Editing Victimless crime (section)

==Examples==

Many victimless crimes begin because of a desire to obtain illegal products or services that are in high demand. Criminal penalties thus tend to limit the supply more than the demand, driving up the black-market price and creating monopoly profits for those criminals who remain in business. This "crime tariff" encourages the growth of sophisticated and well-organized criminal groups. Organized crime in turn tends to diversify into other areas of crime. Large profits provide ample funds for bribery of public officials, as well as capital for diversification.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Frase|first=Richard|title=Victimless Crime |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Victimless_Crime.aspx#1-1G2:3403000270-full|access-date=3 October 2011}}</ref>

The [[War on Drugs]] is a commonly cited example of prosecution of victimless crime. The reasoning behind this is that drug use does not directly harm other people. One argument is that the criminalization of drugs leads to highly inflated prices for drugs. For example, Bedau and Schur found in 1974 that "In England the pharmacy cost of heroin [was] 0.06 cents per grain. In the United States street price [was] $30–90 per grain." This inflation in price is believed to drive addicts to commit crimes such as theft and robbery, which are thought to be inherently damaging to society, in order to be able to purchase the drugs on which they are dependent.

In addition to the creation of a [[black market]] for drugs, the War on Drugs is argued by proponents of legalization to reduce the workforce by damaging the ability of those convicted to find work. It is reasoned that this reduction of the workforce is ultimately harmful to an economy reliant on labor. The number of drug arrests increases every year. In a poll taken by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1980 and 2009, "[over a] 30-year period...[arrest] rates for drug possession or use doubled for whites and tripled for blacks."<ref>{{cite web|last=Snyder|first=Howard|title=Arrests in The United States|url=http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2203|publisher=Office of Justice Programs}}</ref>

According to economist [[Walter Block]], illegal immigration and emigration is a victimless crime from a [[libertarian]] perspective.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Block |first1=Walter |title=Labor Economics From A Free Market Perspective: Employing The Unemployable |date=2008 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-4475-86-0 |page=176 |language=en}}</ref>

Vera Bergelson states that victimless crime comes in four main varieties:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bergelson |first1=Vera |title=Victimless Crimes |journal=International Encyclopedia of Ethics |date=1 February 2013 |pages=wbiee094 |doi=10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee094|isbn=9781405186414 }}</ref>
# An act that does not harm others (suicide, drug use, unemployment)
# A transaction between consenting adults that does not harm others (assisted suicide, gambling, prostitution)
# An act whose consequences are borne by society at large ([[tax evasion]], [[insider trading]])
# Actions which are banned due to being considered immoral ([[criminalization of homosexuality|homosexual sex]], incest, flag burning)