State Versus Federal Law
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The majority of criminal prosecutions are state prosecutions for the violation of state law. Just as there are state laws against criminal behavior, there are also federal laws tied to a national or federal issue. Most of the crimes that come into the mind, such as robbery, theft, murder, rape, and burglary, violate the state criminal law. The federal law applies only when there is a national interest at stake. For this assignment, we focus on how a crime can be both a state and federal crime, the elements required for the offense to be committed in federal and state law, and the issues of overlapping jurisdiction between federal and state laws.
The U.S. government criminalizes certain conduct through federal laws, and these crimes are investigated by federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and DEA. The U.S District Attorney’s office prosecutes them. On the other hand, state crimes are charged by the state attorney’s office. There are specific law enforcement agencies that will investigate and prosecute criminal conduct for every crime committed either under federal or state jurisdictions. In the situation where the crime is a violation of both federal and state laws, multiple law enforcement agencies at federal and state levels will be involved in the same criminal conduct.
When it comes to robbery, states commonly separate it depending on the degree of the severity of the crime. In normal circumstances, robbery is primarily a state crime but can sometimes fall under federal jurisdiction, especially with the case of bank robbery. In Kansas, bank robbery is considered as aggravated robbery and covered under the Kansas Statute § 21-5420. Chapter 21 of the statutes are used to determine the severity of the crime in the state courts (FindLaw, 2020). In the federal courts, federal criminal law utilizes 18 U.S. Code § 2113 as the law source to address bank robbery and incidental crimes. This source of law defines what constitutes bank robbery and provides recommendations for punishment for criminal conduct. The defendant violates the federal law since robbing federally insured and regulated bank results to federal criminal violations; hence the bank robber will face charges in both state and federal jurisdictions. The primary focus by the Kansas Statute § 21-5420 when applying to bank robbery as criminal conduct is that the prosecutor has to prove that the defendant knowingly committed the crime and property from another person either by force or by the threat of bodily harm.
In many instances, either the state or the federal government will pursue criminal charges, and the other party will only step in if the previous party fails. However, this does not apply to all cases, as it is not prohibited for both parties to pursue criminal charges. The state or the federal jurisdiction can defer the criminal charges to the other party. Still, they work together to collect and acquire evidence to be used by the prosecution against the defendant. In Kansas, most of the past criminal prosecutions of bank robbery have been under federal jurisdiction. The FBI conducts most of the investigations together with the Kansas police, and the criminal is charged in a federal court. The defendant is often fined and sentenced to federal prison for several years, depending on the severity level of the crime.
In many convictions, criminals are always under the impression that the Double Jeopardy Clause will protect them from being charged in federal and state courts for the same crime. The Double Jeopardy clause in the federal constitution protects a defendant from being punished more than once for the same crime (Little, 2019). The Double Jeopardy Clause only protects the defendant from punishment or prosecution by the same government. However, it does protect the defendant who has committed a crime covered by both federal and state law from being prosecuted by the state and federal government since the two are separate sovereigns.
Kansas law has confusing provisions on the prosecution for the same crime. The KS Stat § 21-5109 states that a defendant can be prosecuted for each crime his/her conduct establishes a commission to more than one crime under the state laws. This means that certain conduct can be identified to be different crimes. This provision is keen to highlight that a defendant cannot be convicted of identical offenses more than once, based on the same conduct. Ar says that different state jurisdictions have various provisions that address the double jeopardy clause and have different manners of determining whether the state or federal government prosecutes a bank robbery or any other criminal case.
In conclusion, most jurisdictional issues are very straightforward since the particular state’s boundaries and law are specific hence giving them the power to prosecute. In Kansas, bank robbery equates to aggravated robbery and is prosecuted by the state’s attorney’s office. On the other hand, bank robbery under federal law is prosecuted by the U.S Attorney’s office in the federal court. As much the case falls in both state and federal jurisdictions, cases are often handled collaboratively unless the other party fails to perform their responsibility objectively.
References
FindLaw. (2020). Kansas Statutes Chapter 21. Crimes and Punishments § 21-5420. Robbery; aggravated robbery. Retrieved from https://codes.findlaw.com/ks/chapter-21-crimes-and-punishments/ks-st-sect-21-5420.html
Little, R.K., (2019). Double Jeopardy, and the Gamble decision. Forthcoming, SCOTUS 2019, UC Hastings Research Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3422508 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3422508