The average American is estimated to commit multiple felonies a day without knowing it. This isn’t a punchline or a hypothetical nightmare — it’s a reflection of how vast and unmanageable our federal criminal code has become. The body of federal criminal law has grown so large that no person or institution has been able to definitively count how many crimes currently exist. The result is a justice system that is unfocused, inconsistent, and increasingly ineffective.
An overgrown criminal code does not necessarily target those who pose real threats to public safety. Instead, it risks turning everyday Americans into criminals for offenses they had no idea they were committing.
Here’s what we do know:
- While the exact number is uncertain, there are more than 3,500 federal criminal statutes
- And over 300,000 federal regulations that carry criminal penalties
This issue may not generate flashy headlines, but it affects every American in profound ways. When laws multiply faster than our ability to understand them, consistency and fairness disappear — and trust in the justice system erodes.
Making Communities Safer
Increasing public safety should be the top priority of our criminal justice system. Setting politics aside, there is nothing more fundamental than ensuring Americans feel safe in their communities. But when limited law enforcement and prosecutorial resources are spent enforcing obscure or technical offenses, attention is diverted away from violent crime and offenses that create real victims. It also undermines the importance and seriousness of the criminal justice system and rule of law.
When everything is treated as a crime, nothing is a crime. Also, it’s incredibly hard for law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges to be effective in promoting public safety outcomes when mundane and non-violent crimes are flooding the dockets.
Overall, the incredible size of the federal criminal code weakens public safety and undermines confidence in the justice system’s ability to protect the public.
Limiting Government Overreach
At its most basic level, the role of government is to protect its citizens. This means protecting them from physical harm. It also means protecting the citizen from the government itself. However, the “schoolhouse rock” anthems on representative democracy are undermined by the reality of federal agency power. Today, unelected bureaucrats within federal agencies create rules and regulations carrying criminal penalties at a rate that far outpaces Congress.
Rather than being openly debated and defined by elected representatives, many criminally enforceable rules are buried deep in regulatory fine print. These regulations can permanently alter a person’s life without ever having been voted on by the people’s representatives.
You can read the full article at Right on Crime.