The so-called ‘victimless’ crimes – primarily “[c]rime[s ...



The so-called ‘victimless’ crimes – primarily “[c]rime[s] where there is no apparent victim and no apparent pain or injury” – are also primarily crimes of what could be considered consenting adults. Prostitution, sodomy, gambling are the types of crimes most commonly categorized this way, but it could be stretched to include drug laws, alcohol laws (for adults that do not include driving), helmet laws and more. (Victimless Crimes. . Accessed 12/13/11.)

Many of these laws were put into place to try to bring moral standards into communities as viewed by the political leaders. It seems obvious that where there are no prostitutes there will not be women being beaten by their pimps, there will not be robberies of women who were just paid by their customers and there will not be rapes performed by those who cannot afford the services prostitutes offer. While the prostitution itself and the customer paying for that service could certainly be termed as victimless, it is easily seem that there is plenty of potential for victims because of the existence of the prostitution in the area.

The Libertarian party is the only political organization asking these laws be removed from the books, going so far as to make it one of the planks of the part’s platform in 2002:

“Because only actions that infringe on the rights of others can properly be termed crimes, we favor the repeal of all federal, state, and local laws creating ‘crimes’ without victims. In particular, we advocate:

a. the repeal of all laws prohibiting the production, sale, possession, or use of drugs….

the repeal of all laws restricting or prohibiting the use or sale of alcohol…

the repeal of all laws or policies authorizing stopping drivers without probable cause to test for alcohol or drug use….

the repeal of all laws regarding consensual sexual relations, including prostitution and solicitation….

the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting the possession, use, sale, production, or distribution of sexually explicit material….

b. the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting gambling….

c. the repeal of anti-racketeering statutes such as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which punish peaceful behavior -- including insider trading in securities, sale of sexually explicit material, and nonviolent anti-abortion protests -- by freezing and/or seizing assets of the accused or convicted….

d. The repeal of all laws interfering with the right to commit suicide…. (National Platform of the Libertarian Party. . July 2002. Accessed 12/13/11.)

So is prostitution really victimless, given the possibilities of violence, drug use, and sexual abuse that could occur because it is allowed to continue? I would have to argue that it truly does have victims. These women are often taken advantage of because they are not yet adults in age, start on this so-called career path before they are 18, and continue with it for quite a long time since they are never allowed the chance to learn to survive and work in a world of adults and are easily taken advantage of.

The Netherlands has long allowed brothels and prostitution to exist, but recently there has been an increase in just the types of crimes that do have victims – human trafficking is occurring at a regular pace, especially young girls from Africa, to keep the brothels full. The Netherlands believes they are at an advantage and able to catch these laws as they are being broken. The government regulates the brothels and inspects them to make sure the standards of consensual sex between adults are occurring and to enforce testing for sexually transmitted diseases. Yet in Amsterdam, “[t]en years ago a parliamentary commission established that the [red light] district was controlled by around 16 people with "serious criminal histories and/or contacts". In recent years, an increasing number of stories have been circulating about human trafficking and forced prostitution in the Red Light District.” (FAQ – Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Prostitution in the Netherlands. . Updated 9/18/09. Accessed 12/13/11.)

So, while the ‘victimless’ crime is allowed those who have sinister intentions always find a way to act on them. And in fact, “[t]he Dutch prostitutes' pressure group De Rode Draad (The Red Thread), reports that the number of brothels in the Netherlands has decreased dramatically since they were legalized. The organization notes, however, that the number of saunas and massage parlors has increased. It seems the illegal sector is growing.” (Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Legalized prostitution: a dying trade. . Updated 10/31/06. Accessed 12/13/11.)

Given what we can see occurring in another country where regulating prostitution was used to try to stop the criminal side of the trade, it becomes obvious that there is no way this is ever truly and completely a victimless crime.

While some people and some groups are always able to look at crimes like prostitution and consider that there is a way to do it so no one gets hurt, so that a woman with no skills can earn a living, so that a man with sexual urges can relieve them legally and without hurting anyone, it seems there is always something that will prevent this from occurring. Whether in a society like the United States where pimps, drugs, STD’s, and more would be the biggest problems to societies in countries like The Netherlands, who felt they could provide that safety through their licensed and inspected brothels, there is always someone who wants more, someone who desires what the others have, who will do something illegal to get it. And that keeps prostitution from remaining a victimless crime.

Traditional policing is thought to be less likely to address these crimes. (Moore, Mark Harrison. Problem solving and community policing. University of Chicago. 1992. . Accessed 12/13/11.) It is believed that the only way to actually address them and reduce their occurrence is to put officers in a position to actually see the victims of these crimes and to help them once they are found. In fact, volumes are written on just the things that officers should do when finding illicit sexual activity and providing guidelines for them to use. (Johnson, Kelly Dedel. “Illicit Sexual Activity in Public Places “ . 2005. Accessed 12/13/11.) Besides the community concerns – the public nudity, the public sex, the drop in property values that result from these crimes – there is the fact that these people are committing crimes and need to be punished for their acts. Community policing appears to be the favored way in this current climate to handle these criminal acts.

However, it can also be argued that “community-oriented policing” is something that was developed just to handle crimes as defined in the northern hemisphere of the Americas.

“For example, in Edmonton, the police department developed community policing in order to achieve a reduction in the perceived excessive calls for police service,” (Koller, K. “Working the Beat: The Edmonton Neighborhood Foot Patrol. Edmonton Police Service. 1990) which means it was not really developed to address crime as much as to reduce the amount of time that officers would spend on tasks other than regular police work.

The widely stated concept made popular by the New York Police Department – that community policing would help remove the broken windows quicker, remove the graffiti sooner, and as a result, crime would be reduced overall, may or may not be true. And as a result, the idea that such community concepts would effect the “victimless” crimes of prostitution, of gambling, of human trafficking, would also be reduced may or may not be true. Prostitutes moved from street corners to the Internet once they had the chance, as the Police on Long Island are now finding out in their efforts to find a serial killer. (Muskal, Michael. “Prostitute's remains found; case triggered serial-killer search” . December 13, 2011. Accessed 12/13/11.) Sure, the broken window will not find another place to happen, but the prostitution, the gambling, the other “victimless” crimes may just find a new way to occur if the police officer becomes a common sight in the community where it used to occur.

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