NCJ Number
169722
Date Published
1997
Length
944 pages
Annotation
This volume explains concepts, issues, and problems that are special to the Federal criminal law, with emphasis on the major themes that are uniquely or predominantly raised by Federal crimes and Federal prosecutions and that make the Federal criminal law different from State criminal law.
Abstract
Each of the five chapters uses one or more of the major Federal criminal statutes to demonstrate a particular theme that distinguishes Federal criminal law from State criminal law. The first chapter deals with the evolution of Federal jurisdiction from its earliest and most limited bases through the modern expansion of the commerce clause to the United States Supreme Court's partial reinvigoration of constitutional limits in the 1994 cases of United States v. Lopez. The second chapter focuses on mail fraud as a major example of the tendency of Congress to enact broad criminal statutes and then rely on the discretion of Federal prosecutors to ensure that only the proper persons are charged. The third chapter examines laws dealing with racketeering and highlights the importance of legislative history in the interpretation of Federal criminal statutes such s the Hobbs Act and the Travel Act. The fourth chapter focuses on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and the Continuing Criminal Enterprise Act and the relationship between the concept of enterprise criminality and traditional doctrines such as double jeopardy and accomplice liability. The final chapter examines sentencing for Federal crime, with emphasis on the impact of Federal sentencing guidelines on judges and prosecutors. Footnotes and appended background information