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Make Americans safer by repealing victimless crime laws
www.lp.org/lpnews | 7.25.03 | Bill Winter
There's a crime being committed in America.
It's not murder -- although one murder is committed every 33.9 minutes, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.
It's not rape -- although one forcible rape occurs every 5.8 minutes.
It's not robbery -- although one robbery is perpetrated every 1.3 minutes.
No, the real crime is that so many of those murderers, rapists, and robbers get away with their crimes.
According to FBI figures for 2001, only 62.4% of murders were "cleared" -- that is, a suspect was arrested and charged with the crime. Only 44.3% of rapes were cleared. And only 24.9% of robbery investigations ended with the apprehension of the potential criminal.
But that's the "good" news. The bad news is that the clearance rate for other crimes is even lower.
For example, if your car is stolen, there's only a 13.6% chance that the police will make an arrest. If someone breaks into your house, there's only a 12.7% chance that the burglar will face charges.
Overall, for the crimes against persons and property the FBI tracks in its Uniform Crime Report -- ranging from murder to simple property crimes -- the annual clearance rate is an astonishingly low 19.6%.
Which means that, for a typical criminal, there's an 80% chance that he will never be caught for any individual act of violence or theft.
Why is the clearance rate so low?
One explanation is that police spend so much time arresting people for victimless crimes.
According to Peter McWilliams in Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do, the standard reference on the subject, "Roughly half of the arrests and court cases in the United States each year involve consensual crimes -- actions that are against the law, but directly harm no one's person or property, except, possibly, the 'criminal's.' "
McWilliams estimates that about 4 million Americans are arrested each year for victimless crimes. In addition, about 750,000 people are serving time in jail for victimless crimes, and another 3 million are on probation or parole for such crimes.
Add up the number of police, court-appointed lawyers, judges, correctional officers, and probation officers needed to investigate, arrest, book, arraign, bring to trial, defend, imprison, and monitor such "criminals" -- and you begin to understand why so many murderers walk free.
If the United States is serious about defending innocent people from vicious and avaricious criminals, a good first step would be to stop wasting police resources on crimes where there is no victim.
There are hundreds of such laws that should be abolished -- ranging from prostitution to mandated motorcycle helmets. However, in the interest of dealing with a manageable number, here are six that Libertarians could start with:
* Abolish laws requiring adults to wear seatbelts.
Over the Memorial Day weekend (May 24-26, 2003), one of the largest law enforcement efforts in American history took place: In 29 states, 11,300 law enforcement agencies set up 18,000 random roadblocks.
What kind of dangerous criminals were they looking for? Terrorists? Child molesters? Serial killers?
Nope. People who weren't wearing seatbelts.
It was the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's "Click It or Ticket" project. Over the weekend, police issued 425,000 citations for seatbelt violations.
No longer just a matter of personal choice, not wearing a seatbelt is now against the law in 49 states. (Only New Hampshire is the exception.) In 18 states, you can be pulled over for not buckling up; in another 31 states, it's a "secondary" offense, and you can only be ticketed if you're pulled over for another infraction.
The problem with such laws, according to the Independence Institute (February 10, 1999), is that "no jurisdiction that has passed a seatbelt law has shown evidence of a reduction in road accident deaths" -- perhaps, in part, because belted drivers feel safer, and so they drive more recklessly.
Even worse, "making seat belt laws a primary offense gives unscrupulous police officers a pretext to pull over minorities, young people, people with pro-gun bumperstickers, or any other type of person the police officer may not like," noted the Independence Institute. "[It's] an invitation to selective enforcement and abuse."
Wearing seatbelts is good sense. But it should be your decision -- not the business of 11,300 law enforcement agencies.
* Abolish laws making it a crime to "scalp" tickets.
In 22 states and dozens of major cities, there are strict laws against ticket scalping. In another three states, there are minor restrictions, according to a study by Stephen K. Happel and Marianne M. Jennings (The Cato Journal, Spring/Summer 1995).
Under such laws, it's a crime to sell a ticket for a sporting or entertainment event at a price higher than the face value (or higher than some arbitrary amount, such as $1 over the face value).
These laws impose penalties ranging from a fine of $500 (New York state) to two years in prison (Pennsylvania, for multiple offenses).
Why is ticket scalping illegal -- since it is a "crime" which involves nothing more than a willing buyer and a willing seller?
Politicians say anti-scalping laws "protect the fans." However, that's not true, since fans are also buying the higher-priced scalped tickets. (Who but a true fan would pay $1,000 to see the Rolling Stones, or the NBA playoffs, or the Super Bowl?)
It would be more fair to say anti-scalping laws protect fans with more time than money (who are willing to stand in line to purchase regular-priced tickets), while discriminating against fans with more money than time (who are willing to pay higher prices for the convenience of scalped tickets).
However, you can make the case that scalping laws actually "protect the tax revenue" -- that is, they make it illegal to sell high-priced tickets for which the government doesn't get its cut.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer admitted as much in a May 27, 1999 report. Defending scalping laws, he wrote: "Ticket scalping is sometimes referred to as a 'victimless' crime. To the contrary, the victims [are] the fans ... and the State of New York, which loses ... tax revenues."
However, greedy politicians aside, fighting ticket scalping is a losing game, especially since the Internet has made it easier than ever to resell tickets. It's time for politicians to acknowledge reality -- and allow ticket entrepreneurship to flourish legally.
* Abolish laws against private sexual activity between consenting adults.
In June 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that a Texas law prohibiting sodomy was unconstitutional. That law had made it a crime for homosexuals -- but not heterosexuals -- to engage in certain sexual acts. As a result, similar laws in more than a dozen states are almost certain to be repealed.
However, that won't solve America's sex problem. According to figures in Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do:
* In 10 states, fornication (sex between unmarried adults) is illegal.
* In 27 states, adultery is against the law, with punishments ranging from a $10 fine to life in prison.
* In 10 states, cohabitation (unmarried adults living in the same residence) is illegal.
Fortunately, relatively few Americans are punished under these laws. But the fact that such statutes exist at all has a chilling effect on Americans, and gives police the power to arbitrarily threaten, harass, and arrest individuals.
When it comes to consensual, private, adult sexual activity, it's time to put the "sex police" out of business, once and for all.
* Abolish "blue" laws.
On May 25, 2003, New York city residents were able to do something that had been illegal for 300 years: Purchase liquor on a Sunday.
The state had just repealed its blue laws, which made selling booze on the "Lord's Day" a crime.
Blue laws originated in Puritanical New England in the 17th century. Designed to protect the sanctity of the Sabbath day, they were named after the blue paper on which they were printed.
Today, such laws are in retreat. For example, while in 1900 every state banned the sale of liquor on Sundays, today only 24 do, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
However, a crazy patchwork quilt of blue laws still remain, regulating a wide variety of business and non-commercial activity:
* In Texas, it is illegal for car dealerships to be open on consecutive Saturdays and Sundays.
* In Alabama, it is illegal to go hunting on Sunday.
* In York, South Carolina, stores like Wal-Mart can sell groceries on Sunday morning, but can't sell clothing until 1:30 p.m.
While a number of legal challenges have been filed against blue laws, the Supreme Court has upheld them as Constitutional.
For example, wrote Dave Roland for the First Amendment Center, in McGowan v. Maryland (1961), the court ruled that "though many Sunday closing laws are descended from religious traditions, the observance of Sunday as a day of rest or recreation is not inherently religious in nature." Such laws are allowed, the high court decided, if they promote the "health, safety, and welfare of the public."
Here's another option: Let individuals and businesses decide what's best for their health, safety, and welfare.
The Oracle newspaper (University of South Florida, January 5, 1997) said it best: "Blue laws are silly and serve no purpose. They should simply be eliminated."
* Abolish laws that make marijuana illegal.
Police love marijuana laws. How else to explain the fact that in 2000, police arrested more people for puffing the weed than they arrested for murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault combined (646,000 for marijuana possession; only 625,243 for violent crimes)?
As a result, America's jails and prisons are filling up at an unprecedented rate.
"Today there are far more people in federal prison for marijuana crimes than for violent crimes," wrote Eric Schlosser in Reefer Madness, a book about America's black markets. "More people are now incarcerated in the nation's prisons for marijuana than for manslaughter or rape."
Worst of all, many of these "criminals" are sick people. Schlosser, writing in The Atlantic (April 1997) noted: "Paraplegics, cancer patients, epileptics, people with AIDS, and people suffering from multiple sclerosis have in recent years been imprisoned for using marijuana as medicine."
What kind of sentences are people serving for possessing this illegal plant? "The laws of at least 15 states now require life sentences for certain nonviolent marijuana offenses," wrote Schlosser. "In Montana, a life sentence can be imposed for growing a single marijuana plant or selling a single joint."
Despite this, America's marijuana habit shows no sign of going up in smoke. According to Schlosser:
* Up to 3 million Americans grow marijuana; as many as 200,000 of them do so for a living.
* Marijuana may now be America's largest cash crop, with a cash value of up to $25 billion. (In 2001, "the value of the nation's largest legal cash crop, corn, was roughly $19 billion.")
The government now spends $4 billion a year to fight marijuana -- a drug that has never been proven to cause a single death. As long as a single murder remains unsolved, there are better ways to spend that money.
* Abolish laws against gambling.
In 31 states and DC, state governments sponsor legal gambling -- either lotteries that are heavily promoted on television, or ubiquitous scratch-and-win lottery cards sold at convenience stores.
Despite their role as the nation's leading promoters of wagering, most states are equally active in arresting people for engaging in the "wrong" kind of gambling.
Over the last few years, for example, police have arrested people for illegal video poker (Georgia), illegal sports gambling (New Jersey), illegal numbers games (Ohio), illegal dice games (Illinois), illegal football cards (Massachusetts), illegal slot machines (Mississippi), illegal poker games (Texas) -- and even illegal bingo (South Carolina).
This War on (non-government sponsored) Gambling has now reached the federal level: On June 11, 2003, the U.S. House passed HR 2143, a bill that seeks to stamp out Internet gambling by banning credit card payments to offshore casinos.
Two-thirds of Americans have gambled, according to the Federal Commission on the Review of the National Policy Toward Gambling. And many of that number are placing unlawful bets; fully 25% of American men plan to place an illegal bet on the next Super Bowl, reported Psychology Today.
For some people, gambling can be a problem that leads to financial ruin and despair. But for most Americans, "gambling is simply a matter of fun, a voluntary and harmless pursuit that many find rewarding. In moderation, it is neither less wholesome nor less rational than other sources of entertainment," wrote Guy Calvert (Cato Policy Analysis, June 18, 1999).
Given this, politicians' efforts to stamp out voluntary (non-state-sponsored) wagering is a losing hand; it's time for them to fold it.
Conclusion:
Different victimless crime laws are passed for different reasons.
Some are designed to keep you from doing something that may be damaging to your finances (gambling) or harmful to your health (drugs, seatbelts). Some are intended to keep you from doing things that are "immoral" (consensual sex). Some are meant to keep you from engaging in acts of commerce that others find objectionable (scalping tickets, blue laws).
However, all these illegal activities have three things in common:
First, they directly harm no one except, sometimes, the person engaged in the "crime."
Second, they are an affront to America's heritage of freedom. As Peter McWilliams wrote: "The United States Constitution and its Bill of Rights clearly give us the right to pursue our lives without the forced intervention of moralists, do-gooders, and busybodies. The American dream is that we are free to live our lives as we see fit, providing we do not physically harm the person or property of others."
And third, they drain valuable law enforcement resources away from real crimes -- and make it possible for 37.6% of American murderers to still walk the streets; for 65.6% of rapists to be free to rape again; and for 75.1% of robbers to lurk in dark alleys and plan their next crime.
For all these reasons, victimless crime laws should be repealed. The fact that politicians refuse to do so is the real crime.
www.lp.org/lpnews | 7.25.03 | Bill Winter
There's a crime being committed in America.
It's not murder -- although one murder is committed every 33.9 minutes, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.
It's not rape -- although one forcible rape occurs every 5.8 minutes.
It's not robbery -- although one robbery is perpetrated every 1.3 minutes.
No, the real crime is that so many of those murderers, rapists, and robbers get away with their crimes.
According to FBI figures for 2001, only 62.4% of murders were "cleared" -- that is, a suspect was arrested and charged with the crime. Only 44.3% of rapes were cleared. And only 24.9% of robbery investigations ended with the apprehension of the potential criminal.
But that's the "good" news. The bad news is that the clearance rate for other crimes is even lower.
For example, if your car is stolen, there's only a 13.6% chance that the police will make an arrest. If someone breaks into your house, there's only a 12.7% chance that the burglar will face charges.
Overall, for the crimes against persons and property the FBI tracks in its Uniform Crime Report -- ranging from murder to simple property crimes -- the annual clearance rate is an astonishingly low 19.6%.
Which means that, for a typical criminal, there's an 80% chance that he will never be caught for any individual act of violence or theft.
Why is the clearance rate so low?
One explanation is that police spend so much time arresting people for victimless crimes.
According to Peter McWilliams in Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do, the standard reference on the subject, "Roughly half of the arrests and court cases in the United States each year involve consensual crimes -- actions that are against the law, but directly harm no one's person or property, except, possibly, the 'criminal's.' "
McWilliams estimates that about 4 million Americans are arrested each year for victimless crimes. In addition, about 750,000 people are serving time in jail for victimless crimes, and another 3 million are on probation or parole for such crimes.
Add up the number of police, court-appointed lawyers, judges, correctional officers, and probation officers needed to investigate, arrest, book, arraign, bring to trial, defend, imprison, and monitor such "criminals" -- and you begin to understand why so many murderers walk free.
If the United States is serious about defending innocent people from vicious and avaricious criminals, a good first step would be to stop wasting police resources on crimes where there is no victim.
There are hundreds of such laws that should be abolished -- ranging from prostitution to mandated motorcycle helmets. However, in the interest of dealing with a manageable number, here are six that Libertarians could start with:
* Abolish laws requiring adults to wear seatbelts.
Over the Memorial Day weekend (May 24-26, 2003), one of the largest law enforcement efforts in American history took place: In 29 states, 11,300 law enforcement agencies set up 18,000 random roadblocks.
What kind of dangerous criminals were they looking for? Terrorists? Child molesters? Serial killers?
Nope. People who weren't wearing seatbelts.
It was the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's "Click It or Ticket" project. Over the weekend, police issued 425,000 citations for seatbelt violations.
No longer just a matter of personal choice, not wearing a seatbelt is now against the law in 49 states. (Only New Hampshire is the exception.) In 18 states, you can be pulled over for not buckling up; in another 31 states, it's a "secondary" offense, and you can only be ticketed if you're pulled over for another infraction.
The problem with such laws, according to the Independence Institute (February 10, 1999), is that "no jurisdiction that has passed a seatbelt law has shown evidence of a reduction in road accident deaths" -- perhaps, in part, because belted drivers feel safer, and so they drive more recklessly.
Even worse, "making seat belt laws a primary offense gives unscrupulous police officers a pretext to pull over minorities, young people, people with pro-gun bumperstickers, or any other type of person the police officer may not like," noted the Independence Institute. "[It's] an invitation to selective enforcement and abuse."
Wearing seatbelts is good sense. But it should be your decision -- not the business of 11,300 law enforcement agencies.
* Abolish laws making it a crime to "scalp" tickets.
In 22 states and dozens of major cities, there are strict laws against ticket scalping. In another three states, there are minor restrictions, according to a study by Stephen K. Happel and Marianne M. Jennings (The Cato Journal, Spring/Summer 1995).
Under such laws, it's a crime to sell a ticket for a sporting or entertainment event at a price higher than the face value (or higher than some arbitrary amount, such as $1 over the face value).
These laws impose penalties ranging from a fine of $500 (New York state) to two years in prison (Pennsylvania, for multiple offenses).
Why is ticket scalping illegal -- since it is a "crime" which involves nothing more than a willing buyer and a willing seller?
Politicians say anti-scalping laws "protect the fans." However, that's not true, since fans are also buying the higher-priced scalped tickets. (Who but a true fan would pay $1,000 to see the Rolling Stones, or the NBA playoffs, or the Super Bowl?)
It would be more fair to say anti-scalping laws protect fans with more time than money (who are willing to stand in line to purchase regular-priced tickets), while discriminating against fans with more money than time (who are willing to pay higher prices for the convenience of scalped tickets).
However, you can make the case that scalping laws actually "protect the tax revenue" -- that is, they make it illegal to sell high-priced tickets for which the government doesn't get its cut.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer admitted as much in a May 27, 1999 report. Defending scalping laws, he wrote: "Ticket scalping is sometimes referred to as a 'victimless' crime. To the contrary, the victims [are] the fans ... and the State of New York, which loses ... tax revenues."
However, greedy politicians aside, fighting ticket scalping is a losing game, especially since the Internet has made it easier than ever to resell tickets. It's time for politicians to acknowledge reality -- and allow ticket entrepreneurship to flourish legally.
* Abolish laws against private sexual activity between consenting adults.
In June 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that a Texas law prohibiting sodomy was unconstitutional. That law had made it a crime for homosexuals -- but not heterosexuals -- to engage in certain sexual acts. As a result, similar laws in more than a dozen states are almost certain to be repealed.
However, that won't solve America's sex problem. According to figures in Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do:
* In 10 states, fornication (sex between unmarried adults) is illegal.
* In 27 states, adultery is against the law, with punishments ranging from a $10 fine to life in prison.
* In 10 states, cohabitation (unmarried adults living in the same residence) is illegal.
Fortunately, relatively few Americans are punished under these laws. But the fact that such statutes exist at all has a chilling effect on Americans, and gives police the power to arbitrarily threaten, harass, and arrest individuals.
When it comes to consensual, private, adult sexual activity, it's time to put the "sex police" out of business, once and for all.
* Abolish "blue" laws.
On May 25, 2003, New York city residents were able to do something that had been illegal for 300 years: Purchase liquor on a Sunday.
The state had just repealed its blue laws, which made selling booze on the "Lord's Day" a crime.
Blue laws originated in Puritanical New England in the 17th century. Designed to protect the sanctity of the Sabbath day, they were named after the blue paper on which they were printed.
Today, such laws are in retreat. For example, while in 1900 every state banned the sale of liquor on Sundays, today only 24 do, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
However, a crazy patchwork quilt of blue laws still remain, regulating a wide variety of business and non-commercial activity:
* In Texas, it is illegal for car dealerships to be open on consecutive Saturdays and Sundays.
* In Alabama, it is illegal to go hunting on Sunday.
* In York, South Carolina, stores like Wal-Mart can sell groceries on Sunday morning, but can't sell clothing until 1:30 p.m.
While a number of legal challenges have been filed against blue laws, the Supreme Court has upheld them as Constitutional.
For example, wrote Dave Roland for the First Amendment Center, in McGowan v. Maryland (1961), the court ruled that "though many Sunday closing laws are descended from religious traditions, the observance of Sunday as a day of rest or recreation is not inherently religious in nature." Such laws are allowed, the high court decided, if they promote the "health, safety, and welfare of the public."
Here's another option: Let individuals and businesses decide what's best for their health, safety, and welfare.
The Oracle newspaper (University of South Florida, January 5, 1997) said it best: "Blue laws are silly and serve no purpose. They should simply be eliminated."
* Abolish laws that make marijuana illegal.
Police love marijuana laws. How else to explain the fact that in 2000, police arrested more people for puffing the weed than they arrested for murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault combined (646,000 for marijuana possession; only 625,243 for violent crimes)?
As a result, America's jails and prisons are filling up at an unprecedented rate.
"Today there are far more people in federal prison for marijuana crimes than for violent crimes," wrote Eric Schlosser in Reefer Madness, a book about America's black markets. "More people are now incarcerated in the nation's prisons for marijuana than for manslaughter or rape."
Worst of all, many of these "criminals" are sick people. Schlosser, writing in The Atlantic (April 1997) noted: "Paraplegics, cancer patients, epileptics, people with AIDS, and people suffering from multiple sclerosis have in recent years been imprisoned for using marijuana as medicine."
What kind of sentences are people serving for possessing this illegal plant? "The laws of at least 15 states now require life sentences for certain nonviolent marijuana offenses," wrote Schlosser. "In Montana, a life sentence can be imposed for growing a single marijuana plant or selling a single joint."
Despite this, America's marijuana habit shows no sign of going up in smoke. According to Schlosser:
* Up to 3 million Americans grow marijuana; as many as 200,000 of them do so for a living.
* Marijuana may now be America's largest cash crop, with a cash value of up to $25 billion. (In 2001, "the value of the nation's largest legal cash crop, corn, was roughly $19 billion.")
The government now spends $4 billion a year to fight marijuana -- a drug that has never been proven to cause a single death. As long as a single murder remains unsolved, there are better ways to spend that money.
* Abolish laws against gambling.
In 31 states and DC, state governments sponsor legal gambling -- either lotteries that are heavily promoted on television, or ubiquitous scratch-and-win lottery cards sold at convenience stores.
Despite their role as the nation's leading promoters of wagering, most states are equally active in arresting people for engaging in the "wrong" kind of gambling.
Over the last few years, for example, police have arrested people for illegal video poker (Georgia), illegal sports gambling (New Jersey), illegal numbers games (Ohio), illegal dice games (Illinois), illegal football cards (Massachusetts), illegal slot machines (Mississippi), illegal poker games (Texas) -- and even illegal bingo (South Carolina).
This War on (non-government sponsored) Gambling has now reached the federal level: On June 11, 2003, the U.S. House passed HR 2143, a bill that seeks to stamp out Internet gambling by banning credit card payments to offshore casinos.
Two-thirds of Americans have gambled, according to the Federal Commission on the Review of the National Policy Toward Gambling. And many of that number are placing unlawful bets; fully 25% of American men plan to place an illegal bet on the next Super Bowl, reported Psychology Today.
For some people, gambling can be a problem that leads to financial ruin and despair. But for most Americans, "gambling is simply a matter of fun, a voluntary and harmless pursuit that many find rewarding. In moderation, it is neither less wholesome nor less rational than other sources of entertainment," wrote Guy Calvert (Cato Policy Analysis, June 18, 1999).
Given this, politicians' efforts to stamp out voluntary (non-state-sponsored) wagering is a losing hand; it's time for them to fold it.
Conclusion:
Different victimless crime laws are passed for different reasons.
Some are designed to keep you from doing something that may be damaging to your finances (gambling) or harmful to your health (drugs, seatbelts). Some are intended to keep you from doing things that are "immoral" (consensual sex). Some are meant to keep you from engaging in acts of commerce that others find objectionable (scalping tickets, blue laws).
However, all these illegal activities have three things in common:
First, they directly harm no one except, sometimes, the person engaged in the "crime."
Second, they are an affront to America's heritage of freedom. As Peter McWilliams wrote: "The United States Constitution and its Bill of Rights clearly give us the right to pursue our lives without the forced intervention of moralists, do-gooders, and busybodies. The American dream is that we are free to live our lives as we see fit, providing we do not physically harm the person or property of others."
And third, they drain valuable law enforcement resources away from real crimes -- and make it possible for 37.6% of American murderers to still walk the streets; for 65.6% of rapists to be free to rape again; and for 75.1% of robbers to lurk in dark alleys and plan their next crime.
For all these reasons, victimless crime laws should be repealed. The fact that politicians refuse to do so is the real crime.
