Perhaps most importantly, Congress should enact legislation that requires the government to prove the defendant knowingly violated the law--or that, at least, allows a mistake of law defense--for certain classes of crimes that have no analog in the common law or that no reasonable person would understand to be inherently wrong. Where the government has criminalized non-blameworthy conduct for regulatory purposes, ignorance of the law should be a valid defense to criminal liability.
Given the undeniable costs and dubious benefits of mass, longterm incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, Congress should take steps to give judges more flexibility in sentencing those offenders. The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015, which was introduced by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), and of which I am an original cosponsor, is a significant stride in that direction. Among other things, the bill lowers minimum sentences, cutting them in half, to give judges more flexibility in determining the appropriate sentence based on the unique facts and circumstances of each case.
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The above quotations are from SOLUTIONS American Leaders Speak Out on Criminal Justice Brennan Center for Justice essays Edited by Inimai Chettiar and Michael Waldman. Click here for other excerpts from SOLUTIONS American Leaders Speak Out on Criminal Justice Brennan Center for Justice essays Edited by Inimai Chettiar and Michael Waldman. Click here for other excerpts by Ted Cruz. Click here for a profile of Ted Cruz.
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