Are Victimless Crimes Actually Harmful?

Abstract

A victimless crime is an illegal act that is consensual and lacks a complaining participant, including such activities as drug use, galnblina, pornography, and prostitution. No one is harmed, or if harm occurs, it is negated by the informed consent of willing participants. It has been suggested that harm can take on various forms, but that since the harmed individual consented to participate in one of these acts, the attribution of victimization is nullified. In order to determine whether this position coincided with the sentiment of the public, a questionnaire was administered in which 944 respondents were asked to rate how much harm. if any, exists for participants engaging in four traditional victimless crimes along the dimensions of frequency, extent, and nature of involvement. The results indicated that the majority of respondents felt that these acts were harmful. The results were discussed in terms of theoretical and policy implications.

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