# Plain Language Summary: Count the Crimes to Cut Act of 2024

This bill requires the federal government to create a comprehensive catalog of all criminal laws and regulations that carry criminal penalties. Right now, federal criminal laws are scattered across hundreds of statutes and thousands of regulations, making it difficult for anyone—including lawmakers, law enforcement, and ordinary citizens—to know exactly what conduct is actually illegal at the federal level. This bill aims to fix that by requiring the Attorney General and various federal agencies to compile detailed lists of every federal crime and criminal regulation within one year.

For each crime and regulation listed, the government must provide specific information: what the actual penalties are (like prison time or fines), how many times the government has prosecuted or referred each offense in the past 15 years, and what mental state or intent is required to be guilty. For example, some crimes require you to intentionally break the law, while others can be violated accidentally. This information will help Congress understand which laws are actually being used and which ones might be outdated or redundant.

Within two years, the Attorney General and federal agencies must make all this information publicly available on their websites in an easy-to-search format. This means regular people, businesses, and lawmakers will finally be able to look up federal crimes in one place instead of hunting through thousands of pages of legal documents. The bill doesn't change any laws or create new crimes—it's purely about transparency and organization. It's designed to help identify which federal criminal laws might be unnecessary or duplicative, potentially leading to future efforts to streamline and simplify the federal criminal code.