You probably think you're a good person. You pay your taxes, you use your blinker, and you certainly don’t consider yourself a criminal. But according to civil liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate, you’re likely a felon. Not once, but multiple times over. Every single day. It sounds like a paranoid conspiracy theory or a dystopian writing prompt, but the Three Felonies a Day book (officially titled Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent) makes a case that is terrifyingly grounded in the reality of the American legal system.
Silverglate isn't some fringe blogger. He’s a high-profile defense attorney and co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). His argument is simple: the federal criminal code has expanded so much—and become so incredibly vague—that the average professional cannot go through a workday without unintentionally violating a federal law.
We aren't talking about bank robbery. We’re talking about "honest services fraud," vague environmental regulations, and administrative errors that can land a CEO or a suburban dad in a federal prison cell. It’s a mess.
The Overcriminalization Trap
The core problem Silverglate identifies is "overcriminalization." Decades ago, crimes were things everyone understood: murder, theft, arson. These were malum in se—wrong in themselves. Today, we live in a world of malum prohibitum—things that are illegal only because a specific regulation says so. There are now over 5,000 federal criminal statutes and a staggering 300,000-plus federal regulations that carry criminal penalties.
Think about that number.
Nobody has read them all. No lawyer knows them all. Not even the judges. Yet, under the legal doctrine of ignorantia juris non excusat, ignorance of the law is no excuse. You can be prosecuted for breaking a law you didn't know existed, even if you had no "guilty mind" or intent to do wrong. This is what Silverglate calls the "death of mens rea." In traditional law, you had to intend to do something bad to be a criminal. Now? You just have to fill out the wrong form or send an email that a prosecutor decides to interpret as "wire fraud."
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How Ordinary Actions Become Federal Crimes
How does a normal person hit that three-felony quota? It usually starts with something mundane. Let's look at the "Computer Fraud and Abuse Act" (CFAA). For years, this law was so broad that violating a website’s "Terms of Service"—like using a fake name on a social media profile—could technically be argued as a federal crime. While the Supreme Court narrowed this slightly in Van Buren v. United States (2021), the danger remains.
Consider the "Lacey Act." It’s an environmental law. In one famous case mentioned by critics of overcriminalization, an American seafood importer was sent to prison because he shipped lobsters in plastic bags instead of cardboard boxes. Why? Because a regulation in Honduras (which wasn't even being enforced there) said they should be in boxes. Because of the Lacey Act, violating a foreign regulation became a federal felony in the United States.
The Three Felonies a Day book highlights how the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terror" created a massive infrastructure of surveillance and vague statutes that prosecutors now use for "normal" white-collar cases.
- Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud: These are the "catch-all" favorites for prosecutors. If you use the internet or the post office as part of a "scheme to defraud" (a term that is flexed like a rubber band), you're in trouble.
- Obstruction of Justice: This is the scary one. You don't have to hide a body. If you delete an email after learning about an investigation—even if you didn't think the email was relevant—you can be charged with obstruction.
- False Statements: Under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, lying to a federal agent is a crime. But here’s the kicker: it doesn't have to be under oath. If an FBI agent knocks on your door and asks you a question, and you get a date wrong because you’re nervous, they can charge you with a felony. Even if they already knew the answer and were just testing you.
The Prosecutor’s Unlimited Power
The real horror story isn't just the laws; it's the leverage. Silverglate argues that because everyone is technically a felon, the Department of Justice (DOJ) can pick its targets first and find the crimes later. It’s the "Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime" approach famously attributed to Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s secret police chief.
When a prosecutor has a list of ten potential felonies you’ve committed, they don't necessarily want to go to trial. They want a plea bargain. They tell you: "You can go to trial and risk 30 years in prison, or you can plead guilty to this one minor felony and go home in two." Most people take the deal. They’re terrified. Their lives are ruined. This creates a system where 97% of federal cases end in plea bargains, not trials. The truth of whether you actually did something "bad" never matters.
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The Three Felonies a Day book suggests that the targets are often people who stand up to the government or who are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a tool for social and political control, whether intentional or not.
Real-World Victims of Vague Laws
It’s easy to dismiss this until you see the names. Take the case of Bobby Unser, the legendary race car driver. He got lost in a blizzard while snowmobiling and nearly died of hypothermia. He left his snowmobile behind to save his life. The government prosecuted him because he accidentally entered a protected "Wilderness Area."
Or consider the case of Krister Evertson. He was a clean-energy researcher who was hounded by the government over how he shipped legal sodium samples. He was acquitted in one trial, so the government simply found a different, obscure regulation to charge him with in a second trial. They broke him.
Silverglate uses these examples to show that the law is no longer a shield for the innocent; it’s a net that catches everyone.
Why This Matters in 2026
You might think, "Well, I'm not a race car driver or a chemist." But in our hyper-connected world, the paper trail we leave is infinite. Every email, every digital transaction, and every "agree to terms" click is a potential piece of evidence. The Three Felonies a Day book is more relevant now than when it was written because the volume of regulations has only increased.
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We’ve seen the "honest services" fraud statute used in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal and in various political "Bridgegate" style cases. While some might cheer the results, legal scholars worry about the precedent. If the law is whatever a prosecutor says it is, then none of us are safe.
There is a growing bipartisan movement to address this. Groups like the Heritage Foundation and the ACLU (rarely on the same side) have both sounded the alarm on overcriminalization. They argue for a return to mens rea requirements—meaning the government should have to prove you intended to break the law or knew what you were doing was wrong.
Actionable Insights for the Modern "Felon"
Living in a world where you might be committing three felonies a day doesn't mean you should live in a bunker. But it does mean you need a different level of "legal literacy."
- Don't talk to federal agents without a lawyer. This isn't just TV advice. Because of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, even an innocent mistake in a casual conversation can be a felony. If the feds show up, be polite, but say: "I am happy to cooperate with my attorney present."
- Be careful with digital "short-cuts." Sharing passwords, using VPNs to access geo-blocked content, or scraping data from websites can technically trigger federal statutes depending on how a prosecutor feels that day.
- Support "Mens Rea" Reform. Look for local and national representatives who support legislation requiring the government to prove criminal intent. This is the single biggest "fix" for the problems Silverglate describes.
- Audit your business compliance. If you own a business, "I didn't know" is not a defense. Periodic audits of environmental, financial, and labor regulations are a cost of doing business in a regulated state.
- Read the book. Seriously. Understanding the specific ways the "Wire Fraud" and "Mail Fraud" statutes are used can change the way you handle professional communication.
The reality of the Three Felonies a Day book isn't that you're a bad person. It's that the legal system has become an obstacle course where the hurdles are invisible, and the finish line is a jail cell. Staying informed is the only way to navigate it. Don't assume that "being a good person" is enough to keep you out of the crosshairs. In the eyes of the federal government, you're likely just a defendant who hasn't been caught yet.