NCJ Number
73984
Date Published
1980
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study discusses the unique problems and complex dilemmas involved in the evaluation of issues involving victimless crimes. Such evaluation requires particular strategies and meticulous work to cause a favorable public response and to influence public policy.
Abstract
The major evaluation issue regarding victimless crime is the impact of different juridical and enforcement arrangements for handling or ignoring the acts. Since behaviors stipulated as victimless crime have close ties to morality issues, concerned constituencies can include the offenders, their families and friends, legislators, law enforcement agents, special interest groups, and the general public. The problems and complexities involved in the evaluation of victimless crimes can be examined in a case study of gambling. In general, historical research and cross-cultural inquiry play an important role in evaluation in the victimless crime area. Cost-effectiveness is another factor evaluators must consider when assessing the effectiveness of the enforcement of victimless crime law, such as the gambling statutes. Another problem evaluators will face is the sensitivity of survey subjects (e.g., homosexuals who do not wish to advertise their sexual preferences). Scrupulous evaluators must protect their research subjects. General considerations include the issue of clairvoyance (predicting the outcome of decriminalizing some victimless behavior); the aesthetics issue (many citizens react adversely to visible congregations of prostitutes and homosexuals and to obvious porno shops and advertisements of sex shows); and finally, the semantic issue (defining the various types of victimless crimes). Many of the issues involved in this kind of evaluation are uniquely challenging because they touch directly upon basic matters of human freedom and right. A list of 48 references is appended.