Toss a cigarette, get a felony, go to jail

Smokers should be careful not to flick too many cigarette butts out of their windows on their commute – starting next year, it could land them in prison for one to three years. The punishment sounds too outrageous to believe, but it’s true. Under a new Illinois law, someone who tosses a cigarette on the...

Smokers should be careful not to flick too many cigarette butts out of their windows on their commute – starting next year, it could land them in prison for one to three years.

The punishment sounds too outrageous to believe, but it’s true. Under a new Illinois law, someone who tosses a cigarette on the ground is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor and can be fined up to $1,500 – and that’s just for their first offense. The second time, it becomes a Class A misdemeanor, and the third time, it’s a felony that can come with a one-to-three year jail sentence and a $25,000 fine.

Government shouldn’t be spending public resources on throwing people in prison for littering. And legislation such as this isn’t a smart or efficient way to encourage people to keep the streets clean – even considering the exorbitant fines ($1,500 is nearly 60 percent of monthly per capita income in Illinois). Taxpayers should also be concerned about the risk of selective enforcement of the law in an age where police often give out tickets based on quota requirements.

Unfortunately, the law fits nicely into a more general trend of excessive punishments for relatively small offenses in nearly every area of the law, from arresting the homeless for charging cell phones in public in Florida (“theft of public utilities”) to arresting college students who don’t pay their tickets in a timely manner in Alabama. And to this list, Illinois can now proudly boast draconian fines and the risk of jail for the relatively minor offense of littering.