Abstract
This Comment proposes that courts should explicitly rather than implicitly distinguish the different types of defendants accused of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances within a school zone. Part I reviews the current state of the law on this issue and presents the legislative history and textual arguments involved in the debate over the mens rea requirement. Part II examines the factual circumstances at issue in the relevant cases and concludes that these factual circumstances, rather than competing statutory interpretations, lead to *1401 the different results. Finally, Part III emphasizes the need to recognize these implicit categories of offenses and concludes that courts should interpret the statute narrowly and defer to Congress for clarification. This approach also would punish those defendants who significantly increase the risks of drug-related harms to children more severely than those who do not.
Repository Citation
Sonja R. West,
"Possessing with Intent to Distribute" Under the Schoolyard Statute
(1997),
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/616