Victimless Crimes: Decriminalizing Prostitution

Laws are a set of established rules made by each state to abide by. A crime is a violation of these set laws, however, not all crimes have victims that are quickly identifiable. In such a case, these crimes are referred to as victimless crimes or consensual crimes. In most cases, we understand victimless crimes to be consensually entered into and at times they leave no victims, no damage to another party or damage to property. However, victimless crimes do have victims, the violator who breaks these established set of rules. Some examples include prostitution, drug possession/usage, most white collar crimes, gambling, public drunkenness, vagrancy and pornography, just to name a few. These crimes are considered mala prohibita crimes because they are actions that are criminalized by statute or laws not because they are inherently evil. According to Matthew Lippman (2014), prostitution is defined as engaging in sexual intercourse or other sexual acts in exchange for money or other items of value (Lippman, 2014). Prostitution can be …show more content…
In some cases, I do believe that it should be decriminalized and in some I do not. In cases of prostitution, criminalizing prostitution has neither eliminated, nor has it freed prostitutes from the threat of violence. However, decriminalizing it the way Nevada has done with their brothels, may provide the safest, most hygienic outlet. In reference to drugs, the costs of criminalization drugs are great and the results, if anything, minimal. As drug czar Gil Kerlikowske states: “In the grand scheme, it has not been successful, forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified and intensified” (foxnews.com). Decriminalizing certain drugs will not only alleviate some of the stigmas or issues that are being displayed in today’s society, it can also be cost effective for the U.S. being as trillions are being spent every year for resources to this