NACDL nat ass crim def lawyers

=<div>BS</div><div>
</div><div>https://www.nacdl.org/whitecollar</div><div>
</div><div>aspen koch</div><div>
</div><div><a href="http://www.nacdl.org/People.aspx?id=6524">http://www.nacdl.org/People.aspx?id=6524</a></div><div>
</div><div>bs</div><div><p style="border: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Reimer’s notable appellate achievements include landmark decisions in search and seizure law (<em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">People v. Millan, 69 N.Y.2d 514 (1987); <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">People v. Torres, 74 N.Y.2d 224 (1989); <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">People v. Garrett and Angus, 256 A.D. 2d 588 (2d Dept. 1998)), habeas corpus (<em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Figueroa v. Portuoundo, 96 F. Supp. 2d 256 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) and <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Shiwlochan v. Portuondo, 345 F. Supp. 2d 242 (2004)) and international extradition (<em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">In Re Ribaudo, U.S. Dist. Court LEXIS 1456 (S.D.N.Y. 2004)). He was also a principal author of NACDL’s <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">amicus brief in <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">People v. Weaver, 12 N.Y.3d 433 (2009), a landmark decision holding that unlimited GPS monitoring is unconstitutional in the absence of a search warrant. Mr. Reimer also assisted in an <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">amicus brief in <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., 556 U.S. 868 (2009), in which the United States Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause compels judicial recusal where a judge has received substantial campaign contributions from a party. In 2010, Norman Reimer co-authored an amicus brief urging New York State’s high court to recognize a prospective cause of action to redress systemic deficiency in that state’s indigent defense system. <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Hurrell-Harring v. State, 15 N.Y.3d 8 (2010). In 2011, he co-authored an amicus brief in <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">United States v. Jones, in which the Supreme Court will determine whether warrantless GPS monitoring of individual by law enforcement without any spatial or temporal limitation is permissible. He also co-authored an amicus brief in <em style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Shelton v. Sec’t, Dept of Corrections, challenging Florida’s elimination of a mens rea requirement for all drug possession and distribution charges.Norman Reimer served as an A</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers</a></div><div>
</div><div>The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">American</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_defense" title="Criminal defense" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">criminal defense</a> organization.Members include private <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_law" title="Criminal law" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">criminal defense</a> lawyers, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_defenders" title="Public defenders" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">public defenders</a>, active <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.military" title="U.S. military" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">U.S. military</a> defense counsel, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law" title="Law" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">law</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professors" title="Professors" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">professors</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge" title="Judge" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">judges</a>, and defense counsel in international criminal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribunal" title="Tribunal" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">tribunals</a>, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICTY" title="ICTY" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">ICTY</a>.NACDL, headquartered in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,D.C." title="Washington, D.C." style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Washington, D.C.</a>, was founded in 1958, has nearly 9,000 direct members and 90 state, local, and international affiliate criminal defense lawyer organizations with a total of about 40,000 members.The organization has worked to build coalitions of legal organizations in order to provide a forum for important legal issues. Groups such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bar_Association" title="American Bar Association" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">American Bar Association</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union" title="American Civil Liberties Union" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">American Civil Liberties Union</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Project" title="Constitution Project" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Constitution Project</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society" title="Federalist Society" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Federalist Society</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_Foundation" title="Heritage Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Heritage Foundation</a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Legal_Foundation" title="Washington Legal Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Washington Legal Foundation</a> have been involved with these projects.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a>
not same as const soc vs fedsoc;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_ProjectNACDL will occasionally submit briefs in support of petitioners where the outcome will have a bearing upon the organization's membership.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a>The Champion magazine is the official journal of NACDL and offers timely, informative articles written for and by criminal defense lawyers, featuring the latest developments in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_and_seizure" title="Search and seizure" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">search and seizure</a> laws, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUI" title="DUI" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">DUI</a>/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DWI" title="DWI" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">DWI</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_jury" title="Grand jury" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">grand jury</a> proceedings, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus" title="Habeas corpus" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">habeas corpus</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusionary_rule" title="Exclusionary rule" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">exclusionary rule</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_penalty" title="Death penalty" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">death penalty</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act" title="Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act</a> (RICO), federal<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentencing_guidelines" title="Sentencing guidelines" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">sentencing guidelines</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_forfeiture" title="Asset forfeiture" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">forfeiture</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-collar_crime" title="White-collar crime" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">white-collar crime</a>, and more.In 2012, NACDL launched The Criminal Docket <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast" title="Podcast" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">podcast</a>. Hosted by Ivan J. Dominguez, it features a rundown of criminal justice news stories and interviews with "leaders in the legal practice, public policy, journalism, academia, and others whose lives intersect with the criminal justice system."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">References[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: References" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><div class="reflist" style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); list-style-type: decimal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: inherit;"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="-webkit-user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up^{</a> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.criminaljustice.org/public.nsf/freeform/publicwelcome?opendocument" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">[1]</a> Criminal Justice.org website, U.S. House of Representatives Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on “Over-criminalization of Conduct and Over-Federalization of Criminal Law”</li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="-webkit-user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up^{</a> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nacdl.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 18px; background: url(" upload.wikimedia.org="upload.wikimedia.org" wikipedia="wikipedia" commons="commons" icons-mini-file_acrobat.gif="Icons-mini-file_acrobat.gif" no-repeat="no-repeat">[2]</a> Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit</li><li id="cite_note-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Criminal_Defense_Lawyers#cite_ref-3" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="-webkit-user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up^{</a> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.nacdl.org/thecriminaldocket/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">[3]</a> The Criminal Docket</li></ol></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; 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</div><div></div><div>Charles and David Koch have received positive press for backing a bipartisan effort to reform American criminal justice laws, which have helped make the U.S. the world's biggest jailer and whose burdens have fallen disproportionately on people of color.But, as the Kochs ride the wave of momentum toward criminal justice reform, it is becoming increasingly clear that part of their agenda would actually make it harder to prosecute corporate violations of environmental and financial laws that protect the public from corporate wrongdoing. The changes would make it harder to hold executives and their employees responsible for violating U.S. laws and would protect their financial interests, at the public's expense.Over at least the past five years, the Kochs and Koch-backed groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have been pushing to increase the "intent" standard for criminal violations, particularly for so-called "white collar" crime and executive suite criminals.This under-reported aspect of the Koch criminal justice reform agenda has been elevated in recent weeks, and could potentially reap big benefits for Koch Industries and other big corporate players.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);">"Intent" Requirement Would Block Many Corporate Criminal Prosecutions</h2>Legislation to make the criminal justice system fairer passed the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support this winter. As the U.S. House of Representatives has taken up the matter, the bipartisan consensus has begun to fray with a controversial proposal lifted directly from the Koch playbook.A bill that passed the U.S. House Judiciary Committee last month, sponsored by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), doesn't address mass incarceration, one of the primary concerns that progressives have been raising for years. His bill would instead overhaul many federal criminal laws by requiring prosecutors to prove that a person or corporation "knowingly" engaged in illegal conduct and additionally "knew" or should have known that the conduct violated federal law. Koch Industries is one of his top contributors in this election cycle.The bill's default criminal intent standard is strikingly similar to the ALEC "<a href="http://www.alec.org/model-legislation/criminal-intent-protection-act/" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">Criminal Intent Protection Act,</a>" and tracks policies promoted by Koch-backed organizations for the past five years. As the Center for Media and Democracy has documented, Koch Industries is a major funder and leader of ALEC, and the Koch brothers have underwritten ALEC through foundations they control and organizations they fund.The proposal "would make it much harder for prosecutors to criminally prosecute companies that swindle the public, endanger their workers, poison the environment or otherwise imperil consumers," said Rob Weissman, President of the public interest group Public Citizen.Criminal laws for acts of violence typically have an "intent" requirement, which requires that prosecutors prove that a person intended to cause harm and violate the law before a long prison sentence can be imposed. This intent requirement is known in legal terms as "mens rea," which is Latin for "guilty mind."But for a number of white collar crimes, such as environmental violations and financial crimes under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, federal law does not require that prosecutors prove that a company or its leaders intended to violate the law by polluting waterways, for example, or crashing the economy.Instead, the fact of extensive pollution and the harms it causes can be enough to hold a corporation and its leaders criminally liable, because intent can be difficult to prove in a complex corporate structure, with varying layers of hierarchy and lines of authority. Corporate decisions rationalized in the name of cost-cutting or efficiency <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/30/massey-ceo-mine-explosion-coal/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">can lead to tragedies</a> like the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, which killed 29 workers. That case recently resulted in a rare <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/us/donald-blankenship-massey-energy-upper-big-branch-mine.html" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">criminal conviction</a> for the former CEO of Massey Energy."Requiring that prosecutors prove that a corporate executive is both consciously aware of the conduct of their subordinates and consciously aware that the conduct of those subordinates violates criminal law is very, very difficult," said Frank O. Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri."This would make [white collar] prosecutions more difficult than they now are, and they are already hard," Bowman said.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);">Overcriminalization vs. Mass Incarceration</h2>Although civil rights activists have been focused on mass incarceration—such as changing the mandatory minimum sentences enacted during the drug war that have disproportionately affected people of color, policies that scholars like Michelle Alexander have described as a "new Jim Crow"—the Kochs, ALEC, and other Koch-backed groups have been largely discussing overcriminalization.Despite how it sounds, "overcriminalization" isn't focused on the disproportionate rate of incarceration of people of color. It is instead focused on the idea that there are too many crimes—and, more specifically, too many white-collar crimes that might affect corporate interests."All of the attention here is on whether this will only benefit quote-unquote white-collar criminals, people at financial institutions, people at firms that are damaging the environment," Jeffery Robinson, deputy legal director of the ACLU, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/criminal-justice-reform-koch_56560fb0e4b079b2818a13fe" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">said</a> about the Sensenbrenner bill."If it only benefits those people, then I haven't seen any evidence that there is any over-incarceration among that group. In fact, we see very few prosecutions of such individuals."That is, corporations and their leaders are not often federally prosecuted and convicted. In fact, many Americans have expressed deep disappointment that more corporations and bankers were not prosecuted following the gambling on Wall Street that led to the economic crash in 2008, unlike the nearly 1,000 prosecutions following the Savings & Loan crisis in the late 1980s."To a considerable extent, deferred prosecutions—in which the Justice Department agrees not to prosecute in exchange for a promise by corporate defendants not to violate the law in the future—have replaced actual prosecutions, undermining any kind of deterrent effect" for criminal penalties, Public Citizen's Weissman added. Deferred prosecutions are almost unheard of outside of the white collar crime context.Some have expressed general concern that there are too many federal offenses with criminal penalties and too many that don't specify an intent standard, an issue that is being studied in the Senate bill. However, Koch-backed groups have been strongly focused on white-collar crimes, and their "solution"—the blanket imposition of a strict intent standard on every federal crime, as opposed to less-stringent "negligence" or "recklessness" standards—would undermine the few corporate criminal prosecutions that do take place.For example, the U.S. Department of Justice has noted that—if the Sensenbrenner bill had been law—it could not have secured a guilty plea in last year's <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24182307/colorado-cantaloupe-farm-charged-by-federal-officials-fatal" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">case against Jensen Farms</a>, whose failure to follow food safety standards with its cantaloupe led to a listeria outbreak that killed 33 people. Imposing a default intent requirement could affect prosecutions for violations of laws like the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Resource Recovery and Compensation Act (RCRA), and many others.And such changes could also make it harder to prosecute Koch Industries.<a href="http://www.forbes.com/2001/01/04/0104faces.html%20http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/29/business/us-indicts-koch-industries-on-pollution-violations-in-texas.html" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">As Forbes noted</a>, in 2000, "A federal grand jury indicted the privately held company and four of its employees in September on 97 related charges for alleged violations that took place at the company's refinery in Corpus Christi, Tex." Koch Industries was facing "criminal charges, in which the petroleum giant is accused of spewing the toxic chemical benzene into the environment in 1995 and then trying to hide it from government investigators."Koch and its employees may not have intended to "leak" 91 metric tons of toxic benzene into the air and water around their refinery but their failure to install key protections and fully monitor their emissions resulted in their refinery loading 15 times the legal limit of the toxic substance into the environment.That is, Koch Industries exposed nearby residents to massive amounts of benzene, <a href="http://www.who.int/ipcs/features/benzene.pdf" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">which</a> "is a well-established cause of cancer in humans." It is a "group 1" carcinogen because studies have documented that it causes acute myeloid leukemia in humans, and it may also cause lymphocytic leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. It can also result in reduced production of bone marrow and suppress T-cells, which makes people more vulnerable to infections. It has also been found to lead to chromosomal aberrations and can reduce birth weight and cause other health problems.But then George W. Bush became president and John Ashcroft was named Attorney General. In the 2000 election, David Koch was one of the top 30 donors to Bush and the Republican party in the U.S., <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2000/10/top-50-political-donors-2000" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">contributing $378,500 directly</a> and an untold sum through soft money operations resembling the Triad group that was tied to the Kochs following a Senate investigation, as the Center for Media and Democracy has <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/11/12964/fred-thompsons-legacy-includes-giving-kochs-free-pass" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">documented</a>.The Bush administration reduced the charges, which could have led to fines of more than $500 million, and dropped the case to just one count for a Koch Industries subsidiary, Koch Petroleum Group. "Under the plea agreement, Koch will pay a total of $20 million dollars: $10 million in criminal fines and $10 million for special projects to improve the environment in Corpus Christi—a record amount imposed in an environmental prosecution," the DOJ <a href="http://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2001/April/153enrd.htm" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">stated</a>.It is this experience—the massive emission of a known carcinogen—that the Kochs say sparked their interest in criminal justice reform. Over the years, Koch Industries has been investigated for <a href="http://http//www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">numerous potential violations</a> of federal and state law. And the Koch reform efforts could help prevent such prosecutions from ever occurring again.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);">"Overcriminalization: Liberty, and More, At Risk for Corporations and Their Employees"</h2>At times, the Kochs have been clear about the connection between "overcriminalization," a mens rea intent requirement, and their corporate interests.In September of 2011, for example, Koch Industries' Associate General Counsel, Marsha Rabiteau, gave a presentation titled "<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/rabiteau_sept_2011_overcriminalization.pdf" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">Overcriminalization: Liberty, and More, At Risk for Corporations and Their Employees</a>." She had given a nearly identical presentation two years earlier, titled then <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/rabiteau_2009_overcriminalization.pdf" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">"Mens rea and other Criminal Law Fundamentals on the Tines of the Public Pitchfork</a>."That presentation, to a meeting of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, warned that:<blockquote style="margin: 10px 0px; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: dashed; border-top-color: rgb(34, 81, 128); color: rgb(34, 81, 128); font-style: italic; padding: 20px 40px; line-height: 24px; background: url(" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" prw="prw" images="images" blue-quote-mark.png="blue-quote-mark.png" px="px" no-repeat="no-repeat" scroll="scroll" rgb="rgb">"The life of the corporation, the liberty interests of corporate officers and other employees can be in the cross-hairs of criminal prosecution over matters that often do not rise to true criminal activity."</blockquote>The solution to the "overcriminalization" problem, Rabiteau said, was to create a default mens rea requirement, as would later appear in the Sensenbrenner bill and in ALEC model legislation.Rabiteau suggested that attendees visit the Koch-backed Heritage Foundation's "Overcriminalization" project (at overcriminalized.com) and cited a report from Heritage and another Koch-backed group, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, called "Without Intent: How Congress Is Eroding the Criminal Intent Requirement in Federal Law."(Rabiteau also suggested that corporations, as a legal fiction, could not form the requisite "intent" to be held liable for a criminal act—although corporations and Koch groups have supported the creation of a right to corporate "free speech" in the form of spending unlimited amounts in elections.)The Koch Associate General Counsel argued that reforming corporate criminal justice law is needed "so that wrongdoers are punished with laws that are clear and adhere to our Anglo-American heritage."Although Rabiteau was likely referring to the country's "legal heritage," an appeal to "our Anglo-American heritage" to protect white collar criminals from criminal prosecution—when the burdens of an unjust criminal justice system have largely fallen on non-Anglo-Americans—further indicates the divide between the corporate criminal justice crusaders and civil rights-oriented reformers.Moreover, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corporations-Are-Not-People-Reclaiming/dp/1626562105" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">America's legal heritage viewed corporate power with deep skepticism</a> and for many years required that corporations have limited charters and durations to prevent them from misuse.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(66, 66, 66); background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);">Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Compromise, "Without Intent"</h2>The Koch funding for criminal justice reform efforts ramped-up as the federal government began taking steps to reign in financial institutions following the collapse of Wall Street.As the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill was being debated in 2010, two Koch-backed groups, the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Heritage Foundation issued a <a href="https://www.nacdl.org/withoutintent/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">comprehensive joint report and project</a> called "Without Intent" criticizing "overcriminalization" and the lack of intent requirements in the federal criminal code.The co-author of NACDL's "Without Intent" report, which has been repeatedly cited in Congress' debate on criminal justice reform, is Tiffany Joslin, who is now Deputy Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Sensenbrenner.NACDL urged Congress to strike criminal provisions of Dodd-Frank that did not include an intent requirement, but Congress rejected that lobbying. When the law passed later that year, NACDL <a href="https://www.nacdl.org/criminaldefense.aspx?id=9920" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">criticized the bill</a> on these grounds:"the overwhelming majority of the criminal offenses contained in the bill lack adequate mens rea, or criminal intent, requirements and, consequently, will fail to protect innocent or inadvertent actors from being criminally prosecuted or punished."Why would the Kochs be concerned about Dodd-Frank and financial regulation? Because a big part of their multi-billion-dollar business comes from oil speculation. The Kochs have long <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/report/koch-oil-speculation/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187); text-decoration: none;">been deeply involved in global financial markets</a>, especially energy and commodity trading.- See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/12/13002/koch-criminal-justice-reform-trojan-horse#sthash.qFGXGqkw.dpuf</div><div>==</div>