Zoning victimless crimes | |||||||||||||||||
Drugs, prostitution, gambling: let's create isolated zones where people can legally indulge in these acts. Adults should be free to do as they like with their bodies and cash, but I don't want to live next door to a crackhouse, casino, or brothel. Let's put these places in a "red-light district." Inside the district, anything (victimless) goes; outside, the "crimes" are strictly forbidden. To protect the surrounding areas, the red-light district would be zoned to keep it at least five miles from any residential district and ten miles from any school. A wall of drunk tanks and other facilities around the district would keep everyone who's stoned or drunk from leaving until they've sobered up. To keep substance-fueled violence and accidents to a minimum, no cars or motorcycles would be allowed within the district except for police vehicles, and no one but cops could go armed. Anyone who enters would have to pass through a metal detector or other weapons scan. To keep people from losing the family savings by gambling too much, getting mugged, or drunkenly misplacing their wallets, there'd be no cash, checks, or credit cards inside the district. The only currency would be "red-light cards," much like phone cards or store gift cards. At the district's entrance, visitors would pay to have the cards charged for up to $1,000 worth of expenditures. Then they'd check their wallets the way that you'd check a coat. Every business in the district would accept the cards to pay for goods and services. Customers who use up all of the money in their red-light cards could get the cards re-charged, but the only by leaving the district (passing through the drunk tanks and sobering up if necessary) and going back to the district's entrance. They may spend themselves into oblivion anyway, but at least they'll get a break from the hypnotic pattern of whatever addiction is draining their wallets. So that's it: legalize the victimless crimes in a way that does the least damage to society as a whole.
David Seidman, Jan 14 2004
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It's a good idea...it's called Las Vegas...
Drugs are illegal everywhere, and the US government is pretty hard on that. Prostitution is illegal in the County in which Las Vegas resides.
It seems your putting too many restrictions on such victimless crimes. I feel most vitcimless crimes are designed to protect the public as a whole. Legalizing drugs or prostitution within a specific area is likely to attract many people who would initially be turned off at the idea. Once such practices become more socially acceptable within this area, whose to say someone won't fight for legalizing these actions everywhere. Not to mention, the fear of the law keeps most average joe's away from such activities. No one wants their mother or father smoking crack in the 'red light district', or their little girlt o have hopes and ambitions of becoming a prostitute when she grows old.
I guess that this guy has an interesting idea. but it wont work. I think that funds for such places would be to accessive to mantain. People are not bad people because they act out these victimless crimes. The truth is that weither or not you condone these acts personally, that doesn't give anyone the right to tell other people they cant do them. its wrong for the laws to stop people from doing things that dont hurt anyone besides the user. if i had a vote in weither to legalize marijuana and prostitution. I wouldn't want them to be legalized. but the truth is I would vote for them to be legalized because it's another person's right to decide if they want to do these things. who has the right to tell someone they cant do something, if it isn't hurting anyone else?
I voted 'for' because it would be an improvement over the current complete illegality of these 'crimes', but I think that straight legalization would be best.
Can you prove that these 'crimes' harm society at all? Can you prove that these 'crimes' are more harmful that attempts to restrict them?
I think that people who want to hurt themselves and in general be stupid should be allowed to do so. The government isn't everyone's nanny; it simply is the institution created to protect us from others who wish to do us harm.
They are building casinos everywhere, and they do ruin people's lives financially. I haven't heard of anybody's life being ruined by a couple hours with a hooker, or by smoking pot. Better cathouses and pothouses than casinos.