Victimless Crimes and the "Culture Wars" of the 1990s

Abstract

This article examines the religious, political, and economic shaping of the "cultural wars" involving victimless crimes in the United States in the 1990s. The articles identifies the genesis of the interest by American sociolegal scholars in the reform of the criminal law in the area of vice in the 1960s, and the nature of their practical and philosophical opposition to government interference in certain private acts. The article then compares the evolution of government policy and public opinion toward each of the particular victimless crimes, describing how each has evolved along a different track. It examines the connections between each of the victimless crimes in contemporary America, as well as the debates surrounding appropriate government policy on each of them. The article examines the cultural importance of attitudes toward the activities contained in these victimless crimes, and the reasons why criminal laws have been brought to bear against them, as well as the reasons and movements to remove the criminal law to reflect and to shape public opinion.