throw the book at someone

1. To make as many charges as possible against an offender: “You may have gotten off lightly in the past, Benny, but this time we're going to throw the book at you.”

Example Sentences

“The point is to tell the agencies not to throw the book at someone acting in good faith,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal thinking about the policy.

Read more on Washington Post

We encourage the authorities to throw the book at someone acting stupidly with a deadly weapon, because stupid people with deadly weapons are precisely how innocent people get hurt.

Read more on Washington Times

The charges against Schulte are more varied—and less exclusively computer-based—than those brought against Swartz, but they tell a similar story about how easily charges can be piled on top of each other when government officials really want to throw the book at someone.

Read more on Slate

"Sentencing for any kind of computer related crimes also needs to be brought into line with reality and the bounds of justice, companies tend to inflate their estimates of damages and juries hear 'millions of dollars in damages' and rush to throw the book at someone for exploiting ridiculously lax security and changing a webpage."

Read more on The Guardian