Flint Defense Lawyers Weigh Ignorance of the Law
When you face criminal charges in Flint and throughout Michigan, ignorance of the law is no defense. 
This has been a long-standing rule since the start of jurisprudence in the United States. It is also a rule that used to make sense when there were relatively few laws and when those laws forbid things like murder and theft, which most people in the majority of circumstances knew to be wrong.
A recent article posted on USA Today, however, suggested that perhaps this old legal doctrine no longer makes sense in today’s increasingly complex world.
A criminal defense attorney knows there has been a vast expansion of regulatory crimes, especially in recent decades. Unfortunately, this means there are many people who are legitimately unaware of many of the different rules and regulations that exist. People are increasingly being charged with violating laws they did not know or could not even have guessed existed.
Regulatory Crimes and Ignorance of the Law
The USA Today article was proactively titled “You are probably breaking the law right now,” highlighting the fact that anyone and everyone has likely broken a regulatory law at some point in their lives. The reporter pointed out that even many legislators aren’t aware of how many regulations and laws there are, or of the obligations those statutes require. Because even those who pass the laws don’t know all of the different legal rules that have been put into place, it is impossible for the average person to know everything that he must do or refrain from doing.
Compounding the problem is the fact that many of these new regulatory crimes do not consider intent as an element of the offense. For crimes like robbery or murder, a defendant’s intent matters and a prosecutor has to show that the defendant willfully acted in violation of the law.
For regulatory crimes, however, your willful intent to break the law is not usually a component of the crime and is not something the prosecutor must prove to secure a conviction.
When you are charged with a crime you didn’t know was a criminal act, you are in a precarious legal situation.
You could try to count on prosecutorial discretion and hope the prosecutor won’t come after you and continue pressing charges if you can demonstrate that you genuinely made a mistake. Of course, as the USA Today author pointed out, this is not always effective because prosecutors may be motivated by politics or quotas and may pursue a case against you even for something you did not know was wrong.
This is why it is so imperative to have an experienced criminal defense lawyer advocating for you.
In the meantime, Congress is mulling a bill that would require proof the accused reasonably could, or should, have known his conduct was illegal before he can be convicted of a regulatory offense.
With all of the problems in the criminal justice system today, however, there is no reason to believe that lawmakers are looking for solutions or interested in adopting simple fixes for those accused of serious crimes.
Our team is dedicated to ensuring your rights and best interests are protected.
Contact Michigan criminal defense lawyer Michael P. Manley today at (810) 238-0500 to schedule a consultation. Serving Flint and all of Michigan.
