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Abstract: Criminal law scholarship and judicial decisions devote significant attention to crimes, especially the most salient ones. In contrast, regulatory offences receive much less scrutiny and matter much more than we think.
This first part of a two-part article on regulatory offences argues that these offences occupy an ever-expanding role in the criminal justice system. It advances four core arguments. First, police officers may enforce regulatory offences to gather information and produce intelligence. Second, these offences can facilitate pretextual police interventions and investigation cascades. Third, police departments may leverage regulatory offences to generate revenue in a manner that evades political backlash against local governments. Fourth, these offences can contribute to criminal law localism. Together, the volume of regulatory offences — and their expansive role — can also facilitate disparate and discriminatory enforcement practices. Ultimately, this article highlights the various functions of regulatory offences and demonstrates why they matter for reasons we typically overlook.
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