'Without Intent' NACDL Makes the Case for Responsible Lawmaking

Written Statement of Steven D. Benjamin, President National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Over-Criminalization Task Force Re: “Defining the Problem and Scope of Over-criminalization and Over-federalization”

Written Statement of Norman L. Reimer, Executive Director National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Over-Criminalization Task Force Re: “Mens Rea: The Need for a Meaningful Intent Requirement in Federal Criminal Law”

Testimony of Lawrence Lewis Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Task Force on Over-criminalization "Regulatory Crime: Overview – Identifying the Scope of the Problem"

Statement of Rachel E. Barkow Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy Faculty Director, Center on the Administration of Criminal Law New York University School of Law Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Task Force on Over-criminalization "Regulatory Crime: Overview – Defining the Problem"

Written Testimony of Lucian E. Dervan Assistant Professor of Law Southern Illinois University School of Law Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Over-Criminalization Task Force, United States House of Representatives “Regulatory Crime: Solutions”

Testimony of Dr. John S. Baker, Jr. Visiting Professor, Georgetown Law School; Professor Emeritus, LSU Law School before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Task Force on Over-criminalization on "Regulatory Crime: Solutions"

Written Statement of NACDL member John D. Cline, Esq. of San Francisco, CA before the House Committee on the Judiciary Over-Criminalization Task Force Re: Reform of the Federal Criminal Code

Written Statement of Steven D. Benjamin on behalf of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Over-Criminalization Task Force Re: “The Crimes on the Books and Committee Jurisdiction”

We strongly oppose A.1065A/S4555B, which would create a category of sex crimes that are unconstitutionally vague. The proposed law fails to give adequate notice of what conduct is prohibited under the law and would lead to unjust application and arbitrary prosecutions and convictions that can lead to a host of lifelong consequences.

U.S. v. Peter E. Clay, Todd S. Farha, Paul L. Behrens, and William L. Kale No. 8:11-cr-00115-JSM-MAP (M.D. Fla.) on the affairs of WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

Overcriminalization is a dangerous trend that NACDL battles daily. The case of Todd Farha and other executives at WellCare Health Plans, Inc., offer a case study in overcriminalization and unchecked prosecutorial discretion. Below, you will find links to important primary and secondary materials concerning this case.

The problem of overcriminalization is multifaceted, with many aspects that pervade our criminal legal system, including the criminalization of conduct that is not harmful to society or others; criminal statutes that lack adequate mens rea, or intent, requirements; ambiguous and vague language in criminal statutes that provide insufficient notice and insufficient limitation on what conduct is criminalized; and the imposition of vicarious liability with insufficient requirement that the charged person was involved in, or even knew about, the underlying conduct.

This study of the 114^th Congress revisits a 2010 joint report by the Heritage Foundation and NACDL: Without Intent: How Congress Is Eroding the Criminal Intent Requirement in Federal Law. This new study found that Congress still regularly introduces bills with new criminal provisions that contain mens rea requirements that are not sufficiently protective. In fact, 42% of the bills analyzed had criminal intent requirements that were considered inadequate. [Released December 2021]

On May 5, 2010, NACDL and The Heritage Foundation released this groundbreaking, non-partisan report. At the release event, NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer described the report as a "blueprint for principled reform" and urged "every elected official to end the madness that has produced over 4,450 federal criminal statutes, and countless tens of thousands more arising from the unchecked power of regulatory authorities." [Released May 2010]

NACDL has a keen interest in the development of the nation's penal law. NACDL has long expressed concerns about an increasing trend to dilute or neglect to include clear intent requirements in the criminal law. The issue of inadequate intent - or mens rea -was addressed by NACDL in 2010 in an in-depth, study and report. … The current draft on sexual assault and related offenses would perpetuate the disturbing tendency to dilute intent requirements in the criminal law, and would take that trend into an area of the law that carries grave and life-altering penalties.