The United States House Judiciary Committee recently passed a bill that would prevent people from being convicted of crimes they had no intent to commit. In effect, to be guilty of a crime, a person must know that he or she is committing a crime.
Consider the case of an 11-year-old girl who saved a woodpecker from a cat and was then fined for transporting a protected species. Or think about the case of Indianapolis 500 champion Bobby Unser who was charged with a federal crime for riding a snowmobile in a national wilderness after he lost his way in a snow storm.
The Obama Administration does not want to make the changes and it is thought that they want things the way they are so they can continue to attempt to convict corporations for environmental crimes and prosecute top level executives.
Nobody should be charged with a crime much less imprisoned for breaking a law of which they were not aware and certainly when they had no intention to commit a crime.
