Mala Prohibita

Mala prohibita crimes raise difficult questions for forfeiture theorists who believe that one does not forfeit any rights unless one violates a right, because it is not obvious whose right the mala prohibita criminal violates. Compare, for instance, the mala in se crime of driving while intoxicated to the mala prohibita crime of driving on a public road without a valid vehicle registration sticker displayed in the legally required spot on one’s windshield. It seems clear that inebriated drivers violate the rights of others by exposing them to unacceptable risks, but whose right is violated by one’s failure to display a vehicle registration sticker on one’s car? The chapter argues that mala prohibita criminals can sometimes be permissibly punished, because one’s fellow citizens have a right that one obey the just laws of a legitimate state.