Consensual crimes involve two or more persons who have consented to engage in any activity that is regarded as unlawful. Since both parties have shown willing consent, determining the victim and the person who has caused the harm cannot be proven, terming it as a victimless crime. Consensual crimes continue to elicit heated debate due to their nature and the fact that they are a controversial topic of morals. Example of these crimes includes prostitution, gambling, drug abuse, homosexuality, and pornography.
In my case, legalizing consensual crimes might be faced with several challenges, therefore should not be legalized. First, the argument of legalizing consensual crimes is on the space of individual’s freedom (Albanese , 2014). Adults or people who have attained the age of consent are free to choose; therefore, they enjoy their democratic right to engage in such acts, as seen in the cases of prostitution and gambling. Criminalizing these act violate citizens' freedom without offering protection from corresponding harm. Secondly, legalizing the consensual crimes would lead to the criminal justice system spending most of its funds persecuting the offenders instead of such funds being allocated to fighting and administering justice to more severe and critical crimes. Studies have shown that the public perception of these crimes is relatively low as compared to other crimes that are considered serious and rank high (Lafollette, 2013).
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Thirdly, since consensual crimes are considered as pubic-order offences, the number of individuals that would be prosecuted would lead to increase in the number of jail population and cost of operating the jail or even opening up some new. Additionally, in cases of drug abuse, enforcing the laws on consensual crimes by the police is deemed ineffective and not worthwhile as it had led to a violation of civil liberties and increased police corruption. Therefore, police enforcement should be more focused on serious crimes.
References
Albanese S. J. (2014). The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice : Victimless Crime. Published by John Wiley and Sons Inc. DOI: 10.1002/9781118517383.wbeccj071
Lafollette, H. (2013). International Encyclopedia of Ethics: Victimless Crimes. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee094
