Decriminalization of Victimless Crime Essay

Laws exist within societies to deter and bounce people from harming one an some other and trampling on others inalienable rights. Crimes much(prenominal) as recreational do doses use and prostitution do not directly harm other people, yet in the eyes of the natural law they argon villified due to the possible consequences associated with a lifestyle filled with drug use and promiscuous energise. Should these supposed victimless crimes be allowed to go on unpunished even though they may still cause collateral handicap? More importantly, does the government have the right to intervene with ones behavior if it does not affect others? A better counselling to ascertain at it would be to examine the efforts made to decriminalize these acts and the effects it has had on edict.Prostitution is one of the oldest professions in the world and it is not akinly to go away anytime soon. Just like any other job, it is a way for people to make a living and it has a supply and demand. Unfortu nately, sex studyers have terrible work environments. They are subjected to working in dangerous neighborhoods and the threat of violence is always near. Many are raped, abused and kill while working on their own. If prostitution were decriminalized and regulated, we could decrease the negative consequences of world a sex worker. Legalized brothels in Las Vegas control and monitor their workers and customers much like other businesses. Sex workers are regularly tested and contraception is assiduous to avoid the transmittance of sexually transmitted infections and diseases. Services are in like manner conducted in safe environments to eliminate the risk of violence. Although prostitution is certainly a less than ideal profession, it has and go out continue to exist. Regulation of sex work would greatly reduce the harm inflicted upon its customers and workers.Another criminal act which does not necessarily effect anyone else but the criminal is recreational drug use. ilk prost itution, recreational drug use has gone on for hundreds of years and there does not seem to be an end in sight. Were recreational drug use to be decriminalized and regulated, the government could monitor dosage, reduce adulterants to reduce the risks knobbed with the consumption of said drugs. Decriminalization would also decrease action at law in the illegal trade of drugs which is known to fund terrorist groups. Even on the street level of drug trade, much of it is associated with other violent criminal activity which could decrease if users had another way of obtaining what they would eventually seek out anyways. In 2001, Portugal radically changed their drug policies to include the decriminalization of possessing small amounts of drugs for personal use. They apply take onle exchange programs to reduce the spread of HIV and put much effort into finding treatment for users instead of putting them through the punishable system. Ten years later, studies showed that their effo rts paid off and drug abuse rate had fallen to half of what they were before the policy change (Kain.) This should be assure enough that the penal system does not help drug users in our society, it only puts them in a destructive cycle of jails and institutions that we as a whole end up paying for.Jail and prison sentences are not enough to stop or decrease taboo behaviors nor volition they ever be, which is evident in almost all modern nations. These behaviors will continue to spread and the lifestyles associated with them will continue to effect all of society unless something changes. The War on Drugs has cost us billions of dollars and placed many non-violent offenders in prisons, when they should be in rehabilitation centers. We as a society need to accept that what were doing is not working and we should follow what has worked in other places.BibliographyKain, Erik. Ten Years After Decriminalization. Forbes Magazine. Forbes, 5 July 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. .