In reality, victimless crimes do exist in society today. Some of them have existed for a long time now. Victimless crime can be referred to or defined as actions that have been declared as illegal by the state (Ward, 2003). Victimless crimes do not violate or threaten the civil liberties of another individual on a one-on-one basis. In simple terms, victimless crime is the violation of established law without destruction or damage of property (Ward, 2003). In such a case, no victim is left behind. In society today, the most common examples of victimless crime include gambling, prostitution, tax evasion, insider trading, and drug abuse, /illicit drug use (Ward, 2003).
In the US, the most common type of victim fewer crimes includes prostitution, drug use, and gambling (Ward, 2003). These kinds of crimes are considered “victimless” because the persons violating the law are only causing harm to themselves and not any other people (no harm to the public). For instance, according to Civil Liberians, prostitution is only a personal lifestyle decision, which does not affect the civil rights of others at all (Ward, 2003).
On the other hand, by assessing the term “victimless” extensively, victims exist in the so-called victimless crimes (Ward, 2003). In most of all crimes being described as victimless, there are potential victims. The victims include people who are affected indirectly. For instance, tax evasion is a crime considered victimless, however, victims in such a case include all taxpayers who have to pay more tax to cover for the evaded tax. In the case of drug use, drug users sometimes become so addicted and they require rehabilitation services. Again, the taxpayers are the victims in such a case as they have to contribute to the rehabilitation of the drug users (Ward, 2003). As such, some of the so-called victimless crimes have identifiable victims.
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