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Sunday, February 06, 2011

Indiana Law - "A look at obscure criminal laws"

The Indianapolis Star today has this brief item at the end of what used to be called its "Behind Closed Doors" column:

A look at obscure laws

Over the years, legislators have attached criminal penalties to many different kinds of misdeeds -- from shipping wild animal eggs to erecting a billboard the wrong size.

On Thursday, the Indiana House got to see just how many.

That's because House members were approving a housekeeping measure that moved all the crimes buried in different parts of state law to the section designated for criminal statutes. The list contained more than 1,000 crimes and stretched 28 pages.

But not all of the crimes are likely to make extra work for law enforcement. It's doubtful that many people have been handcuffed for violating rules that govern hotel bedding or cemetery associations.

The bill referenced is SB 315. The printed version of the bill is 28-pages long. But the laws themselves are not included in the 28 pages, despite the Star's statement that the bill is "a housekeeping measure that moved all the crimes buried in different parts of state law to the section designated for criminal statutes." Instead, the bill simply lists the citation and a two or three word description of each criminal law that is not located in IC 35, the Title of the Indiana Code that is generally understood to include all of Indiana's "Criminal Law and Procedure."

So what is the purpose of SB 315? Apparently merely to serve as an enacted index or cross-reference to other criminal laws in the Indiana Code that are not located in Title 35.

And what weight does this list have -- i.e. why is it enacted into law? Apparently it has no weight, as its first section (which is to become IC 35-1-1) provides:

This article is not intended to be an exhaustive compilation of all criminal statutes codified outside IC 35 in the Indiana Code. Other criminal statutes may be found in IC 35 and other provisions of the Indiana Code.
In short, whether or not a criminal law located outside of IC 35 is listed or not listed is irrelevant to its efficacy.

This is not the first time such cross references have been enacted. See, for example, IC 34-7-4, stating that Title 34 "is not intended to be an exhaustive compilation of all causes of action and procedures in the Indiana Code." It is followed by a very brief list of statutes.

This discussion may bring to mind to some of you the issue of noncode laws -- what has been done to resolve the serious problem of laws that are in effect but are not included in the Indiana Code, an issue that was first raised by the ILB now nearly three years ago? There will be more on that in a later entry.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 6, 2011 03:33 PM
Posted to Indiana Law