Sponsors (5)
Requires DOJ and specified agencies to inventory federal criminal and regulatory offenses and publish online indexes with elements, mens rea, penalties, and 15 years of enforcement/referral counts.
The bill substantially increases transparency and legal clarity about federal criminal and regulatory offenses—helping citizens, lawyers, and regulated businesses and enabling oversight—while imposing unfunded, time-sensitive reporting burdens on DOJ and agencies that may produce incomplete or uneven data and invite political scrutiny.
All Americans — including ordinary citizens, lawyers, and regulated individuals and businesses — gain clear, centralized access to every federal criminal statute and each regulatory criminal offense with stated elements, mens rea, and penalties, reducing legal ambiguity.
Taxpayers, Congress, and oversight bodies will get 15-year prosecution counts from DOJ and agencies, improving transparency into enforcement patterns and enabling stronger government accountability.
Clarifying mens rea requirements across statutes may reduce inadvertent criminal liability and help courts, defense counsel, and prosecutors apply intent standards more consistently.
DOJ and federal agencies must compile extensive historical and statutory data without new appropriations, likely diverting staff time, increasing backlogs, or delaying other work.
One- to two-year reporting deadlines for assembling 15 years of prosecution data risk producing incomplete, inaccurate, or rushed counts that could mislead oversight and the public.
Making comprehensive enforcement data public could invite political pressure, second-guessing of prosecutorial decisions, or litigation challenging charging practices.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: Count the Crimes to Cut Act
Introduced March 14, 2025 by Charles Roy · Last progress March 26, 2026
Requires the Attorney General and specified federal agencies to create detailed inventories of federal criminal offenses and criminal regulatory offenses. Agencies must report lists with offense elements, mens rea, potential penalties, and counts of prosecutions or referrals for the prior 15 years, and then publish searchable public indexes online within two years. Mandates written reports to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees within one year and public online publication within two years; defines key terms and states no new appropriations are authorized.