When Everything is a Crime

"..the proliferation of federal criminal statutes and regulations has reached the point that virtually every citizen, knowingly or not (usually not) is potentially at risk for prosecution," even for "crimes that involve no actual harm or ill intent," warns law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds. Prosecutors wield enormous power in which crimes - and whom - they choose to charge, and there are few restraints. "The consequences are drastic and troubling," particularly if a prosecutor "is anxious to go after a political enemy." Take 2 recent high profile cases: