In The News

Can you be a criminal – and not know it?  Not so long ago, mens rea, or criminal intent, was seen as a necessary part of a criminal act.  That’s no longer so, with the ever-increasing rules, regulations and laws governing every aspect of our lives.  “Without Intent,” a new report from the Heritage Foundation, explores how new laws, enacted without adequate mens rea provisions, are criminalizing the innocent.  U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a former Tyler judge, was on hand last week to discuss the report and the steps Congress can take.  “On both sides of the aisle – Republicans and Democrats – we want to show how tough we are on some issues so we will throw in a criminal penalty,” Gohmert said.  “That is why we have about 5000 laws now with criminal penalties.”  The result is many Americnas are treated as criminals when they never had any intention of stepping outside the law.  And that’s a tragic misuse of federal resources.  “As we have seen this week, there are real people out there who want to destroy our way of life, and maim innocent people,” Gohmert said.  “Yet, we have dedicated so much of the federal fovernment structure to pursuing people who don’t relize they violated the law, and if they did, the ywouldn’t have done so.”  Congress must re-examine the trend of adding criminal penalties to nearly everything, he contends.  “We have to clean up the criminal laws so that innocent people, who want to be law-abiding, productive citizens, don’t end up being the victim of a law that was voted for just because [lawmakers] don’t want to look weak back home,” Gohmert said.  “This isn’t a party issue, this is a national issue.”