NCJ Number
104451
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1987) Pages: 38-54
Date Published
1987
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The influence of American capitalism has made legislators reluctant to proscribe businesses that pander to varieties of criminal behavior.
Abstract
Entrepreneurs in America are generally free to manufacture and supply paraphernalia used in the manufacture and ingesting of illegal drugs, as they were allowed to produce and sell devices for the manufacture of illicit alcoholic beverages during the prohibition era. Objects made to defeat traffic laws and fulfill sexual fantasies are also produced without state interference, as are many weapons of violence. This permissiveness relative to businesses that pander to criminal behaviors stems from capitalism's reluctance to overregulate or proscribe profitmaking ventures, regardless of their potential adverse consequences. There have been isolated efforts to restrict profitmaking associated with crime, however. There is a nationwide legislative movement to prevent criminals from receiving profits derived from movie and book portrayals of their crimes. Similar proscriptions should be enacted against profiteering from devices, films, and literature whose sole purpose is to enhance criminal behavior or encourage abnormal and violent behavior. 26 references.