In a new Cato Institute podcast, The Buckeye Institute’s President Robert Alt discusses why prosecutors should be required to prove criminal intent when convicting people of crimes.

“Mens rea” is the legal concept that a person can have criminal intent. The words are from a Latin phrase: “The act is not culpable unless the mind is guilty.” Otherwise, as Alt says on the podcast, “You can actually go to jail for a complete accident.”

Last year, with the intellectual leadership of The Buckeye Institute, the Ohio legislature passed an historic mens rea reform law that sets a precedent for other states and the federal government.