NCJ Number
117166
Journal
Law and Contemporary Problems Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1988) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
P J Cook
Date Published
1988
Length
386 pages
Annotation
The 12 articles and 1 note in this special issue consider the legal response to gambling, drug abuse, pornography, and other vices, highlighting the interplay among public opinion, politics, harm, criminalization, and public policy.
Abstract
The first section examines the social process by which public concern about a particular vice waxes and wanes over time, including changes in attitudes toward gambling, pornography, drug abuse, and abortion. The justification of public action to suppress an activity because of its perceived harmful effects is examined with respect to the consequences of pornography and family law regarding sex-related crimes such as incest, polygamy, prostitution, and fornication. Difficulties in defining and demonstrating harm caused by illicit sex and pornography are considered, and utilitarian arguments supporting the harm principle are rejected in favor of a right to autonomy or self-governing moral independence. The cost effectiveness of criminalizing vices is discussed with respect to laws regarding abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse, and other largely consensual activities. Finally, public policies to regulate heroin use in Britain, to slow the spread of AIDS, and to control drug-related money laundering are assessed. The use of drug testing to deter drug abuse by public employees also is critically evaluated. The articles in this symposium illuminate the main issues in the definition and regulation of vice from the perspectives of law, philosophy, social science, and economics -- providing useful insights into this difficult topic. 26 footnotes. (See NCJ-117167 to NCJ-117179 for individual articles)