Victimless Crimes
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Status Quo Option: Keep the Existing Plank. For all platform categories
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has.
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The LP Platform Currently Reads
The Issue: Activities which do not affect anyone
but the actor have been criminalized by government on the basis of encoding
a particular morality into law.
The Principle: Only actions that infringe on
the rights or damage the property of others can properly be termed crimes.
Solutions: We favor the repeal of all federal,
state and local laws creating "crimes" without victims.
Transitional Action: In particular, we advocate:
A. the repeal of all laws prohibiting the production, sale, possession,
or use of drugs, and of all medicinal prescription requirements for the
purchase of vitamins, drugs, and similar substances; the repeal of all laws
restricting or prohibiting the use or sale of alcohol, requiring health
warning labels and signs, making bartenders or hosts responsible for the
behavior of customers and guests, making liquor companies liable for birth
defects, and making gambling houses liable for the losses of intoxicated
gamblers; the repeal of all laws or policies authorizing stopping drivers
without probable cause to test for alcohol or drug use; the repeal of all
laws regarding consensual sexual relations, including prostitution and solicitation,
and the cessation of state oppression and harassment of homosexual men and
women, that they, at last, be accorded their full rights as individuals;
the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting the possession, use, sale,
production, or distribution of sexually explicit material, independent of
"socially redeeming value" or compliance with "community standards";
B. the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting gambling;
C. the repeal of anti-racketeering statutes such as the Racketeer Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which punish peaceful behavior --
including insider trading in securities, sale of sexually explicit material,
and nonviolent anti-abortion protests -- by freezing and/or seizing assets
of the accused or convicted; and D. the repeal of all laws interfering
with the right to commit suicide as infringements of the ultimate right
of an individual to his or her own life. We demand the use of
executive pardon to free and exonerate all those presently incarcerated
or ever convicted solely for the commission of these "crimes." We condemn
the wholesale confiscation of property prior to conviction by the state that
all too often accompanies police raids, searches, and prosecutions for victimless
crimes. Further, we recognize that, often, the Federal Government blackmails
states which refuse to comply with these laws by withholding funds and we
applaud those states which refuse to be so coerced.
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4 Comments (This is also the place for general comments about this plank
vs. comments about particular proposals.)
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