25 June 2018

A Crime Our County Could Live Without

Whoever, falsely and with intent to defraud, holds himself out as or represents or pretends himself to be a member of, associated with, or an agent or representative for the 4–H clubs, an organization established by the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and the land grant colleges, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
18 U.S.C. § 916.

Where this crime is appropriate to punish at all, it is too lenient and too detached from the associated harms that can be better addressed with a civil action for fraud. Where it is not appropriate to punish, it is over criminalization.

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