PRISON FELLOWSHIP: Overcriminalization

Can you believe abandoning a snowmobile in a life-threatening blizzard or digging up arrowheads can result in criminal charges?

These are a few unfortunate examples of “overcriminalization.”

New criminal laws that do not include a criminal intent requirement and the duplication of federal criminal laws that already exist at the state level have made it impossible for reasonable citizens to know all the criminal laws and regulations that could land them in jail or prison.

Rejected. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Sholom Rubashkin’s appeal on October 1, 2012.

Rubashkin will continue to serve a 27-year sentence for bank fraud.

Many have heard the details of his case: the raid of Agriprocessors, Rubashkin’s kosher meat processing plant, in 2008 by ICE officials; the arrests and re-arrests as he was declared ‘not guilty’ on charge after charge; and finally, the all-purpose charge of ‘fraud’ which somehow warranted a protracted stint in federal prison.