This includes actions that could be considered detrimental to the individual (gambling, drugs, etc.) -- because the decision was made at the individual level (Hardaway, 2003).
Too, as the economic and political effects of globalization increase, the definition, prosecution, and attention to victimless crimes may sociologically change. Enforcing morality (e.g. prostitution and gambling), for instance, or black market goods and services may remain technically against the law, but may become so low a priority due to more serious matters. ndeed, international agencies are now taking the approach to crimes like illicit drugs of focusing on the suppliers who fail to pay taxes and thus hurt society, instead of the user. This also includes many of the underground financial crimes that have little societal or economic impact (Friedrichs, 2002). Drug use, specifically, is victimless because it is something the individual chooses to do, can do alone, and unless there is violence…...
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Individual freedom is the belief that there is an inherent freedom for the individual to partake in any actions they chose, with the stimulation that these actions do not impede on the rights of others. This includes actions that could be considered detrimental to the individual (gambling, drugs, etc.) -- because the decision was made at the individual level (Hardaway, 2003).
Too, as the economic and political effects of globalization increase, the definition, prosecution, and attention to victimless crimes may sociologically change. Enforcing morality (e.g. prostitution and gambling), for instance, or black market goods and services may remain technically against the law, but may become so low a priority due to more serious matters. Indeed, international agencies are now taking the approach to crimes like illicit drugs of focusing on the suppliers who fail to pay taxes and thus hurt society, instead of the user. This also includes many of the underground financial crimes that have little societal or economic impact (Friedrichs, 2002). Drug use, specifically, is victimless because it is something the individual chooses to do, can do alone, and unless there is violence involved, does not harm another person. The user may be a victim of their own predilection or addiction, but they are cognizant of the harm and risk, just as someone who has too many drinks. The ancillary factors that surround drug use would go away, this view holds, if drug use was legalized. Further, the idea of morally telling someone else what they may or may not do to and with their bodies is outmoded (Stylianou, 2010).
Part 2 -- in the American justice system, there is an assumption that the punishment should fit the crime. One would expect a harsher penalty, for instance, for someone committing willful, premeditated murder than being caught smoking a marijuana cigarette.
Victimless Crime: Illegal Gun Possession
The categorization of crimes as victimless crimes has been present throughout the history of the legal systems and as times change, there are more crimes that come into being and are categorized as victimless crimes for instance the misuse of the internet among others. The victimless crimes are those crimes that do not have a direct or apparent target or victim and there is no direct pain inflicted or injury sustained in the crime. In most instances, the victimless crimes have been viewed as acts of consent between adults like sodomy, prostitution, gaming among others where there are no complainants and no harm is sustained in the process of such activities (Ward D.S., 2003).
Illegal purchase and possession as well as carrying of firearms are not usually listed as victimless crimes though technically they can be said to be victimless crimes in most states. When an individual…...
Police Studies)
Community-Oriented Policing and Victimless Crime:
Street-Level Drug Trafficking
The high rates of individuals who are arrested, on probation, incarcerated, or on parole throughout our nation have led some critical criminologists to advocate for the decriminalization of so-called victimless crimes. Victimless crimes include nonviolent crime such as gambling, prostitution, and illegal drug possession and drug sales. Although these activities may appear consensual or self-inflicted at first glance, this conduct creates victims indirectly because it presents larger threats to overall community security. The most pressing threats arise from drug use and trafficking, as these behaviors are a catalyst to gang activity, intimidation of law-abiding citizens, robberies, assaults, murders, and other forms of violence and community degredation. Indeed, drug users are disproportionately represented among the most active and dangerous offenders, and violence associated with the trade easily spreads to the general population (Moore & Kleiman). The question for law enforcement then is, what…...
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References
Currie, E. (1998). Crime and Punishment in America. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 176-184.
Moore, M.H. & Kleiman, Mark A.R. (1989). The Police and Drugs. Perspectives on Policing,
11. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dept. Of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
Zimmer, L. (1990). Proactive Policing Against Street-Level Drug Trafficking. American Journal of Police, 9(1), 43-74.
Since the widespread legalization of gambling, illegal forms have greatly diminished, for example, state lotteries have largely replaced the illegal numbers rackets, and hundreds of legal casinos has lessened the demand for illegal table or slot gambling (Kelly pp). However, sports gambling, which is still illegal, is thriving, and one study estimates that Americans bet between $80 billion and $380 billion annually on sports events, making it the most widespread and popular form of gambling in the U.S. (Kelly pp). Sports gambling was made illegal by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, out of concern for the corrupting influence that gambling has over games and players through point shaving and game fixing (Kelly pp). Yet, bookies are available throughout the country and on college campuses, and are increasingly inked with organized crime (Kelly pp). In fact, it is safe to say that student bookies are present…...
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Works Cited
Keisser, Bob. Officer: Bookies are Nicest People Arrested. Daily News. Los Angeles, California. January 05, 1997. Retrieved August 21, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
Kelly, Timothy A. "A Booming $800 Billion Industry - Today, some form of gambling is legal in all but three states, and 68% of adult Americans say they've gambled over the past year. World and I. July 01, 2000. Retrieved August 21, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
Saum, William S. "Sports Gambling in College: Cracking Down on Illegal Betting." USA
Today. July 01, 1999. Retrieved August 21, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
This includes the protection of children and protection of people who are victims of sexual crime. As it pertains to children there should be and there are laws in place that protect them from accessing or buying pornography. In addition there must be laws in place that protect children and adults that have been victims of sexual exploitation. ith this understood some pornography laws are unnecessary. For instance, people should be able to view pornography once they are 18. In some states people have to be 21 to view pornography. Many believe that when all parties involved in pornography are adults (18 and over) consenting to the activities there should be no criminality involved.
In recent months there has also been a concerted effort in some states to decriminalize the act of minors sending pictures of themselves to other minors. In most states this is treated as child pornography and…...
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Works Cited
'Dubber, M.D. (2001) Policing possession: the war on crime and the end of criminal law. The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology. 91 (4) 829-996
Farley, M. (2004)"Bad for the Body, Bad for the Heart":1 Prostitution Harms Women Even if Legalized or Decriminalized. Violence Against Women, 10 (10), 1087-1125
Newbern, A.E. (2000) Good Cop, Bad Cop: Federal Prosecution of State-Legalized Medical Marijuana Use after United States v. Lopez. California Law Review, 88 (5), 1575-1634
Organized Crime: A Contested Concept
The presence of organized crime in modern society is not as a cut and dry concept as most people would intuitively think. Take for example the existence of prostitution in virtually every society that has existed throughout the course of humanity. Although it is clear that this practice falls outside the realm of what is considered to be acceptable by the majority, many of the practitioners of this trade are actually grateful that they have the opportunity, the clients are obviously satisfied or else the demand for such services would not exist in the first place, and there is, in most cases, no one that is actually harmed in the process (at least directly). Therefore, whether organized or not, where does the actual criminality for such practices come into play? Is it because some people and/or groups believe it fall outside their limits of moral acceptability?…...
Dark Figure of Crime
The amount of crime in society gets known when it is reported to the police, through public response to victim surveys and studies of offenders who admit committing crime, and when transmitted to other agencies, such as hospital accident wards, battered women's refuge centers and similar ones (Young 2001). Other than these, the amount of crime committed is unknown. That unknown volume (of crime) that does not get reported, thus not registered, in criminal statistics, constitutes the dark figure of crime.
Statistician Adolphe Quetelet of the 1830s recognized this problem and modern statisticians do, too. All current methods of collecting crime incidence still have a dark figure. Victimization surveys, like the ritish Crime Survey (CS) and the National Crime Survey (NCS) are more accurate (Young). In 2000, CS estimated that the dark figure, or the actual extent of crime, was 4 1/2 more than what was recorded, or…...
Dark figure of crime is a term employed by criminologists and sociologists to describe the amount of unreported or undiscovered crime (Maguire & Reiner, 2007, p. 129). The notion of a dark figure undetected by standard crime reporting system casts doubt on the reliability of these systems. It also raises questions about the true magnitude of criminal activity in the United States.
The main source of crime data in the U.S. is the Uniform Crime Database, which is operated by the Federal ureau of Investigation. The UCR records crimes which are identified through the observation of a law-enforcement officer or reported by a victim or witness to law enforcement authorities. The UCR is not an exhaustive source of crime data because many crimes are neither observed by law enforcement officials nor reported by victims or witnesses.
There are two sources of crime data in the U.S. that try to ascertain the dark…...
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Bibliography
Lynch, J.P. & Addington, L.A. (2007). Understanding crime statistics: revisiting the divergence of the NCVS and UCR
Maguire, M., Morgan, R., & Reiner, R. (2007). The Oxford handbook of criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, D.A., & Salem, G. (1986). Fear of crime: Incivility and the production of a social problem. New Brunswick, U.S.A: Transaction Books.
Drug Crime
Does research evidence suggest that current policies on drugs and crime are still appropriate?
While "tough" policies designed to curb drug use and distribution are attractive politically, and look good on paper, research shows that such policies are no longer appropriate. Instead of responding to drug use as a public health problem, governments like that of the United States and the United Kingdom still regards criminalization as "the sine qua non-of responsible policy-making," (Downes and Morgan, 2007, p. 212). Unfortunately, the criminalization approach happens to also be irresponsible policy making based on emotion rather than fact. Governments with criminalization policies like the United States and Great Britain show a disturbing "state of denial" about the way criminalization creates and enhances organized crime, and may have even exacerbated some types of substance abuse (Downes and Morgan, 2007, p. 212).
Drug use patterns have also changed dramatically, requiring an intelligent shift in public…...
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References
Downes, D. And Morgan, R. (1992, 1997, 2002, and 2007) in M. Maguire, M. Morgan and R. Reiner (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
South, N. (2007) 'Drugs, Alcohol and Crime' in M. Maguire, R. Morgan, and R. Reiner (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (4th edn). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
" (Illinois)
If one wants to verify the dangers of gambling one only needs to look at the statistics stating Las Vegas has one of the highest crime rates in the nation. People are desperate to get their win, they have lost everything and still believe that magic hand or slot is right around the corner and resort to robbing, stealing, fraud and other means to obtain gambling funds (Nauman, 2006).
Gambling is illegal in most areas of the nation. Law enforcement is charged with arresting those that break the law. In states across the nation gambling rings have been broken up and slot machines, video poker machines and roulette tables have been seized. The place for law enforcement with regard to gambling is to crack down on it and not turn a blind eye when they are aware that is going on. The children who do not have food or clothing…...
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References
Villa, Rod L. (2000) Corruption of police blamed on gambling.(Main News)
Prostitution is sex between two willing adults and one of the adults pays the other adult for that sex.
While it is illegal to be the prostitute or the John it shouldn't be. Both are adults, that is not illegal, both are engaging willingly is sex, that isn't illegal, and one hands the other one money. If the John handed the prostitute money without getting sex, he would not be breaking the law. If the prostitute slept with one man, called him her boyfriend and the only thing he asked is that she maintain her figure and be available for Friday night visits, and in exchange he paid all of her bills it would not be illegal. But if that same woman decides to sleep with a dozen men a month and let them each contribute to her bill fund that makes her a criminal. The bottom line is one…...
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References
Eggen, Dan (2003) Major Crimes Rose Slightly, FBI Reports; Incidents Up in Suburbs, Down in Cities. The Washington Post
Marshall, Gordon (1998) victimless crime
Dictionary of Sociology
Walker, Bruce (2002) Reparations, Moral Crimes, and Real Justice (accessed 7-30-06)
The two should know better but their emotions got the best of them. In this case I would myself (or ask another person who knows the two) pull one of the two aside gently but firmly and ask that he take a deep breath and not cause commotion to the point where we all suffer. I would say, "Take a break guy, please cool your jets for a few moments because you are causing all of us to be distracted from what we are supposed to be doing here. You're forcing us to be involved and we aren't part of your problem, so please, quiet down…"
If that wouldn't work, the next step of course is to notify the supervisor or foreman that we need help -- or to follow company policy in whatever form is required in that situation.
Who are my heroes?
I don't have any "heroes" in the "heroic" sense…...
The significant increase in prison terms has created unsafe, unhealthy, and potentially dangerous conditions for violent and non-violent criminals alike, frequently affecting the potential to rehabilitate felons. The Law has led to various unusual circumstances that have attracted national attention, especially those cases that send third-time offenders to prison for 25 years or more for simple, non-violent, victimless crimes, such as in the case of Santos Reyes in 1998. Despite the controversy and negative consequences, the Supreme Court upheld the Three Strikes Law, saying that it stopped short of constituting "cruel and unusual punishment."
The Three Strikes Law had the intention of limiting recidivism. However, numerous studies suggest that declines in recidivism have been negligible. This is another unintended consequence of the Three Strikes Law; the general failure to curb third offenses. Violent crimes have dropped in urban areas in California, but those declines are in line with declines in…...
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PA: Mason Crest Publishers.
Tyler, T. (1997). Three Strikes and You're Out, but Why? The Psychology of Public Support
for Rule Breakers. Law & Society Review, vol. 31, 2, pp. 23-246.
This memorandum is an analysis of the P&E issues raised by proposed legislative changes regarding criminal sexual behavior, as well as so-called "vices" and other related conduct. The purpose of this analysis is to define a coherent set of public policy objectives characterizing all legislative changes supported by the Fictitious State Governor's Office.
Upgrading penal classification of Solicitation/Prostitution misdemeanors and increasing sentences and fines associated with all Solicitation/Prostitution felonies.
This committee does not recommend enacting any of the proposed penal upgrades across the board as set forth. We recommend re-evaluating current "vice" policy regarding violations of existing
Solicitation/Prostitution statutes in order that funds for law enforcement and prosecution efforts be redirected and channeled more specifically toward violations that most affect "quality of life" issues for lawful citizens of Fictitious State.
Analysis:
Both anecdotal evidence and documented statistical information available from the seventeen counties in Nevada where prostitution is legal suggest that it is essentially…...
What are the differences between jails and prisons?
Generally, jails are maintained by local municipalities and by state authorities and they are mainly intended to house criminals charged with crimes pending trial (Schmalleger, 2009). Jails are also used to incarcerate inmates convicted of misdemeanors and any other crimes whose sentences are less than a year. Meanwhile, prisons are maintained by states and by the federal government and are generally used to incarcerate inmates convicted of more serious crimes (i.e. felonies) who are serving sentences longer than a year. Federal prisons house inmates convicted on federal charges (Schmalleger, 2009).
Is the current jail/prison system effective? Why or why not?
In many respects the current jail/prison system is not particularly effective. For one thing, many have argued that members of racial minorities and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are much more likely to serve criminal sentences than members of non-minority groups and those from better…...
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References
Healey, J.F. (2009). Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class: The Sociology of Group
Conflict and Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.
Schmalleger, F. (2009). Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st
Century. Hoboken, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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