Swift and Sweeping: A Legal Analysis of the Impact of the Criminal Code Improvement Act of 2015 and the Mens Rea Reform Act of 2015
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
Sep 13, 2016

“This analysis reveals that the bills contain ambiguous terms and provisions that make it difficult to ascertain with any certainty their likely interpretation by government officials and courts. Their greatest likely impact will be to make it more difficult to enforce laws that promote public health and safety, especially against corporations who violate federal laws, as well as to prosecute more traditional criminal offenses such as child sexual exploitation and terrorism. Moreover, the bills are not likely to have an appreciable effect on ‘over-criminalization’ or ‘mass incarceration’ because their provisions will not likely impact drug and immigration offenses, which comprise the vast majority of federal prosecutions.”

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