Myths and Principles of Federalization

Those who criticize the federalization of crime claim that the trend is causing a docket crisis in the federal courts. Professor Little challenges these criticisms as "federalization myths." He rebuts the claims of a crisis with an empirical analysis of workload levels in the federal courts and a historical analysis of federalization. In his Article, Professor Little proposes a rebuttable presumption against the federalization of dual jurisdiction criminal conduct and suggests the principle of "demonstrated state failure" to determine when to override that presumption. He outlines how such a principle might operate and concludes that new federal criminal initiatives may occasionally be necessary to address epidemic episodes of criminal conduct that states cannot control.