Over-Federalization: Federal Intrusion Into State Criminal Law

Date:  10-03-2025 The Sentencing Project urges the public to recognize that federal overreach in local criminal justice systems is a threat to local governance, the right to protest, and equity.

From The Sentencing Project: In the wake of the DC policing takeover, reporting has highlighted how federal authorities have aggressively prosecuted low-level offenses that would normally be handled at the local level. Throwing a sandwich at an FBI agent can result in an attempted indictment for federal felony assault on an officer in the hands of an overzealous prosecutor. But this isn’t a threat unique to DC In our new report, “Over-Federalization: Federal Intrusion Into State Criminal Law,” we discuss how overbroad federal laws allow federal authorities to prosecute offenses normally left to local prosecutors, including street crimes and even minor offenses. This over-federalization threatens democracy and increases incarceration. Given that federal prosecutions of traditionally local offenses are focused disproportionately on Black urban neighborhoods, over-federalization also deepens racial disparities in sentencing. The Sentencing Project urges the public to recognize that federal overreach in local criminal justice systems is not an abstract legal issue—it’s a threat to local governance, the right to protest, and equity. Read the report here.