Corrections Instead Of Prisons: Why Decriminalize?
need of "correction" than the prisoner. The caring communities have yet to be built.
from Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists
Why Decriminalize?
Abolitionists advocate drastically limiting the role of criminal law. We do this not because we wish to encourage certain behaviour, but because we realize that criminal sanctions are not an effective way of dealing with social problems. There are far too many laws on the books. It would be prohibitively expensive to enforce them all. This results in unjust and arbitrary law enforcement. Powerless persons are imprisoned while more powerful persons go free. People of colour, first nations and poor people bear the brunt of unequal law enforcement.
The crimes most frequently considered for decriminalization are those which are "victimless"....offenses that do not result in anyone's feeling that s\he has been injured so as to impel him\her to bring the offense to the attention of the authorities ....behaviour not injurious to others but made criminal by statutes based on moral standards which disapprove of certain forms of behaviour while ignoring others that are comparable. …show more content…
Overcriminalization encourages the wide use of discretionary power in law enforcement. Because there is no complainant, police resort to questionable means of enforcement. Investigative techniques used to gather evidence are often immoral and sometimes illegal. These include entrapment, use of informers, wiretapping and use of constitutional rights such as illegal search and seizure, invasion of the right to privacy and
from Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists
Why Decriminalize?
Abolitionists advocate drastically limiting the role of criminal law. We do this not because we wish to encourage certain behaviour, but because we realize that criminal sanctions are not an effective way of dealing with social problems. There are far too many laws on the books. It would be prohibitively expensive to enforce them all. This results in unjust and arbitrary law enforcement. Powerless persons are imprisoned while more powerful persons go free. People of colour, first nations and poor people bear the brunt of unequal law enforcement.
The crimes most frequently considered for decriminalization are those which are "victimless"....offenses that do not result in anyone's feeling that s\he has been injured so as to impel him\her to bring the offense to the attention of the authorities ....behaviour not injurious to others but made criminal by statutes based on moral standards which disapprove of certain forms of behaviour while ignoring others that are comparable. …show more content…
Overcriminalization encourages the wide use of discretionary power in law enforcement. Because there is no complainant, police resort to questionable means of enforcement. Investigative techniques used to gather evidence are often immoral and sometimes illegal. These include entrapment, use of informers, wiretapping and use of constitutional rights such as illegal search and seizure, invasion of the right to privacy and