Victimless crime (political philosophy)
Encyclopedia
A victimless crime is a term used to refer to actions that have been ruled illegal but do not directly violate or threaten the rights of another individual. It often involves consensual acts in which two or more persons agree to commit a criminal offence in which no other person is involved. For example, in the United States current victimless crimes include prostitution, gambling, and illicit drug use. Edwin Schur and Hugo Bedau in their book titled Victimless Crimes: Two sides of a Controversy state that “some of these laws produce secondary crime, and all create new ‘criminals’ many of whom are otherwise law abiding citizens.” This is an issue in the United States where prison rates keep increasing even though it already has the highest prison population out of any country. The term "victimless crime" is not used in jurisprudence
, but is rather used to cast doubt onto the efficacy of existing and proposed legislation; or to highlight the unintended consequences of the same. In politics
, for example, a lobbyist might use this word with the implication that the law in question should be abolished.
Riding a motorcycle or bicycle without a helmet,
BASE jumping from city buildings,
individual purchase and consumption of recreational drugs (provided one does not hurt anyone else due to the effects),
driving a motor vehicle without a seat belt,
prostitution and/or soliciting for prostitution,
public nudity and fornication, and
the consumption of pornography (not involving coercion)
In a constitutional state, the legislature
, a body in turn elected by the sovereign
, defines criminal law
. A crime
(as opposed to a civil wrong
or tort
) is an infraction of a law, and will not always have an identifiable individual or group of individuals as its victims, but may also, for example, consist of the preparations that did not result in any damage (mens rea
in the absence of actus reus
), such as attempted murder
, offenses against legal persons as opposed to individuals or natural person
s, or directed against communal goods such as social order
or a social contract
or the state
itself, as in tax avoidance and tax evasion
, treason
, or, in non-secular systems, the supernatural (infractions of religious law
).
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.
In a democratic society
, wide agreement on a given law as punishing a "victimless crime" will eventually lead to that law's abolishment, as has been the case with most laws regarding homosexuality
or sodomy law
, abolished in most democratic countries in the later 20th century. More limited are legalizations of some forms of assisted suicide (legal in Japan
, the Netherlands
, Belgium
, Switzerland
, Albania
, Oregon
and Washington) and cannabis use (see legality of cannabis by country).
First, consensual crimes with (arguably) no material harm (such as sodomy
laws in the United States
, prior to Lawrence v. Texas
).
Second, crimes in which the damage caused is overwhelmingly borne by the perpetrator, such as suicide or drug use. As the perpetrator has chosen to suffer the effects of these crimes, they are not a "victim" in the normal sense.
Third, crimes in which the cost is borne by an abstract society or group of people, without a clear, direct victim. This could be applied to driving without auto insurance (where mandated by law).
Fourth are crimes against non-"victims," or non-human entities, such as governments. These are victimless not because no harm occurs, but because the recipient of the harm is not properly considered a "victim." This is thus a question of the definition of victim, rather than a question of the effects of the crime.
. The legal guardian of a ward may be able to give informed consent on behalf a child or person who is mentally disabled in some jurisdictions. Different jurisdictions have different interpretations and requirements for informed consent
. With the requirement of consent, the fourth type of interpretation above would usually not fall under the definition of "victimless crime".
maintains that laws banning victimless acts have no rational or moral reason for existing, so they should be abolished. It also asserts that the harm caused by the prevention or prosecution of these activities is often far greater than any harm caused by the activities themselves, and would justify repeal of these laws on the same harm reduction
grounds that were originally used to justify them.
of individuals. According to this principle, individuals have the right to partake in any actions they choose, as long as these actions do not impede the rights of others, even if the actions could be considered detrimental to that person. In this case, the government should not be allowed to regulate the actions of people unless they affect other people as well. These views are built on libertarian philosophies such as self-ownership
and the non-aggression principle
.
Many victimless crimes begin because of a desire to obtain illegal products or services that are in high demand. Criminal penalties thus tends to limit the supply more than and increase 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.
, citing figures in excess of $200 billion. They also argue that fewer people in prison for these crimes would boost the workforce, as well as reduce the reliance on correctional facilities and allow police the opportunity to focus on the remaining crimes.
They also claim that laws against these crimes may have unintended consequence
s that are the reverse of that intended: for example, the War on Drugs
puts the distribution of illegal drugs into the hands of criminals, and creates artificial scarcity
, making their distribution highly profitable. At the same time, it fails to completely prevent the activities it was intended to prevent. The criminal underworlds
often created by laws against consensual crimes mean that a subculture
comes into existence for whom police
are an enemy, who cannot rely on law, and who often adhere to a violent code of honor. These traits discourage respect for property
, encourage violence
and revenge
, and depress the economy
of the areas in which they operate .
If these drugs were legal and sold In a fair competitive market it would drive the price of these drugs down which would result in less “secondary” crimes from drug addicts. If the drugs were more affordable these people would not need to commit these “secondary” crimes such as burglary and theft, nor would it be as profitable for large criminal organizations. Many criminal originations depend largely on their huge amounts of profit from selling illegal substances; putting these substances on a fair and regulated market could be a significant blow to the economics of these corrupt organizations.
Not only does this create an allusive lucrative industry in the black market, but we are imprisoning a huge portion of society for acts that only hurt themselves and who could otherwise make contributions to society through working and paying taxes. 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.”
case, UK courts have ruled that individuals cannot legally consent to actual bodily harm
in sadomasochistic sexual acts. Furthermore, few countries allow anyone to consent to being killed
.
Another similar argument is that anyone who had full information and sufficient mental faculties would decide not to do the action. Thus, it is not a victimless crime because the person committing it is incompetent to consent to it. For example, one could argue that methamphetamine
use is so destructive that no sane person, knowing the consequences, would do it. Thus, the law would be justified in preventing anyone from using it, as people who do use it must not know what they are doing.
For example, addictive behavior, such as drug use
or gambling, may cause a person to be less effective in the workplace, increase insurance
costs, or may have adverse effects on relationships with family or friends, who could be harmed enough to be considered victims. Similarly, laws mandating the use of seat belt
s are argued to save considerable amounts of death and serious injury, thus offering a net benefit to society, since treating the injured and supporting the families of the injured or dead has a cost for insurance
or social security
systems paid for by the general population.
Some behaviour can be argued to damage the social fabric or social customs, even if it does not harm anyone who does not consent, or even if its victims are not persons. For example, torturing animals may be banned not because animals have rights, but because taking pleasure in the infliction of pain is viewed as a serious social problem, and thus should be suppressed. The aforementioned Operation Spanner
is another example of this in which British courts determined that it is wrong to take pleasure in sexual sadism and thus the government can rightly outlaw the act. Similarly, Ireland has deemed blasphemy illegal.
Restriction of these acts can be linked to preserving morality
in the community at large or to preventing an offense against God
through so-called licentious or blasphemous acts. This is rooted in the custom of a religion
, moral code or social code being used as the basis for laws. Such arguments are often disputed in secular societies.
Similarly, an action may be banned because it is extremely conducive to non-victimless crime. Drug use and gambling have similar problems. Regulation
short of criminalization has been used as an alternative method of dealing with this sort of issue.
One problem with these arguments is that these laws might restrict the ability of individuals to engage in actions without an identified victim and actually harm a larger society. For example, organizations such as DRCnet, NORML and other pro-legalization of drug and prostitution groups argue that these laws cause greater harm for society then they prevent by creating an unregulated market.
For example, while prostitution
is often considered a victimless crime, some countries are classifying it as a form of exploitation of women. Such views are held in Sweden
, Norway
and Iceland
, where it is illegal to pay for sex, but not to be a prostitute (the client commits a crime, but not the prostitute).
Some laws arise ostensibly to protect minors, such as statutory rape
, restrictions on violent and obscene
content in the media, and limitations on tobacco
and alcohol
use. These laws argue that youth do not have the reasoning capabilities to fully understand their actions and should therefore be prohibited from these actions until a certain age, even if those prohibitions create a hindrance for adults as well.
If a person takes drugs (like cocaine
or cannabis
) but does not directly harm another, it is often argued that this action has no victim and thus should be legalized. Some also suggest that driving a car while intoxicated should not be a crime unless it can be shown that the vehicle operator's skills were impaired to the detriment of others. Some governments have legislated blood alcohol levels beyond which a person is considered to be driving while impaired. Disagreement arises over whether a risk of harm is legally equivalent to harm itself.
In some cases, the illegality of an act may itself be the greatest cause of harm. Proponents of drug legalization argue that the criminal activities associated with this crime (violence, theft etc.) occur principally because the activity is illegal, and that in time there would be few crimes associated with this activity if it were legalized. The example of alcohol prohibition in the US, which led to huge bootlegging profits for the likes of Al Capone
, is often cited. One may also point to the success of the decriminalization of possession of all drugs in Portugal in terms of drug-related death and crime as a reason to legalize drugs.
Most states in the United States
have managed to retain laws forbidding riding a motorcycle without a helmet or driving without seat belts, on the grounds that accidents cost the entire society in the form of publicly-provided health care costs. These laws are resented among certain segments of the motorcycle
-riding public, in particular those that regard riding a motorcycle as an expression of personal freedom, as opposed to riding in a car.
in the 1950s, the Wolfenden report
recommended the legalization
of homosexuality
for these reasons. Almost fifty years later, Lawrence v. Texas
struck down Texas sodomy law
s. Marijauna is legalized in Amsterdam and other Dutch countries to residents of that country. Australia only tickets for possession under 50 grams, Portugal also has this policy.
Prohibition
of alcohol
was repealed in the United States, and there are efforts to legalize cannabis
and other illegal drugs in many countries including the United States. Prostitution is legal in many countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Ireland, Italy, Israel and others in one form or another.
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, but is rather used to cast doubt onto the efficacy of existing and proposed legislation; or to highlight the unintended consequences of the same. In politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, for example, a lobbyist might use this word with the implication that the law in question should be abolished.
Low Level Victimless Crime
Victimless crimes are not always so weighty. Some examples of low level victimless activities that may be criminalised include:Riding a motorcycle or bicycle without a helmet,
BASE jumping from city buildings,
individual purchase and consumption of recreational drugs (provided one does not hurt anyone else due to the effects),
driving a motor vehicle without a seat belt,
prostitution and/or soliciting for prostitution,
public nudity and fornication, and
the consumption of pornography (not involving coercion)
In a constitutional state, the legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
, a body in turn elected by the sovereign
Sovereign
A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority within its jurisdiction.Sovereign may also refer to:*Monarch, the sovereign of a monarchy*Sovereign Bank, banking institution in the United States*Sovereign...
, defines criminal law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
. A crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
(as opposed to a civil wrong
Civil wrong
A civil wrong or wrong is a cause of action under the law of England and Wales. Tort, breach of contract and breach of trust are types of civil wrong.Something that amounts to a civil wrong is said to be wrongful....
or tort
Tort
A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...
) is an infraction of a law, and will not always have an identifiable individual or group of individuals as its victims, but may also, for example, consist of the preparations that did not result in any damage (mens rea
Mens rea
Mens rea is Latin for "guilty mind". In criminal law, it is viewed as one of the necessary elements of a crime. The standard common law test of criminal liability is usually expressed in the Latin phrase, actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, which means "the act does not make a person guilty...
in the absence of actus reus
Actus reus
Actus reus, sometimes called the external element or the objective element of a crime, is the Latin term for the "guilty act" which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the mens rea, "guilty mind", produces criminal liability in the common law-based criminal law jurisdictions...
), such as attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
, offenses against legal persons as opposed to individuals or natural person
Natural person
Variously, in jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being, as opposed to an artificial, legal or juristic person, i.e., an organization that the law treats for some purposes as if it were a person distinct from its members or owner...
s, or directed against communal goods such as social order
Social order
Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. It refers to a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve, maintain and enforce "normal" ways of relating and behaving....
or a social contract
Social contract
The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept...
or the state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
itself, as in tax avoidance and tax evasion
Tax avoidance and tax evasion
Tax noncompliance describes a range of activities that are unfavorable to a state's tax system. These include tax avoidance, which refers to reducing taxes by legal means, and tax evasion which refers to the criminal non-payment of tax liabilities....
, treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, or, in non-secular systems, the supernatural (infractions of religious law
Religious law
In some religions, law can be thought of as the ordering principle of reality; knowledge as revealed by a God defining and governing all human affairs. Law, in the religious sense, also includes codes of ethics and morality which are upheld and required by the God...
).
Victimless crimes are in the harm principle
Harm principle
The harm principle holds that the actions of individuals should only be limited to prevent harm to other individuals. John Stuart Mill first articulated this principle in On Liberty, where he argued that "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized...
of John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
, "victimless" from a position that considers the individual
Individual
An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. Being self expressive...
as the sole sovereign
Sovereign
A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority within its jurisdiction.Sovereign may also refer to:*Monarch, the sovereign of a monarchy*Sovereign Bank, banking institution in the United States*Sovereign...
, to the exclusion of more abstract bodies such as a community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
or a state against which criminal offenses may be directed.
In a democratic society
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, wide agreement on a given law as punishing a "victimless crime" will eventually lead to that law's abolishment, as has been the case with most laws regarding homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
or sodomy law
Sodomy law
A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood by courts to include any sexual act deemed unnatural. It also has a range of similar euphemisms...
, abolished in most democratic countries in the later 20th century. More limited are legalizations of some forms of assisted suicide (legal in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and Washington) and cannabis use (see legality of cannabis by country).
Determining a victim
The victim in "victimless" is inherently controversial. Laws are often purportedly intended to protect at least some people, so a criminal act is usually claimed by someone to cause someone or a group of people to be adversely affected to some degree, however abstract. There are four widely acknowledged distinct possible meanings of the term "victimless".First, consensual crimes with (arguably) no material harm (such as sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
laws in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, prior to Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case. In the 6-3 ruling, the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by proxy, invalidated sodomy laws in the thirteen other states where they remained in existence, thereby making same-sex sexual activity legal in...
).
Second, crimes in which the damage caused is overwhelmingly borne by the perpetrator, such as suicide or drug use. As the perpetrator has chosen to suffer the effects of these crimes, they are not a "victim" in the normal sense.
Third, crimes in which the cost is borne by an abstract society or group of people, without a clear, direct victim. This could be applied to driving without auto insurance (where mandated by law).
Fourth are crimes against non-"victims," or non-human entities, such as governments. These are victimless not because no harm occurs, but because the recipient of the harm is not properly considered a "victim." This is thus a question of the definition of victim, rather than a question of the effects of the crime.
Consent
An essential part of most victimless crimes is that the participating parties consent to the act, meaning they have the cognitive faculties and necessary information to make a proper decision. Children and the mentally disabled may be incapable of consenting to certain acts, as they may lack the cognitive ability to understand their effects and implications, but this is not universally acceptedAge of consent reform
Age of consent reform refers to efforts to change age of consent laws, whether to raise or lower or abolish the age of consent, or to change the ways in which the laws are applied. Another issue has been homosexual vs...
. The legal guardian of a ward may be able to give informed consent on behalf a child or person who is mentally disabled in some jurisdictions. Different jurisdictions have different interpretations and requirements for informed consent
Informed consent
Informed consent is a phrase often used in law to indicate that the consent a person gives meets certain minimum standards. As a literal matter, in the absence of fraud, it is redundant. An informed consent can be said to have been given based upon a clear appreciation and understanding of the...
. With the requirement of consent, the fourth type of interpretation above would usually not fall under the definition of "victimless crime".
Proponents for reform
In general, social libertarianismLibertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
maintains that laws banning victimless acts have no rational or moral reason for existing, so they should be abolished. It also asserts that the harm caused by the prevention or prosecution of these activities is often far greater than any harm caused by the activities themselves, and would justify repeal of these laws on the same harm reduction
Harm reduction
Harm reduction refers to a range of public health policies designed to reduce the harmful consequences associated with recreational drug use and other high risk activities...
grounds that were originally used to justify them.
Individual freedom
Advocates for the removal of victimless crime laws believe in the inherent freedomFreedom (political)
Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies...
of individuals. According to this principle, individuals have the right to partake in any actions they choose, as long as these actions do not impede the rights of others, even if the actions could be considered detrimental to that person. In this case, the government should not be allowed to regulate the actions of people unless they affect other people as well. These views are built on libertarian philosophies such as self-ownership
Self-ownership
Self-ownership is the concept of property in one's own person, expressed as the moral or natural right of a person to be the exclusive controller of his own body and life. According to G...
and the non-aggression principle
Non-aggression principle
The non-aggression principle , or NAP for short, is a moral stance which asserts that aggression is inherently illegitimate...
.
Many victimless crimes begin because of a desire to obtain illegal products or services that are in high demand. Criminal penalties thus tends to limit the supply more than and increase 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.
Economic effects
Proponents of reform argue that removal of these laws would be a profit to the economyEconomy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
, citing figures in excess of $200 billion. They also argue that fewer people in prison for these crimes would boost the workforce, as well as reduce the reliance on correctional facilities and allow police the opportunity to focus on the remaining crimes.
They also claim that laws against these crimes may have unintended consequence
Unintended consequence
In the social sciences, unintended consequences are outcomes that are not the outcomes intended by a purposeful action. The concept has long existed but was named and popularised in the 20th century by American sociologist Robert K. Merton...
s that are the reverse of that intended: for example, the War on Drugs
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
puts the distribution of illegal drugs into the hands of criminals, and creates artificial scarcity
Artificial scarcity
Artificial scarcity describes the scarcity of items even though the technology and production capacity exists to create an abundance. The term is aptly applied to non-rival resources, i.e. those that do not diminish due to one person's use, although there are other resources which could be...
, making their distribution highly profitable. At the same time, it fails to completely prevent the activities it was intended to prevent. The criminal underworlds
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
often created by laws against consensual crimes mean that a subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
comes into existence for whom police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
are an enemy, who cannot rely on law, and who often adhere to a violent code of honor. These traits discourage respect for property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
, encourage violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
and revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
, and depress the economy
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
of the areas in which they operate .
Economic Drawbacks of the War on Drugs
The war on drugs is a typical example of victimless crimes. Opponents may argue that the drug user is a victim of their own addiction. However their acts do not harm other people until they can’t keep enough money in their pockets to afford the high price of drugs, inflated in price, only because they are deemed illegal. For example Bedau and Schur found in 1974 that “In England the pharmacy cost of heroin [was] .06 cents per grain. In the Unite d States street price [was] $30 and $90 per grain.” This creates a huge profit margin for organized crimes and anyone else who is willing to break the law in order to get ahead financially.If these drugs were legal and sold In a fair competitive market it would drive the price of these drugs down which would result in less “secondary” crimes from drug addicts. If the drugs were more affordable these people would not need to commit these “secondary” crimes such as burglary and theft, nor would it be as profitable for large criminal organizations. Many criminal originations depend largely on their huge amounts of profit from selling illegal substances; putting these substances on a fair and regulated market could be a significant blow to the economics of these corrupt organizations.
Not only does this create an allusive lucrative industry in the black market, but we are imprisoning a huge portion of society for acts that only hurt themselves and who could otherwise make contributions to society through working and paying taxes. 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.”
Proponents of the status quo
Opponents of the prohibition of "victimless crimes" can offer one or more of these justifications.Group rights
One view of government power allows the government to do whatever it wishes so long as it respects the rights and wishes of the majority. Thus, according to this view, if an act offends the majority of the population, even if is consensual, victimless, etc., then it is rightful to force them to stop for the benefit of the group. Individual rights thus only apply when the group wants them to.Fundamental inability to consent
One stance is that no individual can legally consent to certain acts. For example, in the Operation SpannerOperation Spanner
Operation Spanner was the name of an operation carried out by police in the United Kingdom city of Manchester in 1987, as a result of which a group of homosexuals were convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for their involvement in consensual sadomasochism over a ten year period.The...
case, UK courts have ruled that individuals cannot legally consent to actual bodily harm
Actual bodily harm
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm is a statutory offence of aggravated assault in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Hong Kong and the Solomon Islands...
in sadomasochistic sexual acts. Furthermore, few countries allow anyone to consent to being killed
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
.
Another similar argument is that anyone who had full information and sufficient mental faculties would decide not to do the action. Thus, it is not a victimless crime because the person committing it is incompetent to consent to it. For example, one could argue that methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
use is so destructive that no sane person, knowing the consequences, would do it. Thus, the law would be justified in preventing anyone from using it, as people who do use it must not know what they are doing.
Good of society
Much legislation is carried out on the principle that it will benefit the community as a whole. They may consider that the direct harm of the activity in question is so great that the people involved need to be protected against their own actions, regardless of their desires.For example, addictive behavior, such as drug use
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
or gambling, may cause a person to be less effective in the workplace, increase insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
costs, or may have adverse effects on relationships with family or friends, who could be harmed enough to be considered victims. Similarly, laws mandating the use of seat belt
Seat belt
A seat belt or seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop...
s are argued to save considerable amounts of death and serious injury, thus offering a net benefit to society, since treating the injured and supporting the families of the injured or dead has a cost for insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
or social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
systems paid for by the general population.
Some behaviour can be argued to damage the social fabric or social customs, even if it does not harm anyone who does not consent, or even if its victims are not persons. For example, torturing animals may be banned not because animals have rights, but because taking pleasure in the infliction of pain is viewed as a serious social problem, and thus should be suppressed. The aforementioned Operation Spanner
Operation Spanner
Operation Spanner was the name of an operation carried out by police in the United Kingdom city of Manchester in 1987, as a result of which a group of homosexuals were convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for their involvement in consensual sadomasochism over a ten year period.The...
is another example of this in which British courts determined that it is wrong to take pleasure in sexual sadism and thus the government can rightly outlaw the act. Similarly, Ireland has deemed blasphemy illegal.
Restriction of these acts can be linked to preserving morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
in the community at large or to preventing an offense against God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
through so-called licentious or blasphemous acts. This is rooted in the custom of a religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, moral code or social code being used as the basis for laws. Such arguments are often disputed in secular societies.
Similarly, an action may be banned because it is extremely conducive to non-victimless crime. Drug use and gambling have similar problems. Regulation
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
short of criminalization has been used as an alternative method of dealing with this sort of issue.
One problem with these arguments is that these laws might restrict the ability of individuals to engage in actions without an identified victim and actually harm a larger society. For example, organizations such as DRCnet, NORML and other pro-legalization of drug and prostitution groups argue that these laws cause greater harm for society then they prevent by creating an unregulated market.
Good of the individual
Laws stemming from the good of the individual are based on the principle that an individual should not be involved in certain activities that are potentially harmful to them. They argue that because the harm done to a person by some activities is so great, it is better to simply make these activities illegal.For example, while prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
is often considered a victimless crime, some countries are classifying it as a form of exploitation of women. Such views are held in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, where it is illegal to pay for sex, but not to be a prostitute (the client commits a crime, but not the prostitute).
Some laws arise ostensibly to protect minors, such as statutory rape
Statutory rape
The phrase statutory rape is a term used in some legal jurisdictions to describe sexual activities where one participant is below the age required to legally consent to the behavior...
, restrictions on violent and obscene
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
content in the media, and limitations on tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and alcohol
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
use. These laws argue that youth do not have the reasoning capabilities to fully understand their actions and should therefore be prohibited from these actions until a certain age, even if those prohibitions create a hindrance for adults as well.
Specific arguments
It has been argued that suicide, euthanasia, or taking mentally-debilitating drugs should not be against the law. This view holds that if people do not physically harm others or their property they should legally be able to do whatever they want, even harm themselves. According to this view, as long as an action is not coercive or fraudulent, it is immoral to use force to stop it.If a person takes drugs (like cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
or cannabis
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
) but does not directly harm another, it is often argued that this action has no victim and thus should be legalized. Some also suggest that driving a car while intoxicated should not be a crime unless it can be shown that the vehicle operator's skills were impaired to the detriment of others. Some governments have legislated blood alcohol levels beyond which a person is considered to be driving while impaired. Disagreement arises over whether a risk of harm is legally equivalent to harm itself.
In some cases, the illegality of an act may itself be the greatest cause of harm. Proponents of drug legalization argue that the criminal activities associated with this crime (violence, theft etc.) occur principally because the activity is illegal, and that in time there would be few crimes associated with this activity if it were legalized. The example of alcohol prohibition in the US, which led to huge bootlegging profits for the likes of Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
, is often cited. One may also point to the success of the decriminalization of possession of all drugs in Portugal in terms of drug-related death and crime as a reason to legalize drugs.
Most states in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
have managed to retain laws forbidding riding a motorcycle without a helmet or driving without seat belts, on the grounds that accidents cost the entire society in the form of publicly-provided health care costs. These laws are resented among certain segments of the motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
-riding public, in particular those that regard riding a motorcycle as an expression of personal freedom, as opposed to riding in a car.
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. For example, in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the 1950s, the Wolfenden report
Wolfenden report
The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution was published in Britain on 4 September 1957 after a succession of well-known men, including Lord Montagu, Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood, were convicted of homosexual offences.-The committee:The...
recommended the legalization
Legalization
Legalization is the process of removing a legal prohibition against something which is currently not legal.Legalization is a process often applied to what are regarded, by those working towards legalization, as victimless crimes, of which one example is the consumption of illegal drugs .Those...
of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
for these reasons. Almost fifty years later, Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case. In the 6-3 ruling, the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by proxy, invalidated sodomy laws in the thirteen other states where they remained in existence, thereby making same-sex sexual activity legal in...
struck down Texas sodomy law
Sodomy law
A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood by courts to include any sexual act deemed unnatural. It also has a range of similar euphemisms...
s. Marijauna is legalized in Amsterdam and other Dutch countries to residents of that country. Australia only tickets for possession under 50 grams, Portugal also has this policy.
Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
of alcohol
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
was repealed in the United States, and there are efforts to legalize cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
and other illegal drugs in many countries including the United States. Prostitution is legal in many countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Ireland, Italy, Israel and others in one form or another.
United States Victimless Crimes Facts
- More than 350,000 people are currently in US jails for consensual crimes.
- An additional 1,500,000 are on parole or probation for such crimes.
- More than 4 million will be arrested in any year for committing such crimes.
- The US governments spends more than $50 billion in punishing people for acts that do not physically harm the person or property of another.
- An additional $150 billion will be lost in tax revenue, in the United States for Victimless crimes.
See also
- Consensual crimeConsensual crimeA consensual crime is a public order crime that involves more than one participant, all of whom give their consent as willing participants in an activity that is unlawful....
- EuthanasiaEuthanasiaEuthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
- Fully Informed Jury AssociationFully Informed Jury AssociationThe Fully Informed Jury Association is a United States national jury education organization, incorporated in the state of Montana as a 501 not-for-profit organization. FIJA works to educate all citizens on their authority when they serve as jurors...
- Harm principleHarm principleThe harm principle holds that the actions of individuals should only be limited to prevent harm to other individuals. John Stuart Mill first articulated this principle in On Liberty, where he argued that "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized...
- Illegal drug tradeIllegal drug tradeThe illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
- Jury NullificationJury nullificationJury nullification occurs in a trial when a jury reaches a verdict contrary to the judge's instructions as to the law.A jury verdict contrary to the letter of the law pertains only to the particular case before it; however, if a pattern of acquittals develops in response to repeated attempts to...
- Malum prohibitumMalum prohibitumMalum prohibitum is a Latin phrase used in law to refer to conduct that constitutes an unlawful act only by virtue of statute, as opposed to conduct evil in and of itself, or malum in se. Conduct that was so clearly violative of society's standards for allowable conduct that it was illegal under...
- Marc StevensMarc Stevens (radio host)Marc Stevens is a voluntaryist essayist and talk radio host from Phoenix, Arizona. He is the host of The No State Project. Stevens is also the author of the 2002 book, Adventures In Legal Land, an examination of the legal and political systems of the United States.-Adventures In Legal Land:In 2002,...
- VoluntaryismVoluntaryismVoluntarism, or voluntaryism, is a philosophy according to which all forms of human association should be voluntary. This moral principle is called the non-aggression principle, which prohibits the initiation of aggressive force or coercion...
Further reading
- Ain't Nobody's Business If You DoAin't Nobody's Business If You DoAin't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country is a book by Peter McWilliams in which he presents the history of legislation against what he feels are victimless crimes, or crimes that are committed consensually, as well as arguments for their...
(ISBN 0-931580-58-7) is a book by Peter McWilliamsPeter McWilliamsPeter Alexander McWilliams was a writer and self-publisher of best-selling self-help books. He was an advocate for those suffering from depression. And, in his later years, he was a cannabis activist. Terminally ill with AIDS and cancer, he became a vocal campaigner for the legalization of medical...
criticizing the existence of laws against consensual crimes. See mcwilliams.com