By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO
In a nation founded on liberty and limited government, it is staggering that no one, not Congress, not the Department of Justice, not even legal scholars, knows how many federal crimes exist. Estimates suggest over 5,000 federal statutes and more than 300,000 regulatory offenses are embedded within the Code of Federal Regulations. This isn’t just a matter of volume. It’s erosion: of justice, liberty, and public trust. Overcriminalization is a direct threat to the rule of law and the constitutional guarantees at the core of American democracy.
Alaska reflects this crisis. Its legal code contains an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 crimes ranging from fisheries violations to licensing infractions. Many carry criminal penalties disconnected from public harm or moral wrongdoing. The result is a system that punishes ordinary behavior, overwhelms individuals with unknowable obligations, and expands government power far beyond reason.
This burden extends to local regulation. In Anchorage, municipal ordinances add layers of cost and complexity to everyday life. Title 21 of the Anchorage Municipal Code, which governs land use and development, imposes dense zoning, aesthetic, and safety standards that far exceed those in the neighboring Mat-Su Borough. While Mat-Su offers flexibility, Anchorage mandates exhaustive reviews, costly inspections, and rigid design requirements. Property owners with wells and septic systems face high compliance costs, often for marginal or redundant benefits. These rules act as hidden taxes and barriers to entry, driving up living costs and deepening public disillusionment with government.
The rise of overcriminalization directly undermines the Bill of Rights. The Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches is diluted when obscure violations justify intrusions. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments’ due process guarantees are weakened when citizens are held accountable for conduct, they could not reasonably know was criminal. The Sixth Amendment promise of a fair trial becomes hollow when arbitrary charges are used to extract plea deals. The Eighth Amendment’s ban on excessive fines is tested daily by disproportionate penalties for minor regulatory violations.
While citizen safety matters, the institutionalization of overcriminalization was no accident. It was born of progressive-era and left-wing policies that, under the guise of reform, sought to control behavior through administrative expansion. Since the early 20th century, unaccountable agencies have wielded quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial power, replacing traditional lawmaking with layers of regulation. The New Deal, Great Society, and decades of centralized planning entrenched this model, emphasizing behavioral control over individual freedom and personal responsibility.
This shift transformed the law into a trap. Rules once designed to punish harm now penalize nonconformity. Regulatory micromanagement, based on the belief that government knows best, has weaponized legal systems against innovation, autonomy, and liberty. Left unchecked, these policies have dismantled due process and equal protection, replacing constitutional governance with bureaucratic paternalism. Reclaiming limited, just law is essential to preserving the dignity of the individual.
The Alaska Constitution’s Declaration of Rights is also at risk. Articles I, Sections 1 through 24 affirm liberty, due process, and property rights. But when Alaskans face prosecution under vague, excessive laws lacking clarity or proportionality, these rights become illusions.
A deeper question arises: Is the Alaska Legislature indifferent or simply lethargic in the face of this crisis? Every legislator swears an oath to uphold the U.S. and Alaska Constitutions. That oath demands not just new legislation, but an ongoing duty to repeal outdated, unjust, or duplicative laws. Failing to do so, especially allowing crimes created by unelected agencies to persist, is a quiet betrayal of constitutional duty.
Law in a free society must be knowable, reasonable, and just. Today, Alaska’s legal code is often indecipherable and punitive. Ordinary citizens are trapped by strict liability offenses, unclear mandates, and disproportionate penalties. This harms vulnerable populations most, rural Alaskans, Indigenous communities, and low-income residents unfamiliar with bureaucratic nuance.
Moreover, arbitrary enforcement fosters unequal justice. A system navigable only by the powerful is not law. It is privilege.
Compounding this crisis is a corporatist mandate that forces individuals and small businesses to hire legal, accounting, and compliance professionals simply to stay within the bounds of regulation. This creates a structural advantage for large institutions that can absorb these costs. The law becomes a tool of the well-connected while ordinary Alaskans are marginalized.
This corporatist structure has been institutionalized. People have been conditioned to accept endless paperwork, consultant fees, and professional gatekeepers as the cost of participation in civic life. But freedom shouldn’t require permission slips. Deregulation isn’t just a political stance. It’s a moral necessity. It is the only path to restoring equal justice and reviving civic participation.
Throughout American history, courageous individuals have taken it upon themselves to challenge and reform the legal codes that shape civic life. One of the earliest and most influential efforts was Thomas Jefferson’s comprehensive revision of Virginia’s statutes following the American Revolution. Believing that laws should be clear, just, and reflect the ideals of a free republic, Jefferson undertook the monumental task of eliminating feudal and monarchical remnants from the colonial code. His reforms included proposals to abolish primogeniture, establish religious freedom, and streamline criminal law, efforts that laid the foundation for modern American legal philosophy.
In the centuries since, countless citizens, jurists, legislators, and activists have followed that example, drafting new constitutions, striking down unjust statutes, and pushing for reforms that reaffirm the rule of law as a tool of liberty rather than oppression. Their legacy reminds us that law is not sacred because it is written, but because it serves justice.
The path forward is clear. Alaska must conduct a thorough audit of its statutes and regulations. Laws lacking intent, proportionality, or public harm should be repealed or converted to civil penalties. Regulatory agencies must lose the power to criminalize conduct without legislative consent. And mens rea, the principle that criminal punishment requires criminal intent, must be restored.
But legal reform alone isn’t enough. Alaska must also reorient its education and resource development systems to teach young people the value of law as a tool for liberty. Civic literacy should be central in public education. Young Alaskans must understand their rights and the responsibilities that come with them.
A free society depends on informed citizens. Alaska must cultivate a culture that knows its Constitution, values personal liberty, and understands the law not as a threat, but as a framework for freedom.
The Bible in Hosea 4:6 teaches us: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
If we are to remain a state, and a nation, governed by the rule of law, that law must be limited, accessible, and just. Reform is no longer optional. It is imperative.
