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9 J. Contemp. Crim. Just. iii (1993)

handle is hein.journals/jccj9 and id is 1 raw text is: 





                    Journal  of Contemporary  Criminal Justice   iii
                                   Vol. 9  No. 1  March 1993



EDITORIAL COMMENT

   The topic victimless crime has been frequently debated both in crimi-
nology and criminal justice since it first appeared in the writings of Edwin
Schur in 1965. Much of that discussion has focused on what can and should
be the effective and proper scope of the criminal law. Early monographs and
articles (e.g. Schur, 1965; Schur and Bedau, 1974; Kadish, 1967; Packer,
1968; Morris and Hawkins, 1977; and Geis, 1979) debated and discussed the
pros and cons of decriminalization of such acts, while never providing a clear
conceptual definition of the term. It was not until 1988 that a specific attempt
to provide such a definition was provided by Stitt. That definition, focusing
on the attribution of victim status, defines a victimless crime as, an illegal
act in which no one is hanned, or if harm occurs it is negated due to the
informed consent of the participant(s) (Stitt, 1988:99). Those who provide
consent must be adults, and harm can take any of five forms: (1) harm to
person, (2) harm to property, (3) psychological harm, (4) social harm, and (5)
harm  to the individual's freedom.
   Perhaps, as a result of the lack of clear and concise definition of the term
victimless crime there had been a distinct absence of empirical studies
assessing the dimensions of attitudes and problems related to victimless
crimes. Two of the papers included in this volume present empirical analyses
of victimless crime issues. Louis Veneziano and Carol Veneziano analyze
student opinions regarding  the extent of harm, if any, resulting from
victimless crimes. Theirs is an interesting piece because it suggests that
perhaps the public's perceptions of harm resulting from involvement in
victimless crimes may be greater than those of criminologists, who may be
somewhat  desensitized to the state of the human condition. Further, the
public may  not be as ready to except decriminalization as is sometimes
thought. However,  as the authors point out, it is possible that their results
have limited generalizability due to the characteristics of the sample and that
further research in this area is needed. Next, Patrick Kinkade and Matthew
Leone  analyze the opinions of a sample of sheriffs throughout the country
regarding attitudes about victimless crimes the enforcement of victimless
crime laws. They specifically address concerns regarding the overburdened
criminal justice system and whether given system constraints the sheriffs
might favor decriminalization. Perhaps to no one's surprise the relatively
conservative sheriffs generally do not favor decriminalization. This study
even more than the Veneziano piece reflects the attitudes of a narrow based
sample.  Clearly more research is needed to ascertain the attitudes of the
population as a whole.
   John Dombrink,  then, offers an insightful analysis of victimless crimes
as social issues impacting the religious, political, and economic forces at
work in the United States inthe 1990s. Beginning with the 1960s perspective
that criminal law should be used to enforce behaviors thought of as vice,

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