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Officials call for tougher criminal penalties and mandatory minimums for welfare fraud
Summary
Stephen Miller and others urged Congress to adopt strict mandatory minimum sentences and tougher prosecution standards for welfare fraud, arguing current penalties often fail to deter large-scale schemes.
Stephen Miller said the United States has too often treated large-scale welfare fraud as a low-penalty offense and urged Congress to adopt strict mandatory minimums that would impose substantial prison time on convicted fraudsters. "This is you've proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that you deliberately, willfully, maliciously engage in a scheme to steal from the American taxpayer," Miller said, and argued such convictions should carry "a very substantial prison sentence."
Miller and other speakers said tougher sentencing would allow the Department of Justice to prosecute more cases and create a deterrent effect; they cited past prosecutions that required extended investigations but produced light sentences under existing statutes. No legislative language was cited; officials asked for congressional action to change sentencing statutes and for the Justice Department to press prosecutions more vigorously.
