NCJ Number
231912
Journal
American Criminal Law Review Volume: 47 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2010 Pages: 363-400
Date Published
2010
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the Federal statutes that seek to prevent and punish election law violations by public officials, candidates, and other political actors.
Abstract
Some of the statutes covered in this article contain overlapping civil, criminal, and administrative penalty provisions. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has the jurisdiction to levy civil fines over all Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) violations, including those committed "knowingly and willfully;" however, only the Department of Justice (DOJ), by and through Assistant United States Attorneys in the field and the Public Integrity Section in Washington, DC, may prosecute criminal FECA offenses. To trigger criminal penalties, these offenses must have been committed "knowingly and willfully" and must involve aggregate amounts that satisfy certain monetary thresholds. Other statutes mentioned fall solely within the jurisdiction of the DOJ, such as election fraud involving Federal elections. Section II of this article examines several election fraud offenses. Section III explores campaign finance crimes. (Published Abstract)