Sidney Powell, author of best-selling book “License to Lie” and a former federal prosecutor, spoke to D.C. interns about issues of overreaching prosecution and prosecutorial misconduct during a TFAS Capitol Hill Lecture on Thursday, July 11.

“We have a serious problem in this country with unfettered prosecutorial power, and with what I call overcriminalization,” Powell told the interns. “If a prosecutor wants to indict you and send you to prison, they can do it. They have no supervision to speak of. There’s no check and balance.”

Powell also encouraged the interns and all Americans to unite on criminal justice reform. “Regardless of which side of the aisle you are on, I think most people can agree we have far too many people in prison for too long and for things that don’t really need to be criminalized,” she said.

Powell said that with exception of dangerous people who could be a threat to society, we need to think of more creative sentencing – methods that are effective, but still allow people to spend time with families and be tax-paying, productive members of society.

“You all are the future of this institution and the country … Think about what you can do and how you can contribute to working toward criminal justice reform and making the entire system better,” said Powell. “You are going to be the people who can do the most good.”

Powell is the attorney for former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and her remarks were mentioned in The Washington Times, The Hill and Breitbart. You can watch a full video of the remarks below.

The annual TFAS Capitol Hill Lecture Series on “Free Markets, Individual Liberty and Civil Society” is a free educational opportunity for Washington, D.C., interns to hear firsthand from today’s leaders in liberty. The series is held in partnership with the Office of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and made possible through the generous support of the Einhorn Family Foundation. To learn more about the series, visit TFAS.org/CHLS.