Fwd: MyHeritage.org: Does the Government consider you a criminal?

May 19, 2010 | By Amanda J. Reinecker Does the Government consider you a criminal? In an unusual joining of forces, The Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers recently conducted a major study, Without Intent: How Congress Is Eroding the Criminal Intent Requirement in Federal Law. Although our two organizations typically reside on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, we have found common ground in targeting the abuse of the criminal law. Their collaboration led to an event that is even rarer in today's Washington: a bipartisan press conference with Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX).  "One of the central purposes of the study," writes Heritage senior legal research fellow Brian Walsh, "was to understand how the federal legislative process is creating so many vague, overbroad criminal offenses that lack an adequate guilty-mind requirement." Dangerously flawed federal criminal laws are putting at risk average Americans who are doing their best to be respectable, law-abiding citizens, as this Heritage video explains.  Congress is criminalizing everyday conduct at a reckless pace, neglecting the special expertise of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees -- the designated arbiters of criminal law and justice -- and delegating its authority to pass criminal laws to unelected, barely accountable federal bureaucrats. For centuries, our law has required the government to prove a defendant acted with criminal intent (a guilty mind or, in legal terms, mens rea) before being punished as a criminal. But this requisite is quickly eroding. Without Intent reveals that of the 446 criminal offenses proposed by the 109th Congress, 57 percent lacked adequate guilty-mind requirements. Even worse, 23 of these offenses were enacted into law, increasing the risk of an individual being punished for a crime without knowing he committed one. The authors of the report outline key steps Congress should take to protect our civil liberties. Such recommendations include enacting statutes restoring the guilty-mind requirement and requiring adequate oversight by the House and Senate judiciary committees. "These reforms," Walsh argues, "would strengthen the protections against unjust conviction and prevent the dangerous proliferation of federal criminal law." How much is Washington willing to tax America? The Obama administration risks overseeing the largest tax increase in history if it allows the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire at the end of the year. Heritage's budget policy analyst Brian Reidl explains the facts: Low-income families will see their income tax rate jump five percentage points, while everyone else will see increases of three to 4.6 percentage points. Capital gains and dividends tax rates — currently 15 percent for most investors — will leap to 20 percent and 39.6 percent, respectively. The death tax, which is finally gone, will be re-imposed at a 55 percent rate. Not only would these increases hurt families during stable times, but they will further devastate our already-wobbling economy. Instead of raising taxes to previous high levels, which Reidl explains will do little to control the rising deficit, "lawmakers should tighten their belts and rein in spending."  Tax hikes only encourag more spending and higher deficits. > Other Heritage Work of Note Building upon suggestions made by Heritage energy policy analyst Jack Spencer, the Department of Commerce has created the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee. The new industry group is tasked with providing the Commerce Secretary with a strategy to open foreign markets to U.S. nuclear suppliers. Spencer worked directly with the Obama administration to develop a blueprint for what to do on nuclear energy. This is a long-awaited and tremendous success for Spencer and the other organizations that worked alongside him to make this happen. Read all Heritage research on nuclear energy. One week after David Cameron became Britain's new prime minister, the "Special Relationship" between the U.S. and the U.K. appears to be back on track, writes foreign affairs expert Nile Gardiner, who directs Heritage's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom  This partnership, which took a hiatus during Gordon Brown's premiership, is essential to success in Afghanistan and Iran. Gardiner acknowledges, however, that it is still early in the game and there may be "storm clouds ahead." He writes, "While the early signs are positive, there is no guarantee that David Cameron will strike up a successful partnership with the US president." Despite their differences, the two should look ahead and work to advance long-term preservation of the "Special Relationship." In a landmark case, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the constitutionality of life without parole (LWOP) for juvenile killers.And states can continue to sentence appropriate juvenile killers to LWOP. Heritage senior legal fellow Cully Stimson, who co-authored a report on the constitutionality and appropriately rare and judicious application of the LWOP sentence for the worst juvenile offenders, writes: The Court, by implication, adopted The Heritage Foundation's statistics regarding the number of jurisdictions that allow for juvenile LWOP; 44 states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia. In so doing, the Court soundly rejected the manufactured statistics of the anti-incarceration crowd. Though the Court misread the 8th Amendment and referenced foreign law to justify its position regarding non-homicide offenses, Stimson explains, the ruling is a step in the right direction toward preserving the constitutionality of this rare sentence for the most heinous juvenile killers. > In Other News Obamacare attempts to reduce the financial burdens on Medicare patients and increase their access to health care. But it pays for this new spending by issuing drastic cuts to doctor reimbursement rates, making the treatment of Medicare patients unaffordable for doctors. As a result, more and more doctors are opting out of the program, reducing care available to seniors. That which it seeks to fix, Obamacare has only made worse. Tuesday's primaries suggest the electorate is tired of business as usual in Washington. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who switched to the Democratic Party last year and received backing from the governor and the president, failed to secure his party's nomination. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Tea Party favorite and political novice Rand Paul won the GOP's nod for November's Senate contest. And Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) faces a run-off election after failing to fully stave off a challenge from the left. The AFP reports, "A suicide car bomber attacked NATO troops in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, killing 18 people, including five US soldiers and 12 local civilians in one of the deadliest strikes on Kabul in more than a year." At least 208 NATO soldiers, 130 of them from the United States, have died in the war so far this year. Newt Gingrich predicts Republicans can gain between 40–70 seats in the house this November and possibly win control of the Senate. The former speaker announced a possibility that he will run for President. Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) has announced his resignation from Congress after admitting to an affair with a staffer. Amanda Reinecker is a writer for MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Nathaniel Ward, the Editor of MyHeritage.org, contributed to this report.  Donate    |   Heritage on Facebook