On April 15th, federal authorities busted the three largest online gambling websites in the U.S., PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker. The feds charged 11 people involved with these sites with bank fraud, illegal gambling, and using banks to process the billions of dollars earned from this illegal activity.

The “Victimless” Crime Debunking the Myth of the “Victimless” Crime Conclusion I. Protecting the Victims of “Victimless” Crimes SUMMER 2011.This publication is intended for educational purposes only. NCVLI makes no warranty regarding the current status of the statutes, cases, and other authorities cited or summarized. Some refer to public order crimes as 'victimless crimes' because participants are willing and not actually harmed. Others claim there is no such thing as a victimless crime. Who, then, should be considered the victim?

This comes in the midst of multiple recent federal prosecutions of crimes that have very little to do with protecting the public or violations of person or property. As Conor Friedersdorf points out in The Atlantic, the Department of Justice (and nearly half of the United States Senate) believes that it is extremely urgent to spend $55 million trying baseball legend Barry Bonds, cases of 'obscenity' that ultimately take years to prosecute, and immigration and drug enforcement (which together make up 70% of their cases).

This recent surge in a witch hunt for 'crimes' that do not actually harm any third party is a frightening sign for the future of individual liberty, the proper role of law in society, and the taxpayers who are footing the bill for these investigations.

In a free society, government and law exist to protect the rights of individuals from exercising their liberty and bringing to justice those who in their 'pursuit of happiness' commit harm to others in the process. Punishing aggression, fraud, theft, murder, rape, and pollution all fit into the necessary restrictions on liberty precisely because these actions violate the freedom and security of others.

What federal prosecutors are currently engaged in, however, with the prosecution of online gambling and the other activities mentioned above amounts to a gross violation of injustice and a warped version of law and order. These activities are victimless crimes, and without a victim, there can be no crime.

Societies can (and do) have moral problems with victimless crimes like gambling, drug use, prostitution, and 'obscene' pornography, and these are a sign of a healthy culture. These activities can be physically damaging and incredibly addictive, but making them against the law not only violates the classical liberal principle of justice, but actually increases these vices.

Why Is Illegal Gambling Considered A Victimless Crimes

Alcohol prohibition turned America into drunks and bootleggers, current drug prohibition turns a manageable problem into a national epidemic, and government's current restrictive regulation and taxation of cigarettes is creating an increasingly violent tobacco black market.

Because ultimately, law is force, and force can only be justified in self-defense or in the punishment of someone who has violated the property rights and/or freedom of another individual. When law oversteps these boundaries, moral busybodies — who always find their way to the halls of government power — enforce their 'morality' on society and pave the path to disorder and injustice with their supposed good intentions.

From a practical standpoint, in this modern age of constant technological innovation and the horizontal interconnectedness of the Internet, the government is ultimately undermatched in its pursuit of victimless criminals. The marketplace always finds a way to provide people with the services they desire, like a river that flows effortlessly around obstacles in its path. All laws against consensual acts that don't harm third parties do is create black markets with immense profits that attract the most violent and ruthless gangs.

We may see certain behavior as sinful, but using coercive state power to deal with vice is counterproductive, immoral, and antithetical to a free and tolerant society.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Why Is Illegal Gambling Considered A Victimless Crime Scene

The victimless crime can also be termed as consensual crime. It is one type of indirect threat to the privacy of innocent people that are lived in the society. In fact such people may not make report against such victimless crime. Because they are not direct victims and such crime is not initiated to the targeted victims. The victimless crime is not defined in jurisprudence. It is a political term. A crime is an infraction of law. The laws are intended to protect the people from the criminal act.

So the criminal act is supposed to have a victim. The victimless crimes include consensual crimes, suicide/drug use rimes, crimes that born in society but without direct victim and non-human entities like governments. The best example of victimless crime is possession of drugs. MEANING AND ACTION Such type of crimes cannot be discovered unless the police to look for them. The victimless includes such crimes like illegal gambling, drug use, selling sex etc. The victimless crimes are illegal acts where the victims found as offenders.

The victimless crimes are established to take control on social relations particularly in lower classes. Various efforts and resources should be resorted to prevent such members of the public from doing victimless crimes. In fact the victimless crime may be harmful to the user of its own, but the public at large may suffer though they are not targeted. Many of the public suffering with cases like drug abuse, dangerous sports, unusual sex, illegal parties, alternative medicines etc that are not approved by the State/Country.

But the government may act in these cases like imposing fines, confiscation of property, imprisonment, liquidation of business of the wrong doer etc. Victimless crime is such crime which does not physically harm any person or property. As long as physically harm any person or property, no other persons should not make complaint against the wrongdoer. Presently more than 350,000 people are in US jails for consensual crimes. Since the third persons cannot make against such victimless crime, the government officials must address the victimless crime and should enforce the crime law against the suspects.

Such enforcement also necessary with respect to the protection under Fourth Amendment which indicates the protection to the privacy of innocents. To make protection, some of the following actions will have to be undertaken by the government. 1. Ban on factual sex education 2. Clothing restriction in schools 3. Alcohol & tobacco prohibition 4. Erotica prohibition 5. Loitering laws 6. Drug laws 7. RICO laws CHILD PORNOGRAPHY It is such term that the courts and media use. It is dangerous misnomer which hides the seriousness and abuse.

The term is used to express sexual explicit those who are consenting i. e. adults. However the children neither adults nor they can give legal consent. CONCLUSION This is a type of crime and no harm is done to other people. However it is violation of law and moral standards. Such victimless crime may be cited with the examples of Prostitution, Homosexuality, suicide, abortion, gambling, Exhibitionism etc. The prevention of victimless crime hence should be linked with the community policing where the community participate. Because the government cannot investigate on each person.

It is the responsibility of community to address such persons who are committing the victimless crimes. The role of community is more required by providing the assistance like identifying, counseling the persons, arranging programmes that will explain the damages of crimes etc. In order to reduce the criminal activity several approaches are required. One of the famous approaches is community policing. It is formed with the partnership of the community, government and police. The policy is based that more involvement of community would benefit the society.

Hence the related programmes should be designed and the role of law must be limited in connection with victimless crime.

REFERENCE:

1. http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/1327317/victimless-crime 2. http://www. privacilla. org/government/victimlesscrimes. html 3. http://sociologyindex. com/victimless_crime. htm 4. http://www. chaos-works. com/ch17. html 5. http://www. halexandria. org/dward267. htm 6. http://www2. canada. com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story. html? id=a9160bc4-7f73-4ed4-ae87-4cacd68bce57&p=1