Surname 1

Name

Professor’s Name

Course

Date

Federalization of Crime

Congress has increasingly federalized crimes that were part of state penal codes. Some of the

results of the federalization of crime are illustrated below. Firstly, it has led to duplicative

prosecutions at the state and federal levels. In addition, federal prosecutions depersonalize the

criminal justice system, thus withdrawing it from the people's daily experience. The

federalization of crime has also led to an increase in the caseload on the federal judiciary

(Demleitner 123). The increase in federal judgeships may lead to altering the character of federal

courts, thus contributing to changes in the way civil litigation is conducted. Federalization of

crime has also led to the unwise allocation of needed resources to meet genuine crime issues.

The federal justice system usually gives out stricter sentencing of criminal offenses than

the state system for the same criminal offenses. An increased number of detainees means that the

federal government has to allocate resources to cater for them n the detention centers.

Certain crimes can be prosecuted at both the state and federal levels if the unlawful

conduct committed by an individual violates both the state and federal laws (Williams 1499).

There was an attempt to overturn this rule in June 2019, but the Supreme Court affirmed it to

action in a 7-2 ruling (Williams 1499). Criminal acts that can be prosecuted by the state and

federal judicial system include bank robbery, kidnapping, drug trafficking, fraud charges, and

child pornography. The sentencing by the two judicial systems also differs. An example of such

a scenario is the case of Terance Gamble, who Alabama was prosecuted for the illegal possession
 Surname 2

of a firearm in 2015, and he served one year in prison (Mullen 207). Subsequently, the federal

government charged him in relation to the 2015 incident and sentenced him to 46 months in jail.

Another example is Roberto Miramontes, who was acquitted of first-degree murder of a peace

officer by the state of Utah jury in 2012 (Manson np). He was later sentenced to life

imprisonment by a federal court in 2017. Do you think Congress should continue federalizing

crimes?
 Surname 3

Works Cited

Demleitner, Nora V. "The Federalization of Crime and Sentencing." Fed. Sent'g Rep. 11

(1998): 123.

Manson, Pamela. "After 7 Years and an Acquittal, Man Is Convicted of Killing Utah Deputy."

The Salt Lake Tribune. 8 Feb. 2017.

Mullen, Kayla. "Gamble v. United States: A Commentary." Duke J. Const. L. & Pub. Poly

Sidebar 14 (2019): 207.

Williams, Robert F. "State Courts Adopting Federal Constitutional Doctrine: Case-by-Case

Adoptionism or Prospective Lockstepping." Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 46 (2004):

1499.

Question

What has been the result of the “federalization” of crime? How can certain crimes be prosecuted

at both the state and federal level? Can you provide current examples to the class.