Victimless Crime

<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">A <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">victimless crime is an illegal act that typically either directly involves only the perpetrator or occurs between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent" title="Consent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">consenting</a>adults; because it is consensual in nature, there is arguably no true victim, i.e. aggrieved party.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Definitions of victimless crimes vary in different parts of the worlds and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_system" title="Law system" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">law systems</a>, but usually include possession of any illegal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraband" title="Contraband" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">contraband</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreational_drug_use" title="Recreational drug use" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">recreational drug use</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution" title="Prostitution" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">prostitution</a>and prohibited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_behavior" title="Sexual behavior" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sexual behavior</a> between consenting adults (e.g. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_sex" title="Public sex" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">public sex</a>), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_trafficking" title="Arms trafficking" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">arms trafficking</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smuggling" title="Smuggling" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">smuggling</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_smuggling" title="Human smuggling" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">human smuggling</a>, among other similar infractions.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"></a> However, there is controversy surrounding this.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"></a> Edwin Schur and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Adam_Bedau" title="Hugo Adam Bedau" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Hugo Adam Bedau</a> state in their book <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Victimless Crimes: Two Sides of a Controversy that "some of these laws produce secondary crime, and all create new 'criminals,' many of whom are otherwise law-abiding citizens and people in authority."<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">In politics, a lobbyist or an activist might use this phrase with the implication that the law in question should be abolished.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-SchurEdwin_3-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-SchurEdwin-3" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"></a><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Victimless crimes are, in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_principle" title="Harm principle" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">harm principle</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill" title="John Stuart Mill" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">John Stuart Mill</a>, "victimless" from a position that considers the individual as the sole <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sovereign" title="wikt:sovereign" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sovereign</a>, to the exclusion of more abstract bodies such as a community or a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_(polity)" title="State (polity)" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">state</a>against which criminal offenses may be directed.