guilty act and a guilty mind,” the groups said in the report.
Even when Congress includes a “guilty mind” provision in a law, “it is often so weak that it does not protect defendants from punishment for making honest mistakes,” or committing minor transgressions, the report said.
May 5th, 2010 at 8:59 am
If you want to have some fun ask the judge or prosecutor to quote the law where ignorance is no excuse…. That gets the old panties in a wad quick. Judges will try to suppress you with a contempt of court threat.
May 5th, 2010 at 9:05 am
why would defense lawyers want un-vague, easy to understand laws that were specifically written to limit abuse from the attorney general?