vice laws
Sin-policing statutes
Vice laws are statutes that criminalize activities considered immoral rather than directly harmful to others—gambling, prostitution, drug use, pornography, and historically alcohol.
The term reflects an older view that government should enforce moral standards.
The police department formed a vice squad to enforce vice laws.
Critics argue such laws criminalize victimless behavior between consenting adults.
- prostitutionCommercial sexual services
- street cornerWhere two roads intersect
- gamblingBetting on uncertain results
- pornographySexually explicit arousing material
- drug useConsuming intoxicating substances
seedy underworld · morality · alcohol consumption · liquor license · sting operation · temperance · criminal justice system · red-light district · blue laws · stigma · prohibition · human trafficking · community standards · obscenity laws · public decency · crackdown · unlawful conduct · harm reduction
- criminal lawcrime, felony, misdemeanor, murder, robbery
- regulationsrules, rule, regulations, regulation, laws
- vicedebauchery, prostitution, depravity, immorality, drugs
- ProhibitionProhibition, speakeasies, bootlegger, bootleggers, speakeasy
- decriminalizationlegalization, legal reform, penal reform, drug reform, drug policy
- liquor lawsDUI, legal age, public intoxication, alcohol ban, open container
vice lawslegalization
Making something lawful
civil liberties · personal freedoms · decriminalization · individual rights · privacy rights