The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.
Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent
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Book Description
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About the Author
HARVEY A. SILVERGLATE is counsel to Boston’s Zalkind, Rodriguez, Lunt & Duncan LLP, specializing in criminal defense, civil liberties, and academic freedom/student rights law. He is co-founder and Chairman of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) and is a regular columnist for The Boston Phoenix. Silverglate has been published in The National Law Journal, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Book Review, and elsewhere. He is author of The Shadow University with Alan Charles Kors.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
118 of 125 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a very thoughtful and vigorously argued book about the injustices that arise when prosecutors seek to expand the reach of federal criminal statutes beyond their proper field of application. The author has litigated many of the cases he discusses, and is able to translate the complexities of that experience intelligently and without condescension, but also without all of the unnecessary technical details that lawyers writing for a general audience sometimes get bogged down in. Harvey Silverglate is an institution in his own right: a tireless advocate for civil liberties, prolific writer, and astute student of the law, there are few people who have a stronger commitment to illuminating the practical workings of the criminal justice system and their relationship to broader currents in the law. This is a must-read for those interested in criminal law, civil liberties, and the recent history of the Department of Justice, by a writer who has the courage of his convictions and voices them powerfully and well.
69 of 71 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Harvey Silverglate does an extraordinary job analyzing the erosion of rights and the risks it carries to liberty in America in his book, Three Felonies a Day, How the Feds Target the Innocent.
This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the preservation of liberty and putting a check on the encroachment of the federal government in the every day lives of citizens.
He shows how the Department of Justice has led a steady march to expand their reach into the lives of ordinary Americans. The result? Panoply of laws giving them the right to prosecute just about anyone for anything at will.
Their broad application of the Deprivation of Honest Services Statutes in White Collar Crime and a host of other legal gymnastics give them a club every bit as powerful as the Soviet Union at the height of its power. In the Soviet Union and other dictatorships the tools of federalization of all crimes and trampling liberties usually reside in what is commonly called "Defamation Statutes."
Mr. Silverglate identifies numerous laws and Department of Justice interpretations and applications that give them authority rivaling the Soviet Union in its heyday. This boils down to a scandalous use of the federal instruments of powers residing in the executive branch at the Department of Justice that go unchecked.
For anyone who cares about liberty I recommend this book. It is makes a powerful contribution to the cause of justice and freedom and ranks as a modern day call to action equal to Thomas Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense published in 1776.
Mr. Siverglate brings current day threats to our liberties into focus just as Mr. Paine brought the need for the American Revolution into focus in 1776. For Mr. Paine liberty and freedom's enemy resided in King George of England; to Mr. Silverglate it can be found in a runaway Department of Justice intent on expanding its power to intrude and reach into the life of every American.
This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the preservation of liberty and putting a check on the encroachment of the federal government in the every day lives of citizens.
He shows how the Department of Justice has led a steady march to expand their reach into the lives of ordinary Americans. The result? Panoply of laws giving them the right to prosecute just about anyone for anything at will.
Their broad application of the Deprivation of Honest Services Statutes in White Collar Crime and a host of other legal gymnastics give them a club every bit as powerful as the Soviet Union at the height of its power. In the Soviet Union and other dictatorships the tools of federalization of all crimes and trampling liberties usually reside in what is commonly called "Defamation Statutes."
Mr. Silverglate identifies numerous laws and Department of Justice interpretations and applications that give them authority rivaling the Soviet Union in its heyday. This boils down to a scandalous use of the federal instruments of powers residing in the executive branch at the Department of Justice that go unchecked.
For anyone who cares about liberty I recommend this book. It is makes a powerful contribution to the cause of justice and freedom and ranks as a modern day call to action equal to Thomas Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense published in 1776.
Mr. Siverglate brings current day threats to our liberties into focus just as Mr. Paine brought the need for the American Revolution into focus in 1776. For Mr. Paine liberty and freedom's enemy resided in King George of England; to Mr. Silverglate it can be found in a runaway Department of Justice intent on expanding its power to intrude and reach into the life of every American.
47 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was recommended by a Federal Judge at a conference on ethics. It is a scary, insightful indictment of criminal prosecutions and the growing trend of prosecutors and judges encroaching on the legislative branch's power to enact laws through manipulation and overreaching interpretations of vague federal laws. It is not only a MUST read, but it is a MUST act upon as well. Kudos Silverglate!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not Quite What I Expected
If you're looking for everyday examples of the felonies you and I unwittingly commit each day, you won't find them here. Read more
Published 9 days ago by asfhgwt
Three Felonies A Day
This is a book that everyone in the USA should read.
Every word written is true and frankly even a little understated, I do not know why the author was so conservative and can... Read more
Every word written is true and frankly even a little understated, I do not know why the author was so conservative and can... Read more
Published 2 months ago by n2lek2l
Straight white man's burden
At first I thought this book was going to be about how the criminal "justice" system is used to enforce and re-enforce class, gender and racial injustice in present-day America. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Yeoman
Great Substance, Needs an Editor
Even when his left-leaning views pop up here-and-there in Three Felonies a Day, Silverglate's knowledge and passion about the over-criminalization of America makes the book an... Read more
Published 4 months ago by El Sandman
It happened in Stalin's USSR. It is happening here.
"And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Roy C. Gutfinski
America... watch your back!
Our justice system is a mess and this book proves that with great precision. The deck is stacked in favor of prosecuting attorneys who will many times stop at nothing to win a... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Nancy Rector
Anecdotes do not equal an explanation
Or an argument.
The book is easy to read, and engrossing. And the issues the author purports to adduce, diagnose, and amplify are of the first importance. Read more
The book is easy to read, and engrossing. And the issues the author purports to adduce, diagnose, and amplify are of the first importance. Read more
Published 10 months ago by N. A. Davis
The Second Set of Books
For those of you thinking that this is a lot of smoke and not much fire I recommend the story of a New Hampshire man who set himself ablaze on the steps of a courthouse recently. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Pierre
Detailed But Not Quite What I'd Hoped ...
With such a provocative title, I expected a thorough list of ways that ordinary citizens can be unwittingly trapped by federal law. Read more
Published 16 months ago by John Perich
Excellent book, but unfortunately mistitled
The product description of this book on amazon.com (the US site) starts by claiming that "The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes... Read more
Published 18 months ago by T. D. Welsh
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