Victimless crime
Criminology and penology |
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A victimless crime is an
In politics, a
Victimless crimes are, in the harm principle of John Stuart Mill, "victimless" from a position that considers the individual as the sole sovereign, to the exclusion of more abstract bodies such as a community or a state against which criminal offenses may be directed.[5] They may be considered offenses against the state rather than society.[1]
Definition
According to the University of Chicago's vice scholar, Jim Leitzel, three characteristics can be used to identify whether a crime is a victimless crime: if the act is excessive, is indicative of a distinct pattern of behavior, and its adverse effects impact only the person who has engaged in it.[6]
In theory, each polity determines its own laws so as to maximize the happiness of its citizens. But as knowledge, behavior and values change, laws in most countries lag greatly behind these social changes. Once a majority believes that the law is unnecessary, this law prohibits a victimless crime, until it is repealed.
Examples
Many victimless crimes begin because of a desire to obtain illegal products or services that are in high demand. Criminal penalties thus tend to limit the supply more than the demand, driving up the black-market price and creating monopoly profits for those criminals who remain in business. This "crime tariff" encourages the growth of sophisticated and well-organized criminal groups. Organized crime in turn tends to diversify into other areas of crime. Large profits provide ample funds for bribery of public officials, as well as capital for diversification.[7]
The
In addition to the creation of a black market for drugs, the War on Drugs is argued by proponents of legalization to reduce the workforce by damaging the ability of those convicted to find work. It is reasoned that this reduction of the workforce is ultimately harmful to an economy reliant on labor. The number of drug arrests increases every year. In a poll taken by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1980 and 2009, "[over a] 30-year period...[arrest] rates for drug possession or use doubled for whites and tripled for blacks."[8]
According to economist
Vera Bergelson states that victimless crime comes in four main varieties:[10]
- An act that does not harm others (suicide, drug use, unemployment)
- A transaction between consenting adults that does not harm others (assisted suicide, gambling, prostitution)
- An act whose consequences are borne by society at large (tax evasion, insider trading)
- Actions which are banned due to being considered immoral (homosexual sex, incest, flag burning)
Legalization of victimless acts
Many activities that were once considered crimes are no longer illegal in some countries, at least in part because of their status as victimless crimes.
One example is the British
Two large categories of victimless crimes are sexual pleasure and recreational drug use (drug pleasure). On the first,
- Homosexual sex has been legalized in many countries,[11][12] the first one being France in 1791.[13]
- Other sexual matters considered victimless crimes and proposed for legalization include consensual adult incest[14][15] and sexting by teenagers (considered child pornography).[16]
Marijuana use is forbidden by law in Australia but is the most "widely used illicit drug" in the country, just as it is in countries such as the United States and New Zealand.[17] Prohibition of alcohol in the United States, repealed in 1933, is considered a failed "social experiment" because many citizens ignored what it stipulated, turning to home-made spirits in lieu of licensed alcoholic drinks and resultantly making problems worse.[18] In the United States today, tension over marijuana legalization is in response to the current marijuana prohibition in most states,[19] but there are efforts to legalize cannabis in many countries such as the United States and Australia, as its legalization has the potential to greatly increase revenue.[17][20]
Adultery (sexual acts between a married person and a person other than the spouse) and fornication (sexual acts between unmarried people) have not been prosecuted in the United States for over 50 years, although the laws against them, like those against sodomy, are still on the books in several states. However, because sodomy laws were struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, the laws against fornication would also be unconstitutional as was recognized by the Supreme Court of Virginia in Martin v. Ziherl.
Controversy
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A major concern among opponents of legalizing victimless crimes is the degradation of societal moral standards, but punishing citizens for their choice to engage in victimless acts declared by the law to be immoral is difficult. While the United States's typical response to crimes is retroactive, the illegality of victimless crimes is a more preventative approach to justice and is highly controversial.[22]
Controversies over victimless crime deal mostly with the question of whether a crime can ever actually be victimless. With relation to drugs and their pathway to consumption, the impact of the drug trade and liability laws on drug dealers, their families, and other unforeseen actors may end in victimization.[23] Another act often considered a victimless crime is the possession of pornography, especially fictional child pornography. However, those who hold this position typically acknowledge the victimization that can occur to performers during production of non-fictional pornography.[24]
In contrast, there is the argument for restraining legal powers to allow citizens the freedom to make victimless personal choices that may or may not be perceived as morally wrong.[22] Preventative law, such as sex offender registries and anti-social behavior orders, blurs the distinction between criminal and civil law because victimless crime is typically difficult to categorize and criminalize. This is problematic because it causes a distortion of traditional procedures of the criminal and civil of aspects of law by enabling confusion and procedural interchangeability.[22]
See also
- Anti-homelessness legislation
- Artistic freedom
- Cannabis rights
- Civil and political rights
- Criticism of copyright
- Decriminalization of homosexuality
- Decriminalization of sex work
- Decriminalization
- Drug liberalization
- Freedom of speech
- Freedom of thought
- Freedom to roam
- Illegal drug trade
- Illegalism
- Jury nullification
- Legality of cannabis
- Legality of euthanasia
- Malum prohibitum
- Photography Is Not a Crime
- Pornography laws by region
- Public-order crime
- Status offence
- Suicide legislation
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-539660-7.
- ^ "Is Prostitution a Victimless Crime?". Archived from the original on 30 January 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
- ^ Black's Law Dictionary. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company. 2004.
- ^ Schur, Edwin (1973). Victimless Crimes: Two Sides of a Controversy. The New York Times Company.
- ^ "The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign." John Stuart Mill (1859). On Liberty. Oxford University. pp. 21–22. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
- SSRN 2436576.
- ^ Frase, Richard. "Victimless Crime". Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ Snyder, Howard. "Arrests in The United States". Office of Justice Programs.
- ISBN 978-981-4475-86-0.
- ISBN 9781405186414.
- ^ "Criminalization of same-sex sexual relationships decreasing". www.unaids.org.
- ^ "Factbox: Botswana joins the 10 latest countries to decriminalize gay sex". Reuters. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4408-4227-6.
- .
- ^ Braasch, Patrick (2012). "Margin of Appreciation or a Victimless Crime: The European Court of Human Rights on Consensual Incest of Adult Siblings". German Yearbook of International Law. 55: 613.
- ^ Lampe, Joanna R. (2012–2013). "A Victimless Sex Crime: The Case for Decriminalizing Consensual Teen Sexting". University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. 46: 703.
- ^ PMID 9374007.
- PMID 20331549.
- ^ Routh, Matthew J. (2017). "Re-thinking liberty: Cannabis prohibition and substantive due process". The Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy. 26 (2): 174–175.
- PMID 28189806.
- .
- ^ S2CID 195070438.
- ^ Reiter, Nicholas (2007). "Dollars for victims of a "victimless" crime: A defense of drug dealer liability acts". Journal of Law and Policy. 15 (3): 1329–1374.
- S2CID 55629905.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-931580-58-7) is a book by Peter McWilliams criticizing the existence of laws against consensual crimes. See mcwilliams.com.