When is a Crime not a Crime? (Patrick)

When is a Crime Not a Crime?

                Is it just to believe that committing an act which only harms yourself a crime? Or does harming one’s self have outside repercussions? Can we make the assumption in today’s society that acts that only harm the offender are criminal offences, or can these acts not be justified if they don’t directly harm a third party? If analyzed carefully, one might see that crimes without victims have two sides to which they can be seen from a moral point of view.

                When looking at a crime, it should be safe to assume that there shall always be a victim. But when the one who committed the crime is the only victim, is it still a crime? For example, if someone were a heavy user of illegal substances such as methamphetamine, the only person to be harmed would be the user. They themselves chose to abuse the substance, and they are physically harming only their body. Why punish someone who is hurting only themselves? Self-harm through victimless crimes should be seen as punishment enough.

                Contradictory to that, there is always another side to the same token. Using the methamphetamine abuser example, we can see that this might not be a victimless act. Methamphetamine is known to cause anger and rage, which in turn could physically harm a third party. On top of that, the same substance can cause death, which can mentally harm the user’s family and friends. The fact that crimes without a victim are crimes is because there is a chance that there might just be a victim.

                Acts that which only harm the offender can be seen in two ways; either criminal or frowned upon. I believe that victimless crimes are still crimes for one simple reason. Victimless crimes should never be seen as victimless. The offender will always hurt their family, friends, or another party either mentally or physically no matter what crime the offender imposed upon themselves. For this reason, I believe no crime is without victim and all crime should be punished to prevent other parties falling victim to the offender. A victimless crime can always be called such, but that doesn’t mean outside victims have not been created.