Yet another example of voodoo prosecutions, this time from beautiful New Jersey by way of the ABA Journal. The Mercer County prosecutor has charged Rider University administrators with aggravated hazing because of a death by drinking at a fraternity. What’s the connection? A pattern that put the administrators on notice such that they should have known that a death “was likely” and they did nothing to intervene.
This is a tragedy, but it is not a crime. Should Rider University be civilly liable? Perhaps, but civil liability is (and should be) a long, long way from criminal.
From the historic perspective (like when I was in college and a fraternity), we drank. We all drank. Everyone knew we drank, because we put up really big signs about our parties that told everyone how much we drank. Does that make every college administrator back then a criminal? Bear in mind, it’s not the outcome but the conduct of the perp that makes a criminal. So, the fact that no one died changes nothing. We’re all criminals, since we all knew and did nothing. Of course, this is all absurd.
The real issue here is how prosecutors across the country are pushing the envelope of imaginative bases to extent criminal liability to events with no nexus to the defendant’s acts. And the fact that these prosecutions (hopefully) have little chance for success provides little comfort. Eventually, some prosecutor will find some judge willing to let him have his way, and then we will have precedent to extend criminal liability to essentially anyone and everyone who can be connected through any rhetorical means available. This is just plain nuts.
And the politicians will hop on board, proclaiming new laws with some kid’s name attached, that will put an end to all crime everywhere forever. Hooray! Problem solved. And the knee-jerks will all fall in line, proclaiming an end to evil people, provided they’re not the ones indicted. Guys, this slope is so slippery that it’s impossible not to skid off the edge.
It was only a few weeks ago that the defendant was convicted of the murder of a State Trooper 40 miles away. Now it’s steam-rolling. It’s picking up momentum and prosecutors will be trying to out-crime each other. It’s only a matter of time before the public picks up the cudgel. Once conduct is divorced from criminality, there’s no stopping the scope of prosecutions. This insanity must be stopped now.
This is a tragedy, but it is not a crime. Should Rider University be civilly liable? Perhaps, but civil liability is (and should be) a long, long way from criminal.
From the historic perspective (like when I was in college and a fraternity), we drank. We all drank. Everyone knew we drank, because we put up really big signs about our parties that told everyone how much we drank. Does that make every college administrator back then a criminal? Bear in mind, it’s not the outcome but the conduct of the perp that makes a criminal. So, the fact that no one died changes nothing. We’re all criminals, since we all knew and did nothing. Of course, this is all absurd.
The real issue here is how prosecutors across the country are pushing the envelope of imaginative bases to extent criminal liability to events with no nexus to the defendant’s acts. And the fact that these prosecutions (hopefully) have little chance for success provides little comfort. Eventually, some prosecutor will find some judge willing to let him have his way, and then we will have precedent to extend criminal liability to essentially anyone and everyone who can be connected through any rhetorical means available. This is just plain nuts.
And the politicians will hop on board, proclaiming new laws with some kid’s name attached, that will put an end to all crime everywhere forever. Hooray! Problem solved. And the knee-jerks will all fall in line, proclaiming an end to evil people, provided they’re not the ones indicted. Guys, this slope is so slippery that it’s impossible not to skid off the edge.
It was only a few weeks ago that the defendant was convicted of the murder of a State Trooper 40 miles away. Now it’s steam-rolling. It’s picking up momentum and prosecutors will be trying to out-crime each other. It’s only a matter of time before the public picks up the cudgel. Once conduct is divorced from criminality, there’s no stopping the scope of prosecutions. This insanity must be stopped now.
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