Victimless Crime

Resources

See Also

Further Reading

Dripps, Donald A. “The Liberal Critique of the Harm Principle.” Criminal Justice Ethics 17 (summer/fall 1998): 3-18.

Feinberg, Joel. The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law. 4 vols. Vol. 1, Harm to Others (1984); Vol. 2, Offense to Others (1985); Vol. 3, Harm to Self (1986); Vol. 4, Harmless Wrongdoing (1988). New York: Oxford University Press, 1984-1988.

Kessler, Raymond G. “Enforcement Problems of Gun Control: A Victimless Crimes Analysis.” Criminal Law Bulletin 16 (1980): 131-149.

Morris, Norval, and Hawkins, Gordon J. The Honest Politician’s Guide to Crime Control. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.

Oaks, Dallin H. “The Popular Myth of the Victimless Crime.” University of Chicago Law Alumni Journal (1975): 3-14.

Packer, Herbert L. The Limits of the Criminal Sanction. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1968.

Roach, Kent. “Four Models of the Criminal Process.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 89 (1999): 671-716.

Schur, Edwin M. Crimes without Victims: Deviant Behavior and Public Policy-Abortion, Homosexuality, Drug Addiction. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965.

Schur, Edwin M., and Bedau, Hugo Adam. Victimless Crimes: Two Sides of a Controversy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974.

Smith, Wendy Serbin. Victimless Crime: A Selected Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, 1977.

Wertheimer, Alan. “Victimless Crimes.” Ethics 87 (1977): 302-318.

Definition of Victimless Crime

The Canada social science dictionary [1] provides the following meaning of Victimless Crime: The conventional conception of crime implies that there is a victim of the criminal behaviour who experiences harm. There are, however, criminal behaviours like illegal gambling, drug use, and selling sex, where the victim does not experience harm and is indeed a willing participant. Many argue that crimes of this nature are victimless and should not be regulated by criminal law.

Victimless Crime: Resources

Notes and References

• Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2016). (Concept of) Victimless Crime. Online dictionary of the social sciences. Open University of Canada