NCJ Number
116117
Journal
Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: (November 1988) Pages: 325-403
Date Published
1988
Length
79 pages
Annotation
The United States Supreme Court's decision in McNally v. United States reversed years of precedent by holding that the mail fraud statute could no longer be used to protect citizens' rights to honest and impartial government and indicates that Congress must act if public corruption is to be punished and citizens' rights protected.
Abstract
In the McNally decision the Court announced that the mail fraud statute could no longer be used to prosecute fraud that deprived an individual of an intangible right such as the right to honest government. Instead, the Court held that the mail fraud statute was limited in scope to protection of property rights. This holding was surprising because court decisions had protected intangible rights under the statute since the 1940's. In addition, the Supreme Court was known to be hard on criminal defendants. The Supreme Court's subsequent decision in Carpenter v. United States has broadened the definition of property to include certain kinds of intangible rights. However, the McNally holding that a deprivation of intangible rights alone was not enough to sustain a mail fraud conviction remained unchanged by Carpenter. Thus Congress should consider the various legislative proposals to reverse the effects of the McNally decision. 579 footnotes.