Victimless crime

A victimless crime is an illegal act that directly involves only the person committing it or happens between consenting adults. Because it is consensual, whether a victim actually exists is open to debate. Definitions differ across legal systems and regions, but these crimes typically include possessing illegal contraband, using recreational drugs, prostitution, certain sexual behaviors, assisted suicide, and smuggling. In political contexts, lobbyists or activists may use the term to argue that the law in question should be repealed.

Under John Stuart Mill’s harm principle, such acts are considered “victimless” when the individual is seen as the sole sovereign, excluding more abstract entities like a community or state that could otherwise be considered harmed. These offenses may be viewed as crimes against the state rather than against society.

According to University of Chicago scholar Jim Leitzel, three traits help identify a victimless crime: the act is excessive, reflects a distinct pattern of behavior, and its negative effects impact only the person who engaged in it.

Many victimless crimes arise from a desire for illegal products or services in high demand. Criminal penalties tend to limit supply more than demand, driving up black-market prices and creating monopoly profits for remaining criminals. This “crime tariff” encourages the growth of sophisticated, well-organized criminal groups, which often diversify into other crimes. Large profits also fund bribery of public officials and provide capital for expansion.

The war on drugs is a common example of prosecuting a victimless crime, based on the idea that drug use does not directly harm others. Criminalization inflates drug prices—for instance, in 1974, Bedau and Schur found that heroin cost 0.06 cents per grain in English pharmacies, while the U.S. street price was $30–90 per grain. This inflation is believed to drive addicts to theft and robbery to afford drugs. Proponents of legalization also argue that drug arrests reduce the workforce by harming convicts’ ability to find work, ultimately damaging the economy. Drug arrest rates have risen each year; between 1980 and 2009, arrest rates for drug possession or use doubled for whites and tripled for blacks, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

From a libertarian perspective, economist Walter Block considers illegal immigration and emigration victimless crimes. Vera Bergelson identifies four varieties: acts that do not harm others (suicide, drug use, unemployment); transactions between consenting adults that do not harm others (assisted suicide, gambling, prostitution); acts whose consequences are borne by society at large (tax evasion, insider trading); and actions banned for being considered immoral (homosexual sex, flag burning).

Many activities once considered crimes are no longer illegal in some countries, partly due to their status as victimless crimes. For example, British sturdy beggar laws once applied the death penalty to unemployment. Two large categories are sexual pleasure and recreational drug use. Homosexual sex has been legalized in many countries, starting with France in 1791. Other proposed legalizations include consensual adult incest and sexting by teenagers (considered child pornography). Marijuana use is illegal in Australia but remains the most widely used illicit drug there, as in the United States and New Zealand. U.S. alcohol prohibition, repealed in 1933, is seen as a failed social experiment because many citizens ignored it, turning to homemade spirits and worsening problems. Today, marijuana legalization efforts in the U.S. and Australia respond to current prohibitions, with potential for increased revenue. Prostitution is legal in many countries, though often restricted; the Netherlands legalized it in 1999 but considered policy changes to severely restrict it by 2012. Adultery and fornication have not been prosecuted in the U.S. for over 50 years, though laws against them remain in some states. However, sodomy laws were struck down as unconstitutional in *Lawrence v. Texas*, and Virginia’s Supreme Court recognized in *Martin v. Ziherl* that fornication laws would also be unconstitutional.

A major concern among opponents of legalizing victimless crimes is the degradation of societal moral standards, though punishing citizens for their choices remains controversial.