Void for Vagueness

Question 1

Void for Vagueness

Answer 1

Criminal Statutes (or regulatory rules, the violation of which can result in penalties?) can be “void” because of their vagueness. That doctrine is grounded in Due Process because an insufficiently cleat statute fails to provide adequate notice as to what conduct is punishable. Generally, a criminal statute will be “void for vagueness” if individuals of “common intelligence must guess at the meaning of the statute.”