Articles

Victory : Activists’ effort to worsen overcriminalization ends with a whimper

October 25, 2018 | By JONATHAN WOOD

In 2013, several environmental activist groups launched a lawsuit to expand the criminal reach of the Endangered Species Act. They challenged the United States’ longstanding interpretation of the statutes, which makes it a crime to “knowingly” “take” a protected species, to require defendants know their actions will ca ...

Articles

PLF defends against overcriminalization under the Endangered Species Act

March 23, 2017 | By JONATHAN WOOD

William Blackstone famously said “it is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.” Today, the criminal law honors that venerable principle by forbidding anyone from being criminally punished unless they commit an illegal act with a blameworthy state of mind. That’s why mens rea (or guilty mind) is an element ...

Articles

Take shouldn’t be a strict liability offense

October 01, 2015 | By JONATHAN WOOD

PLF has filed a motion to intervene on behalf of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, New Mexico Federal Lands Council, and the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau in a case that threatens to radically expand criminal liability under the Endangered Species Act. If the case is successful, we’ll all need to quickly become … ...