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A comment on Order on Protecting Americans from Overcriminalization Through Regulatory Reform. Parent comment

Re:Order on Protecting Americans from Overcriminalization Th... by bpodgursky on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @12:32AM (#25830321)
Well, I'll counter that "Mens rea" is a legal traditional just as old, because lawmakers even thousands of years ago understood the injustice of punishing people for actions they could not reasonably know were crimes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea

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Re:Order on Protecting Americans from Overcriminalization Th... by peteretep on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @12:36AM (#25830360)
Exactly, as mentioned by the order itself, which also takes in strict liability crimes and sets a posture that they should be as limited as possible.
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Re:Order on Protecting Americans from Overcriminalization Th... by TheCoelacanth on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @11:06AM (#25834805)
Mens rea doesn't require that you know that the thing you are doing is illegal. It only requires that you know you are doing the thing.
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Re:Order on Protecting Americans from Overcriminalization Th... by tony101 on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @04:25PM (#25839086)
Depends on how the law is written. Some (but not all) statutes require prosecution to show that defendant knew it was illegal.
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