Three Felonies a Day
Three Felonies a Day by Harvey Silverglateby Harvey A. Silverglate and Alan M. Dershowitz
Shares rank 36 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
People recommend this book for explaining how US law became so broad that ordinary people commit crimes without knowing it.
People recommend this book for explaining how US law became so broad that ordinary people commit crimes without knowing it.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Recommended reading on federal overcriminalization
“You should read: Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Whistleblower: DOGE member took Social Security data to new job” “There is a book titled Three Felonies A Day that explains this.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “FCC Wants to Kill Burner Phones by Forcing Telecoms to Get All Customers' IDs” Explains how the legal state arose
“The law is so bloated now that we all do illegal things all the time, we can't help it.”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence” “consider how this legal state of affairs could come about”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “It's not about physical vs. digital games, it's about ownership”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Three Felonies a Dayby Harvey A. Silverglate and Alan M. DershowitzThis page | 6 | 1 | 86% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“there are points relevant to exactly what you're asking about”
“The law is so bloated now that we all do illegal things all the time, we can't help it.”
“consider how this legal state of affairs could come about”
“There is a book titled Three Felonies A Day that explains this.”
“That claim by the way, is totally unsubstantiated, and the cases have very questionable applicability to the "average professional".”
“You should read: Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.