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Dissertation Victimless Crime
Dissertation Victimless Crime
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Abstract
The study goes on to explain the nature of victimless crime and assesses
what it means to be a victim, particularly with respect to cultural aspects
and the "Golden Rule". The arguments are discussed whether drug
possession and prostitution should be legalised from an ethical standpoint
before examining whether they actually could be legalised, drawing both
on international experience and an historical perspective of victimless
crime.
The study concludes that there are circumstances in which changes to the
law might be appropriate taking into account the needs and personal
safety of all the stakeholders involved, including society itself.
Recommendations are also made with respect to the interactions between
these stakeholders.
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Declaration of Authorship
Date: 18/04/2013
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Contents
Chapter 8 Bibliography 62
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Chapter 1: Literature Review & Methodology
The study is a critical review of victimless crime in the UK. The research is
due to the criminal nature of drug possession and prostitution. For these
by other studies.
time. For example, although it may be argued that few people were hurt
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by homosexuality, the state supported views that it was immoral and this
this can be seen as a proven strength of the theory since social change
has occurred which advocates its validity as a theory. It may be that the
two offences remaining, i.e. soliciting for prostitution and the supply of
controlled substances, are otherwise prohibited for reasons other than the
ones discussed. This would show that Schurs research was once
extremely valid but that his examples, due to predicted social change, are
A critical examination shows that his work can be criticised from two
consensually, without pressure from pimps, the very act itself degrades
the person committing the act of prostitution, and in this sense they are a
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legalise victimless crime without first defining victimisation (Bedau and
Schur, 1974).
theories have come under criticism from the feminist Kruttschnitt (1984)
who, while agreeing with the overall assessment of the extent of female
labelling, disagreed that women who commit crime are more likely to be
labelled as deviant than men who had been prosecuted for the same
crime contradict this, which leads to reliability concerns for the research.
The purpose of this study is to research the victimless crimes that have
not been legalised and to consider the arguments for such legalisation.
The evidence needs to be considered for both its practical and moral
ramifications.
guidelines that you would use to critique an economic policy. The method,
appropriately.
Evaluating ethics
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statement murder is wrong. There are no guidelines to what is actually
statements clash? Take for example the two statements to kill is always
statement outlaws the second despite them both stating that murder is
wrong.
Evaluating Practicalities
considering more practical concerns, they are not prioritised. The practical
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approach as the evaluation of resource, without data, can be only
superficial.
Data are raw facts or statistics which can be utilised to form evidence in
that can be used to form evidence; this is not to say that the information
that the hot temperature boosts sales. However, this does not
statistically significant link which would indicate that the result is unlikely
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When considering the conclusions of other researchers it is important to
look for reliability and validity. Reliability suggests that the test could be
repeated and would get the same results. Validity means that the test is
related to the topic and that the data produced is therefore valid.
study are provided by the Home Office. Whilst the integrity of such
data is published over considerable time, some data for recent years is
period between 2004 and 2009 as equivalent data is available for this
period.
References
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Schur, E. (1965) Crimes without victims: deviant behaviour and public
policy: Abortion, homosexuality, drug addiction. Englewood Cliffs:
Prentice Hall.
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Chapter 2: What is victimless crime?
culture. Whilst the first is often associated with the second, there are
with the engine running, as defined by Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act
associated with that label. For example, a young man who was labelled as
outside corner shops. Due to the association with the stereotype of anti-
social youth, assumptions might be made that the person also engaged in
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other deviant behaviour also associated with anti-social behaviour, such
label, have been studied. Tajfel (1981) suggests that the recipient of a
label identifies with that group. This then creates in-groups and out-
groups. This stems from cognitive theory that people group by difference
then justifies the label to themselves and to their peers. They will then
identify with that out-group as their in-group, which is one of the reasons
for the development and spread of gang culture. In turn, this leads to the
public fear of crime down. However, Kelling & Wilson (1982) also identify
that this fear, on the whole, was not of violent offenders, or even of
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was not enforcing the law; rather he was enforcing the neighbourhood
rules by removing the anti-social from the streets. But those who suffer
under such a policy are those who legitimately and legally deviate from
societys rules, the foreign and the different. Kelling & Wilson (1982)
the focus of this has always been on the conclusions he has drawn and
not the evidence he provides. He breaks victimless crime into three key
parts:
free will.
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3. Lacks a complainant: there is no-one involved or present who feels
likely to complain.
controlled due only to their violation of social norms and not for any
two of these offences have now been legalised, possibly in line with the
major weakness as in 1974 little study had been conducted in the field of
has the benefit that Schurs suggestions can be critiqued with new data
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References
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Chapter 3: What is victimisation?
Bedau (Bedau and Schur, 1974) asked the question: can victimless
point, does the absence of such criteria suggest that the act should not be
criminalised?
a person who has come to feel helpless and passive in the face of
misfortune or ill-treatment
(Oxford Dictionary, 2013)
The term the Golden Rule refers to the philosophical concept that people
be drawn between the absolute nature of the Golden Rule and Absolute
Human Rights which every human unconditionally has (Human Rights Act
1998). Namely, you do not have to qualify for these rights; it should be
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how everyone is treated. The core of victimisation arguably attacks that
The strength of the Golden Rule is in its coherence with many other
pleasure and pain. It stands to reason that we would like to not be pained
the victim and the victimiser McGlynn et al. (2012). McGlynn et al.
violation of the absolute human rights of one or other of the parties to the
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relationship. It can be argued that if the Golden Rule governs all human
many other consumables that are not illegal yet which have severe
suggested, cynically, that the state is quite happy to let people kill
themselves with tax revenue raising vices, although there are obviously
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Do victimless crimes victimise people? Of the four that Schur (Schur and
Bedau, 1971) proposed, the two that have been since legalised do not.
there is a relationship between the mother and the father, or between the
mother and future grandparent, who coerces the mother to receive the
was mainly the relationship between the state or society and the offender.
albeit a sexual one. It has been suggested by feminist theorists that the
and the client is completely impersonal. The client does not even
perceive, let alone treat the prostitute as the person she is; he has
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no interest, no time for any of her personal characteristics, but
basis of the Golden Rule, i.e. the sovereignty of human life, is violated
by prostitution.
between the drug and the user certainly has similarities with human
It is worthy of note that, of the four examples, the two most damaging to
human stability are the ones that are still illegal. By contrast, the other
two, which have minimal effect, have been legalised. This provides a
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strong precedent to suggest that creating a victim is not enough to cause
References
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Chapter 4.1: The argument for legalising controlled drugs and
prostitution.
services and substances, there are two major questions to ask. Firstly,
There is some dispute over whether or not drug addicts are, in fact,
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consider both the happiness derived from drug use, and the associated
Feldman (2004) expands upon this to suggest that pleasure and pain can
(Hesse and Tutenges, 2010), and long-term excess use can lead to liver
a persons life has improved with the presence of alcohol in it, because if
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this were not the case the pains would outweigh the pleasures and the
individual would not drink alcohol, or at least not more than once.
take into consideration human variation: after all, what one person may
find pleasurable may not be the same for another. However, despite such
coherence with other theories, the logical claim, the theory is not without
the pleasure outweighs the pain, is reliant on the presence of free will.
Consent can only exist if the decision to act was made freely. In the
question.
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If someones life revolves around the partaking of an addictive substance,
does the person make a truly voluntary decision to take it each day? The
nature of many drugs is that they are addictive (Ghodse, 2002). This
justification of drugs into dispute, as what may have once been choice
becomes forced.
all the pleasure gained, in a lifetime, to the pain also suffered in the same
Take, for example, two individuals, John and Mark. They are at a
party and both choose to take cocaine. At the time both men had taken
the drug before and chose to do it again. Both got intense happiness and
pleasure from the experience for roughly the same length of time. Two
contrast, Mark regularly takes cocaine for the next thirty years and in that
time he escalates onto crack cocaine and a result suffers from respiratory
problems for many years before eventually dying from resulting heart
disease. Near the time of death, Mark expresses sincere regret for his
cocaine addiction and believes that it was not worth it. In these cases, a
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hedonist explanation would suggest that taking cocaine enriched Johns
life but it did not improve Marks. However, the benefit is only measurable
After all, it is too late to ban the substance at the time of death.
the sale of alcohol and cigarettes since children are unable to buy them.
Section 7 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 prohibits the sale
smoke?
Home Office literature suggests that there are severe cons and pains
(Home Office, 2010) outlines Teresa Mays (Home Secretary) vision as:
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Tackling drugs and addressing alcohol dependence, both of which are
key cause of societal harm, including crime, family breakdown and
poverty. Together, they cause misery and pain to individuals, destroy
families and undermine communities. Such suffering cannot be
allowed to go unchecked.
Home Office (2010, pp.2)
The Home Secretary, a key policy maker, is not claiming that there is no
pleasure to be gained from drug usage; rather that the vision is very
much that the pain (crime, family breakdown and poverty) outweighs the
the community as a whole. Note also the usage of the term societal
interest, Mills (1789). This makes the ethical argument considerably more
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credible in context of community values. Mills (1789) defines community
interest as a:
Shaw (1999) notes that utilitarianism also acknowledges that the sources
is that a varying moral standard can exist; the judge is society itself.
elected policy maker is, in a legal and ethical sense, law. However, the
mandate and, usually soon after, their legal one, when they are voted out
of office.
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References
Feldman, F. (2004) Pleasure and the good life, Oxford: Oxford University
Press
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Chapter 4.2: Should prostitution be legalised?
client. While there has been a growing movement to educate the Johns
impact the prostitute herself/himself much more than it would the client.
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It is a sad fact that sex slavery still exists in the 21st century. Between
April 2009 and December 2010, 540 persons who had been trafficked for
consequence of their line of work, it should be clear that this is not the
is there a sound moral concern for the act of providing sexual services to
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Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are
outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who
is in you, [when you're saved] whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore
honour God with your body
Corinthians, (1973, 6:18-20).
sexual service for payment is, according the bible morally wrong. The
wrong, can an act become wrong over time or is what is changing simply
person access to his/her most private parts of the body, other industries
have very sensitive requirements too. Take, for example, a doctor, who in
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A convincing distinction is that it is not the exposure of the genitalia
itself that has meaning. Rather, it is the meaning behind the act of sexual
when a person hires a prostitute, he is not renting the use of her body,
significance can vary widely since different meanings, ranging from love
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References
Gentile, A. (2009) Teaching old Johns no new tricks. American City &
County. 124 (11), 18-18
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Chapter 5.1: Could Controlled Drugs be legalised?
resources are being spent badly, it should be evidenced that the money is
not having a significant impact. Value for money can be defined as:
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This study therefore considers the following hypothesis: expenditure from
money.
Measurements of progress:
2005).
UK.
The 2009 Home Office Budget spent 322.8 million on a cutting drug
crime strategy (Home Office, 2011). That year the re-offending rate for
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number of crimes are not reported: this is described as the dark figure of
crime (Hammersley, 2011). Once an offender has been arrested and they
have surrendered DNA and fingerprints, they are more likely to be caught
are so high.
counteract the absence of all data, clearly the only option is to scrutinise
Re-offending rates have decreased since 2004 (Home Office, 2011). This
2004 and 2009, from 20,652 to 53,109 or by over 150% (Home Office,
increase in offences.
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Heroin and cocaine is prioritised by the UK Government as the greatest
risk (TDPF, 2009). During the 2005-2008 periods European street prices
Nations 2010). The United Nations World Drug Report suggests that
UK, however, differed from the rest of the continental Europe in that
heroin prices maintained a stable price. This was believed to be the result
price suggests that supply was not unduly affected. This is supported by
the No. 10 Strategy Unit Drugs Project (2003) which predicts that,
stopped:
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Additionally, cocaine prices have also maintained a steady price with very
little variation between wholesale prices per gram from 2002 to 2008
(United Nations, 2010). The same report does suggest more variation in
street prices, which fell steadily from 2002 to 2005, with a sharp increase
for 2006. However, post 2006 prices have fallen again, reaching a total
In summary, heroin and cocaine prices have fallen or stayed the same,
seizures during the same period, the likely explanation is that overall
In the light of such evidence, the only justification for maintaining current
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The only way that such a scenario can be predicted is to examine
the precedent of another country which has done exactly that. However,
national social problem. Twelve years after personal use was de-
criminalised, drug use has fallen to the countrys 13th biggest problem by
the same polls (The Economist, 2013). The emphasis was on de-
criminalising drug use but not on legalising it. The focus was still upon
rehabilitation rather than arresting users for the personal use of drugs.
2006.
should be noted that at this time the UK had the highest rate of cocaine
use in Europe.
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Analysis of Portuguese spending allows a comparison to be drawn: the
drug users in Portugal has shown a decline, and this is especially the case
for injecting drug users from 2000-2005 (Institute for Drugs and
UK policy makers can learn from their European cousins and current
Professor David Nutt was sacked (BBC, 2009). Are politicians now experts
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Prime Minister at the time, such a decision demonstrates accountability to
References
Anon (2013) Towards a ceasefire; winding down the war on drugs. The
Economist, 406 (8824) 57-57.
BBC, (2009) Cannabis row drugs advisor sacked [online]. Available from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8334774.stm. [Accessed date:
17/04/2013].
44
Prime Ministers Strategy Unit (2003) No 10 Strategy Unit Drugs Project:
Phase 1 Report: Understanding the Issues. London: Crown.
Transform Drug Policy Foundation (2009) A comparison of the cost-
effectiveness of prohibition and regulation of drugs. Bristol: Transform
Drug Policy Foundation.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2010) World Drug Report
2010. New York: United Nations Publications.
Wilson, C. (2009) Legalise Drugs. New Scientist, 203 (2725) 32-33.
45
Chapter 5.2: Could prostitution be legalised?
It was suggested that demand for sex workers would always ensure that
regulate the industry seem to have failed, with more trafficking, money
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women for the sex trade. Clearly, there is a difference between, as Siegel
significantly more dangerous, Church et. al. (2001) suggested that 81%
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Home Office research highlighted the difficulty in statistically evaluating
demand, which makes prostitution less lucrative (Home Office, 2009). The
there was no way to ensure that sex-working was not displaced rather
2009).
that be desirable? From December 2012 to February 2013 there has been
and were joining the job market, would this be beneficial? Without
suggesting that the state should expect part of the workforce to be reliant
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Three risks frequently reported for sex-workers are: health based,
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDs, and spread via
shared needles and sexual intercourse; drug risk, severe reported health
risks stemming from crack cocaine and heroin; and assault, from both
better for them to be off the streets since, as observed, the risks of class
the streets. The Netherlands strategy of legalising the trade, to the point
Did the Swedish zero tolerance drive these violent Johns towards indoor
sex-workers?
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How can UK policy makers dramatically reduce street-working in favour of
considerably more likely for street sex-workers (Duff, 2011). Duff also
notes that clients are more likely to refuse to wear a condom on the
working population both good relations with and trust in the police. This is
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Considerations from Chapter 4 suggest that, from an ethics perspective,
people have the right to choose how they value their bodies. Therefore,
the balance needs to be to what extent the state intervenes to protect the
public solicitation could replace the lax street policy many police forces
employ today. However, this will drive many of the dangerous clients and
policy to be successful, the police must have the prostitutes trust so that
zero tolerance.
References
Gray, J. (2007) Open the debate on safety. Nursing Standard 21 (17) 1-1
Home Office (2004) Paying the price: a consultation paper on prostitution.
London: Crown
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Home Office (2009) Tackling the demand for prostitution a rapid evidence
assessment of the published research literature. London: Crown
National Statistics (2013) Labour Market Statistics, April 2013. London:
Crown.
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Chapter 6: Cultural Precedents in Historical Victimless Crime
persuade these people to follow norms. Failure to do so, even when such
condemning the behaviour, and the police as agents of the law step in to
precedents. Schur, who stated that victimless crime was derived from
Two, prostitution and drug possession are still controlled today. Two,
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A similarity between both homosexuality and abortion is that they are
to societys norms, is it likely that the decline of the churchs influence is,
homosexuality?
Globalisation has given people greater ability to travel from their places of
birth. This has allowed, in a cultural sense, citizens to pick and choose
which norms they wish to adopt and which they would rather ignore.
Historically, a person was bound to where they were born and lived.
of Catholic women were referred via doctors and mostly relied upon
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The study concluded:
the service they want. Is this a lesson that can be applied to that
Abortion was legalised by the Abortion Act 1964. This was part of Home
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respectively. David Steel claims to have been motivated by the class
difference; it was abhorrent to him that richer women could afford a safe
but still illegal abortion, while poorer women risked death from an
was supported by Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, despite the failure of six
the support of Lord Arran, proposed the Sexual Offences Bill 1966. The
main driving force behind such a bill was the Wolfenden Report 1957
Offences Bill was passed which legalised homosexual acts under stringent
Wildeblood, Lord Montagu and Michael Pitt-Rivers (all of whom were well-
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was largely immune from convincing psychological explanations of
his condition
Houlbrook and Waters (2006, p. 159-160).
agencies that work privately, and generally cater for a more affluent
References
Anon (2007) Change the law to make early abortion easier. New
Statesman (1996). 136 (4869) 4-4
57
Compton, P., Goldstrom, L. et al. (1974) Religion and Legal Abortion in
Northern Ireland. Journal of Biosocial Science. 6 (4) 493-500.
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Chapter 7: Conclusions and Recommendations
The study looked to evaluate the role victimless crime had in the 21st
century, within the UK. A criticism of the study is that some chapters
considering such topics was to further expand on the crux of the study,
crimes. It is not surprising that they are legal in the 21st centurys
define in this way, but this study argues that in some cases the act of
committing the offence can degrade, and thus victimise the offender. Due
in that the extent that the benefits of pleasure can be enjoyed without
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suffering inordinate pains. While the ethics of drug-use concludes that a
apply to the ruling elite. Tony Blair once declared the class war to be over
there are still clear barriers between the policy makers of today and the
today.
This study suggests that the legislative support for reducing prostitution is
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compromise of selective de-criminalisation, however despite this, current
recommends that the state seriously research building trust in local police
units among sex workers with the view to enable a successful zero
tolerance strategy.
society does not provide justification for victimisation of its own. Ethical
and common sense should prevail against pure populist motives, whether
Reference
BBC (2011) Viewpoint: why the class struggle is not dead. [online]
Accessible from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14721315
[Accessed 18th April 2013]
61
Bibliography:
Anon (2007) Change the law to make early abortion easier. New
Statesman (1996). 136 (4869) 4-4
Anon (2013) Towards a ceasefire; winding down the war on drugs. The
Economist, 406 (8824) 57-57.
BBC (2011) Viewpoint: why the class struggle is not dead. [online]
Accessible from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14721315
[Accessed 18th April 2013]
62
Degenhardt, L. and Day, C. et. al. (2005) The impact of a reduction in
drug supply on demand for and compliance with treatment for drug
dependence. Drug and Alcohol Dependance. 79 (2), 129-135.
Feldman, F. (2004) Pleasure and the good life, Oxford: Oxford University
Press
Gentile, A. (2009) Teaching old Johns no new tricks. American City &
County. 124 (11), 18-18
Gray, J. (2007) Open the debate on safety. Nursing Standard 21 (17) 1-1
Greenwald, G. (2009). Drug decriminalization in Portugal. Washington:
Cato Institute.
Home Office (2009) Tackling the demand for prostitution a rapid evidence
assessment of the published research literature. London: Crown
63
Johnson, N. (1992) Political Consequences of PR: the British idea of
responsible government. London: Centre of Policy Studies
64
Transform Drug Policy Foundation (2009) A comparison of the cost-
effectiveness of prohibition and regulation of drugs. Bristol: Transform
Drug Policy Foundation.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2010) World Drug Report
2010. New York: United Nations Publications.
65