How Many Laws Did You Break This Week? Overcriminalization in Colorado
There is a principle in jurisprudence that “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”1 In other words, no one can justify his illegal conduct on the grounds that he was unaware of the law. But what happens when the sheer volume, complexity, and ambiguity of the law means that neither citizens, nor the government, can reasonably know what is and is not against the law?
New Crimes Mean More Criminals: Colorado has plenty of both already
On July 1, several dozen of the more than 400 new laws passed by the 2005 Colorado Legislature went into effect. Some of these laws are changes and updates, while others actually advance personal freedoms. But the Legislature also managed to create more new crimes where no actual criminal behavior exists.
States Rights Up in Smoke
On May 6th, in Gonzales v. Raich, the U.S. Supreme Court did more than just rule on the federal/state conflict over medical marijuana. The Court also gutted what was left of federalism and gave Congress the go ahead to regulate virtually any aspect of American life.
The New McCarthyism: Depriving Constitutional Rights Based on Mere Suspicion
The civil libertarians who warned about a New McCarthyism in the United States turned out to be right. As in the early 1950s, politicians- abetted by an uncritical press- are using national security as a pretext to take away constitutional rights. Like the Old McCarthyism, the New McCarthyism wants constitutional rights eliminated without due process, based on mere suspicion. Like the Old McCarthyism, the New McCarthyism’s leading advocate happens to be a congressperson named McCarthy.
How many laws did you break this week?
If you consider yourself a “law-abiding” citizen, here is a question: How do you know?
Over the last century, not only has there been a vast increase in the number of new lawsboth state and federal, but the definition of a criminal act has drastically changed.
Court’s logic has gone to pot
If you have a little vegetable garden, be afraid. Be very afraid. Since tomatoes are bought and sold across state lines, the federal government has the right to outlaw your tomato garden, quite literally.
Federal Drivers’s Licenses: Can Colorado Say “NO”?
The “Real ID Act” passed easily in the House and was attached to the Iraq War spending supplement, thus ensuring overwhelming approval in the Senate on May 10, 2005. An un-funded federal mandate with dubious security benefit, backed up by federal coercion, the act will turn the driver’s license into an internal passport and the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) into a branch office of the federal Department of Homeland Security. Real ID was marketed as a tool against terrorist travel, but with even the slightest scrutiny, this argument falls apart.
Analyze This: Re-Modeling Drug Policy
Among the conclusions of the new book, “An Analytical Assessment of U.S. Drug Policy, published by the free-market conservative think tank, American Enterprise Institute, is that “Long sentences for minor, non-violent drug offenders are perhaps the least defensible aspect of current drug policy.” While the book covers the entire scope of America’s war on drugs, several conclusions and recommendations relate to Colorado’s own unsustainable drug policies.
Take the F Word Out
In 2003, the Colorado Legislature took a tentative step towards sentencing reform for small time drug offenses by passing Senate Bill 03-318 (SB-318), which lowered the penalty for simple use and possession (one gram or less) of most illegal drugs to the class-6 felony sentencing range, the lowest felony class in Colorado’s presumptive sentencing structure, carrying between one to one and a half years in prison. The law ties the changes to corrections cost savings, which must be realized and transferred to a drug offender treatment fund by 2007.
Concentrate on the Big Dealers
Colorado has long depended on federal assistance in carrying out the states drug control strategy, which is mostly a supply side, interdiction and incarceration model. A significant piece of that assistance may be coming to an end, and Colorado may need to re-think its drug war priorities and tactics.
4000 is too many
In 1984, Colorados adult prison population was less than 4,000 inmates. As of October, 2004, including community corrections, but excluding county jails, parole and probation, the inmate population was over 19,800. Moreover, in just the last decade, corrections spending has more than doubled to over $469.7 million in FY 03-04 and more than half a billion dollars has been appropriated for prison expansion and new prison constructionand it is still not enough.
Getting Smart on Crime: Time to Reform Colorado’s Drug Offense Sentencing Policies
Colorado is in the midst of a prison population crisis. Overburdened state prisons and a demand for yet more new prison beds are in conflict with a state budget dilemma. The legislature can begin to address the prison problem by rethinking Colorado’s sentencing structure as it relates to drug offenses, which are a major cause of prison population growth. Two fundamental reforms are needed:
