U.S. Congressman LOUIE GOHMERT: Proudly Serving the First District of Texas

U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (TX-01), along with U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03) hosted a press conference today to discuss the bipartisan hearing in the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee held this afternoon titled Reining in Overcriminalization: Assessing the Problems, Proposing Solutions.‪ The hearing addressed evidence that Congress regularly passes new criminal laws that do not sufficiently protect law-abiding citizens by requiring that a defendant have mens rea, or criminal intent, before they can be found guilty.  This legislative failure produces piles of new criminal laws every year that puts Americans at risk of prison time for failing to file a report on time or label a box properly before mailing – acts that no reasonable person could predict are criminal. 

‪Rep. Gohmert stated, “This is a very important issue. For too long people in both parties have found it convenient to criminalize civil violations because they thought it would help them look tougher. I was never considered soft on crime as a district judge back in Texas. When you see the Heritage Foundation and the ACLU come together on an issue, you know that this is something that demands attention.‪

People have said, ‘I am afraid if we don’t put a prison term on a violation it will look like we are soft on crime.’ But if it is not a crime and there is not criminal intent, then the Federal Government should look very hard before it undertakes that endeavor. We have seen people who never intended to be lawbreakers and who only have the best interests of this country and their families charged with crimes and convicted. One witness was convicted in a US court for violating Honduran shipping regulations – one of which had been repealed several years prior.  The Honduran government supported the defendant at trial but he was still found guilty.‪ These tragic cases undermine the faith that people should have in their government I can tell you that some of these laws stretch my faith in the federal government as well. ”‪

As Ranking Member of the Crime Subcommittee, Rep. Gohmert looks forward to working on solutions to the problem to ensure that Americans are not jailed for innocent acts and law enforcement can focus on arresting the true criminals among us.‪

To view Rep. Gohmert’s full speech, click here.‪

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