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Issues in Criminal Justice (JF)
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By Kathryn Wiley|Published Date: November 24, 2009
In the next several months, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide at least a half-dozen cases about the rights of people accused of crimes involving drugs, sex and corruption, reports The New York Times.
Lining up on the side of the accused are civil liberties groups and associations of defense lawyers, as well as conservative, libertarian and business groups. These briefs and public statements are signs of an emerging consensus on both the right and left that the criminal justice system is an aspect of big government that must be brought under control.
"It's a remarkable phenomenon," said Norman Reimer of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "In the area of criminal justice, the whole idea of less government, less intrusion, less regulation has taken hold."
Overcriminalization is at the heart of the conservative critique of crime policy.
“The problem of overcriminalization is truly one of those issues upon which a wide variety of constituencies can agree,” said Dick Thornburgh, attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush. “Witness the broad and strong support from such varied groups as the Heritage Foundation, the Washington Legal Foundation, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the A.B.A., the Cato Institute, the Federalist Society and the A.C.L.U.”
According to some experts, federal criminal law is so comprehensive and vague that all Americans violate it every day, meaning prosecutors can indict anyone at all.
Visit Justice Fellowship’s Overcriminalization resource page for more information. |
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