VICTIMLESS CRIMES | Office of Justice Programs

Abstract

Two of the articles report on empirical analyses of victimless crime issues. One study examined college and high school students' perspectives regarding the extent of harm caused by victimless crimes (drug usage, gambling, pornography, and prostitution). The majority of the subjects viewed these activities as being sufficiently harmful to warrant their continued criminalization. Another study analyzed the opinions of a sample of sheriffs throughout the country regarding the enforcement of victimless-crime laws and the impact of this enforcement on the criminal justice system. Although the sheriffs recognized that the enforcement of victimless-crime laws, particularly drug laws, has contributed to an overburdened criminal justice system, they do not favor decriminalization. Another article analyzes victimless crimes (abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, gambling, and drug abuse) as social issues that impact the religious, political, and economic forces at work in the United States in the 1990's. Two articles analyze the legal, programmatic, and ethical issues associated with the use of drug courier profiles to establish the "reasonable suspicion" required for an investigative stop and search. The two authors disagree about the U.S. Supreme Court's acceptance of this practice as a constitutional investigative technique. For individual articles, see NCJ 143897-143901. Article references and data

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VICTIMLESS CRIMES | Office of Justice Programs