Category Archives: Victimless Crimes

Four men were arrested after a suspected break-in led police to more than 100,000 worth of cannabis.

Officers were called to a residential address on Springfield Road, Hucknall, at around 2.15am on Saturday morning and detained three people in and around the property.

Inside they found more than 200 plants in various rooms in the house.

Three men aged 26, 22 and 21 were arrested on suspicion of burglary, theft, cultivation of cannabis and being concerned in the supply of class B drugs.

A 41-year-old man was arrested shortly afterwards on suspicion of the same offences when the car he was driving was pulled over on the Hucknall bypass.

They have all been released under investigation pending further enquiries.

The cannabis plants have now been taken away and will be destroyed. Growing equipment seized at the address has also been put beyond use.

Detective Sergeant Charlotte Henson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: This was a great piece of work by officers who responded quickly to reports of an on-going break-in at this address. They quickly tracked down and arrested multiple suspects before uncovering the real reason for their presence a large and sophisticated cannabis grow.

There is sometimes a perception that cannabis growing and consumption is a victimless crime but that couldnt be further from the truth. Growing and dealing drugs has a detrimental impact on communities and also leads directly to associated crimes of violence and burglary.

We will continue to clamp down on drug dealing and it is always a very good result to stop this activity at source and prevent drugs from being sold on the streets.

Growing cannabis is also very dangerous and poses a significant risk of fire that can spread to neighbouring properties.

Anyone with additional information about recent activities at this property is asked to call 101 quoting incident 77 of 10 June.

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Report of a break-in leads police to 100,000 cannabis grow | West Bridgford Wire | West Bridgford Wire - West Bridgford Wire

BURGLARS struck at a hair and beauty salon overnight - damaging the shop front and taking about 400 in cash.

The crooks targeted Bella Rose hair and Beauty salon on High Parr Street, Fingerpost.

At about8am this morning (Wednesday, July 7), it was reported the salon had been burgled overnight.

Offenders gained entry to the salon, damaging the front door and taking approximately 400 in cash, police say.

Detective Inspector Jennie Beck said: Business burglaries are not a victimless crimes they have a huge impact on the hardworking people who are just trying to earn a living in the heart of our communities.

I would appeal for anyone who was in the vicinity of High Parr Street last night or in the early hours of this morning, who saw anything or anyone suspicious, to contact us.

Similarly I would ask anyone who was driving in the area who may have captured something on dash cam footage to get in touch. Any information you hold could be vital to our investigation to help us find the people responsible and bring them to justice.

People can pass on any information via the police's social media desk @MerPolCC on Twitter or Merseyside Police Contact Centre on Facebook with reference 21000472473. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via their online form at: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information-online/

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Burglars escape with cash after targeting hair and beauty salon - St Helens Star

According to the arrest warrant, Edmondson falsely reported to the insurance company and Kinston police that the car was stolen. He also received the use of a rental vehicle, costing the insurance company $649.48, the warrant says.

The offenses occurred between Oct. 13, 2020, and Nov. 2, 2020.

Special agents and Kinston police arrested Edmondson on June 22. He was given a $5,500 secured bond. He is due in Lenoir County District Court on June 25.

Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime; we all pay for it through higher insurance premiums, said Commissioner Causey. Help us keep insurance premiums low by reporting suspected fraud.

If you suspect insurance fraud or other white-collar crimes, you can report it anonymously by calling the N.C. Department of Insurance Criminal Investigations Division at 919-807-6840. Information is also available atwww.ncdoi.gov.

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Kinston man charged with insurance fraud involving burned car he reported stolen Neuse News - Neuse News

The former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd. While many were satisfied with this sentence, CNN host Van Jones described it as a punch in the gut.

After saying that with good behavior, Chauvin is likely to serve closer to fifteen years in prison, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said, Justice is imperfect. This is a serious sentence. Derek Chauvin will be in prison for 15 years. Hes 45 now until hes 60.

That said, I think this is light. I think the judge shouldve sentenced him more, she added. Minnesota guidelines say you can double the 15 years if there is one aggravator. This judge found four aggravators and didnt really come super close to doubling it.

Related: Alan Dershowitz Reveals Why Derek Chauvins Guilty Verdict Should Be Vacated Without A Doubt

Very disappointing, very disappointing 15 years, I know people doing 15 years for victimless crimes of drug possession, Jones replied, according to Yahoo News. Very disappointing the level of any one of those aggravators. What this man did, it shouldve been the maximum of the maximum. This is disappointing. I dont think its going to cause outrage.

But its a punch in the gut, he continued. This guys life is worth more than 15 years. It was. What that officer did is worth more than 15 years. Law enforcement across the country should look at something like this and say, look, you cant do this type of stuff. Youre never going to come back home. Its disappointing.

Honig then pointed out that there were two federal indictments still pending against Chauvin, to which Jones said, The feds can come in and do more, and they should do more because this is not justice.

Related: Chauvin Trial Judge: Maxine Waters Confrontation Comments Could Get Entire Trial Overturned

However, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison stood by the sentence, saying that it was one of the longest a former police officer has ever received for use of deadly force and adding that this is not justice, but it is another moment of real accountability on the road to justice.

President Joe Biden also spoke out to say that the sentence seemed to be appropriate in his mind.

This piece was written by James Samson on June 26, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:Pelosi Tried To Steal Election And LostTrump Drops Bomb About 2024 Ill Be Making An AnnouncementLeft-Wing The View Co-Host Sunny Hostin Claims Her Friends And Family Are Buying Guns To Fight White Supremacy

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CNN's Van Jones Says Derek Chauvin Being Sentenced To 22 Years Was A 'Punch In The Gut' The pink report news - The pink report news

CNN political commentator Van Jones called it "a punch in the gut" that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had only been sentenced to 221/2 years in prison, and could possiblyserve as few as 15, for the murder of George Floyd.

Very disappointing, very disappointing. Fifteen years I know people doing 15 years for nothing. I mean for victimless crimes of drugs possession, Jones saidFriday after the sentence was announced, arguing Chauvin should have received the maximum of the maximum.

The murder of Floyd in May 2020 was a galvanizing moment for the Black Lives Matter and police reform movements after video showed the since-fired officer kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes during an arrest.

Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter as well as third-degree murder in April.

And this is disappointing," Jones said. "I dont think its going to cause outrage. Its a punch in the gut. This guys life is worth more than 15 years. It was, and what that officer did is worth more than 15 years. And law enforcement across the country look at something like this and say Look, you cant do this type of stuff, youre never going to come back home.'"

Per state guidelines, the maximum sentence for unintentional murder in the second degree is 40 years, but because Chauvin has no previous criminal record, the presumptive sentence was 12 1/2 years, with an acceptable deviation range of 10 years, 9 months, to 15 years.

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Van Jones: Chauvin sentence a 'punch to the gut' | TheHill - The Hill

Henry de Bourgonniere Picture: STATES OF JERSEY POLICE (31130268)

Henry de Bourgonniere was arrested in August last year after States police officers raided his home and seized a number of devices.

In total they found 3,847 images, including pictures showing the most serious forms of child abuse.

The 74-year-old, who is originally from Guernsey, was charged in January this year and later pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and three counts of making indecent pseudo images of children.

He appeared in the Royal Court yesterday and was jailed for two years and four months, placed on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years and made subject to a ten-year restraining order banning him from contacting two named individuals.

In a statement, the States police said: These are not victimless crimes. These images cause real harm to real children and the viewing and making of indecent images like these creates demand and so leads to further abuse.

Any form of abuse against children will not be tolerated and the States of Jersey Police is committed to target those who offend in this way.

The Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, was presiding and sitting alongside Jurats Collette Crill and David Hughes.

Anyone who has concerns about suspected child sexual abuse or exploitation can contact the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub on 519000 or the Public Protection Unit at the States police headquarters on 612612.

Link:

Man (74) with thousands of indecent images of children sentenced to two years' jail - Jersey Evening Post

The European Unions law enforcement agency, Europol, has announced that environmental crime is now one of the major threats to security in the EU.

As a result, one Romanian member of the European parliament (MEP), Vlad Gheorghe, is calling for the creation of a specific body to fight environmental crime, under the position of EU Green Prosecutor.

"We need an EU Green Prosecutor for two main reasons. First, to protect nature in Europe from criminal exploitation, as well as to protect our citizens who regularly become victims of arson, landslides, illnesses provoked by pollution, Gheorghe tells Euronews Green.

The second main reason is to prevent environmental crime (fourth most profitable illegal business in the world according to Interpol) from affecting financial interests of the EU and compromising economic recovery," he says.

Broadly, the term environmental crime encompasses numerous offences such as illegal logging, timber trafficking, illicit waste trafficking, mining, dumping of hazardous waste, overfishing of protected species, poaching and pollution of air, water and soil - the list goes on.

The Europol report, entitled 'Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment', highlights that "criminals seek to infiltrate and exploit the recycling and renewable energy industries, and they will increasingly do so.

It continues, waste trafficking is strongly linked to other offences such as document fraud, economic fraud, tax evasion, corruption, money laundering, as well as theft and the dumping of waste from illegal drug production."

The risk of seeing the green transition be exploited as a business opportunity for criminals is the reason MEP Vlad Gheorghe made his proposal.

"Environmental crime represents a significant threat to the safety of EU citizens," he explains.

"It undermines communities and causes substantial financial damages to the EU and its Member States, by eroding the rule of law. This type of crime also deprives EU citizens from financial resources necessary for an immediate reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside other crises such as the climate crisis. Instead, criminal proceeds finance terrorism, money laundering and other types of crime. It severely decreases their quality of life and promotes inequality."

36-year-old Renew Europe deputy Gheorghe is no first-timer to the fight for environmental justice. Before joining the European Parliament, he drafted legislation in Romanian parliament to reduce crimes against nature.

"The victims being voiceless, lacking law enforcement and negligible sanctions - this crime impoverishes European countries," says Gheorghe.

He believes punishment for environmental crimes, and the end of impunity and complicity, is the way to advance many EU objectives.

"We need precise legal definitions, strong law enforcement and severe sanctions, as a crime against nature should not be considered as an accessory issue, it is at the centre of money laundering, corruption, fraud, physical violence and murders. And therefore, it needs an adequate response."

"As a Romanian MEP, we have the duty to protect the environmental heritage and biodiversity for the sake of our children and all future generations. It means we need to protect their health, quality of life and resilience," he told us.

Currently the EU lacks a cross-border investigation mechanism for organised crime in general, and for environmental crime in particular.

"As a member of the budgets committee in the EP, I can say that the EU loses billions of Euros as a result of inaction on this type of crime (environmental crime is estimated to cost $258 billion a year globally)," Gheorghe adds.

"It severely jeopardises EU climate objectives, both in terms of direct financial losses, and in terms of missed tax revenues on economic activities. Considering the increase in environmental crime and the limited capacity of the members, the fight against environmental crime should become one of the priorities of the EU economic recovery and Green Deal package."

If an EU environmental crime prosecution office were to exist, its main goal would be to "provide Member States investigative support, coordinate cross-border operations, bring the criminals to justice, alert national authorities to risk factors, share information and best practices, introduce digitalisation and innovation in law enforcement."

Vlad Gheorghe witnessed the cost of environmental crime in his home country.

"Only in RO, inadequate enforcement brought to 6 murders and 650 violent attacks on foresters and activists in 2014-19," he recalls.

"Green crime is always associated with money laundering, tax evasion, corruption, forgery, trafficking, physical violence and murder, going far beyond the damage to the habitat. The green crime is not victimless as you can see, it affects the entire EU community and needs to be addressed immediately. As a consequence, the EU Green Prosecutors activity will help to fight also other types of serious organised crime, which are closely related to green crime, such as money laundering, human trafficking, mafia infiltration of the public sphere, and so on."

The EU Green Prosecutor would also raise public awareness on ways to tackle environmental crime, empower citizens and grass-root organisations to participate (i.e by reporting cases) and demand environmental justice.

"We need an EU Green Prosecutor to create the framework for more efficient reporting of crimes, facilitate cross-border investigation, eliminate corruption and complicity of public authorities in environmental matters. It should guarantee harmonised prosecutions procedures and sanction measures across all the EU," emphasises the MEP.

"As I stated in my recent plenary speech, in the EU we do not have 27 environments, but only 1 single environment. And whoever enters the EU must make sure they respect the highest standards and have provisions to fight crimes against nature."

With a Green prosecutor put in place, Gheorghe wants every European citizen and Member States to be "wise enough to avoid repeating errors and horrors from the past - given the entire range of extremists and populists on the rise now all over the world this is number one on the wishlist right now."

"I wish for my children to grow up in a country and a Europe that is undoubtedly democratic and prosperous, enjoying biodiversity in a clean environment and free to take up on opportunities without the burden brought on by corruption. And it is our job to ensure that this happens. Its that simple."

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Extremists and populists on the rise: Why the EU needs a green prosecutor - Euronews

The justice system is completely failing to combat serial shoplifters, according to a concerned former Spalding police sergeant.

Stuart Brotherton is now Business Watch Coordinator - working to help South Holland shops and pubs to combat crime - and says traders, shoppers and police are all being badly let down.

Mr Brotherton, who retired from the force eight years ago, says prison is not acting as a deterrent for crime - with some offenders in Spalding even deliberately trying to get themselves a stay behind bars.

He said: When an individual commits an intentional crime in full view of the police in order to get arrested to go to prison, what does that tell you about the justice system?

He added: People want justice and I just feel strongly at the moment that the justice system seems to be offender led and not victim led.

In prison they get fed three times a day, they have the luxury of their own cell with a TV and phone calls and they can earn pocket money. Tell me how its going to stop them doing it again. It becomes a game to them.

There are currently 26 people banned from Spalding town centre stores - 18 of those are life bans for offenders with a long history of offences.

Mr Brotherton says some well known offenders have been committing crimes for up to 20 years, with little evidence that the system will change their ways.

The current punishments for shoplifters range from community orders and fines through to six month prison sentences, if the value of goods taken is below 200.

Mr Brotherton wants to see a tougher use of community service - with offenders ordered to do work that benefits the area such as litter picking.

He says its time we ditched the view that shoplifting is a victimless crime and said the underlying issue in most cases is drugs - with shoplifting used to fund addicts habits.

While he thinks drug rehabilitation workers do a good job - he says some people refuse to take the help that is offered to them.

He said: People say shoplifting is a victimless crime - but its not.

Shop owners lose their stock and you and I as customers end up paying higher prices for the stock thats lost.

Theres pain and suffering. OK, a lot of the big nationals make substantial profits but the small stores dont.

I have always been in favour of community sentencing. You dont see as many people out there in the orange suits as you should.

Work has always been the best form of punishment. What isnt, is sitting in a cell all day.

The problem you have got now is that comes under probation and probation are short staffed and these people need supervisors. Theres so much that these people could do to put back into the community.

Mr Brotherton has repeatedly raised the matter with the Ministry of Justice and the independent Sentencing Council and wants Prime Minister Boris Johnson to order a review.

He added: I feel sorry for the police because they do their level best to bring people to justice, doing all of the footwork only to see it fall down in the courts. Police officers are livid about this.

Its a huge issue and one that leaves huge dent in the finances of the country. Mr Johnson, when he looks at his priorities, needs to look at the justice system again.

Mr Brotherton also contrasted the high fines for some motoring offences with the smaller punishments given out for shoplifting.

He said: Do they not call it the scales of justice? Well, I dont think the scales are balanced.

The Free Press contacted the Ministry of Justice for a comment. It said this was a matter for the Home Office.

A Sentencing Council spokesman said it has no plans to update shop theft guidelines, which were last updated in 2016. They added: Sentencing guidelines are developed, following public consultation, to ensure sentences are consistent, transparent and proportionate to the offence.

The sentence range for theft from a shop or stall starts from a discharge or low level community service to three years custody. Courts assess the culpability of the offender and the harm caused by the offence, including both the financial loss and any additional harm caused to the victim, such as emotional distress, effect on business or damage to property, to determine the starting point of the sentence.

When applying the sentence, judges and magistrates will also look at aggravating factors for example stealing goods to order, and mitigating factors for example determination of steps having been taken to address addiction or offending behaviour.

They added that courts can require people to take drug or alcohol treatment within a community order as an alternative to a prison sentence.

A Home Office spokesman said: We are giving police the resources they need, recruiting 20,000 additional officers over the next three years and providing the biggest funding increase in a decade.

This month we announced 18.4 million of funding to tackle neighbourhood crimes like burglary, theft and robbery, and Lincolnshire PCC received 250,780 from Round 1 of the Safer Streets Fund, and will receive a further 244,801 from Round 2.

The public want more police, safer streets, and tougher sentences for those guilty of the most serious crimes and that it what this government is delivering.

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'We need justice in the fight to combat serial shoplifters' - Spalding Today

The term victimless crime is one that occurs more frequently in the rhetoric of civil and economic libertarianism than in the doctrine or theory of the criminal law. That is, there are no specific legal consequences that follow from a crimes being classified as victimless, and criminal law theorists have for the most part eschewed the term. Nevertheless, the suggestion that certain crimes are victimless, and should therefore be repealed or limited, raises profound questions about the proper limits of the criminal law. Although there is no consensus on exactly which crimes should be regarded as victimless, the category has, over time, been thought to include some or all of the following offenses: vagrancy, public drunkenness, drug possession, obscenity, public nudity, contraception, abortion, suicide, gambling, failing to wear a seatbelt or motorcycle helmet, and various consensual sexual activities such as adultery, bigamy, incest, prostitution, and homosexuality.

To understand what it is about the criminalization of victimless offenses that has provoked challenge, we need to recognize the importance of what theorists refer to as the harm principle. Under this principle, which is associated most famously with the philosophers John Stuart Mill and Joel Feinberg, governmental power may be used only to prevent harm to others. A corollary of this is that the criminal law, the most serious kind of sanctions we have in a civil society, should be used only to prevent harms that are serious. Thus, assuming that we accept the premise of the harm principle, we can frame the problem presented by the criminalization of victimless offenses as that, which is raised by the criminalization of offenses that do not involve serious harms to others.

There are several ways in which supposedly victimless crimes might be thought to fail to satisfy the harm principle. First, although offenses such as suicide involve the potential for serious harm, such harm is caused to self rather than to others. Put another way, although suicide is not literally victimless, it involves a victim who consents to the harm and in fact brings it on himself. Second, offenses such as vagrancy and public drunkenness involve harms that are diffuse and attenuated, and it is difficult to identify any particular victim or group of victims who are affected. Such crimes are better characterized as involving the risk of harm to others, rather than any actual harm. Third, offenses such as obscenity and nudity seem to involve not harm per se but rather something like insult or offense to sensibilities. In addition, some offenses may involve genuine harm to victims who are either unaware that they have been harmed or who are insufficiently motivated to swear out a complaint.

So what exactly is wrong with criminalizing acts that fail to satisfy the harm principle in such ways? As a matter of principle, the argument is that, in a liberal society like ours, people should be free to pursue their life paths with minimal coercive control by the government. Under such a view, the only circumstances in which the government should be permitted to interfere with an individuals personal autonomy, particularly by means as intrusive as the criminal law, are when the individual causes or threatens to cause harm to other citizens.

Victimless crime statutes also pose a number of practical problems, many of which have been cited by civil libertarians seeking to challenge the validity of such laws. First, criminalizing conduct that is not harmful may result in an overuse of limited prosecutorial, judicial, and penal resources, and a consequent diversion of such resources from more important law enforcement priorities. Second, much victimless crime is private in nature and hard to detect. Its investigation may involve neighbors spying on neighbors, intrusive forms of surveillance, and the possibility of entrapment. Third, because the price of goods or services involved in supposedly victimless offenses such as drug possession and prostitution will be higher than it would be in a legal market, people who buy and sell such goods and services may engage in other, more serious forms of criminality to pay for a habit or protect turf. Fourth, because victimless crimes frequently occur without being observed publicly, there is more potential for official corruption and discriminatory enforcement (particularly against members of politically unpopular groups). Fifth, in some cases, such legislation may encourage societal intolerance for, and unfair stigmatization of, behaviors associated with certain minorities or other powerless groups. Finally, as a result of most or all these problems, the enactment and enforcement of victimless crime statutes is likely to lead to diminished respect for both the rule of law and the authorities that enforce the law.

STUART P. GREEN

References and Further Reading

See also Abortion; Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986); Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003); Mill, John Stuart; Obscenity; Sodomy Laws; Vagrancy Laws

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Victimless Crimes - uscivilliberties.org

Abstract

A "victimless" crime is traditionally defined as "an illegal act that is consensual and lacks a complaining participant." This study examined whether or not a sample of the public views drug trafficking, drug abuse, pornography, and prostitution (traditional "victimless" crimes) as sufficiently harmful to be criminalized. Study subjects were 178 college students enrolled in introductory social science courses at a medium-sized Midwestern university, as well as 766 high school students, yielding a total sample of 944 subjects. The subjects were selected as reflective of future voters who might significantly impact criminal justice policy decisions. Generally, the study indicates that the majority of the respondents view the four traditional "victimless" crimes as harmful, such that they should not be decriminalized. Ratings of harm varied from a low of 1.15 (between "very little" and "little") for gambling, to a high of 3.68 (between "much" and "very much") for drugs. In terms of the percentage of respondents opposed to decriminalization, the results varied from a low of 36 percent for gambling to a high of 96 percent for pornography. Implications of these findings for theory and policy are discussed. 7 tables and 18 references

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ARE VICTIMLESS CRIMES ACTUALLY HARMFUL? | Office of ...