The act done by a man to damage himself or his property is known as “vices” whereas damaging someone else or his property is known as a “crime”. There should be a distinction between these two acts, they can be treated similarly under the umbrella of law.
Vices Are Not Crimes
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first mortal woman. Zeus gave her a jar containing all the troubles and ills that mankind now knows and told her not to open it.
According to me, this was the origin of evil in society and I thought, all the ills and troubles which make society troublesome to live in were considered crimes.
Not everyone has heard about vices, Lysander Spooner explained such an important thing that we did not even consider. When I was sensible enough to understand the norms of society,
my parents use to tell me what to and what not to do, with whom I become friends, or to whom I should avoid, I could do nothing but follow.
Vices Are Not Crimes
Vices are merely errors done by men while seeking their true happiness or pleasure. Contrary to crimes, which requires malicious intention and action to be done in furtherance of that intention, to hurt others’ life or property. These two ingredients of crime are missing in vices.
Lysander Spooner (1808-1887), a legal theorist and abolitionist, provides us with such insightful perspective about the theory of individual liberty, he wanted to see people commit mistakes freely,
if necessary, as this was the only means by which one can understand from his own mistake and about the world he wants to live his life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_scene
He coined an exquisite word, in spite of using vices “victimless crimes” was used, which simply means “a man be left free and open for experiments”.
But several acts lie in the domain of “crimes” like consensual sex, prizefighting, gambling, assisted suicide, and so on.
When you hear these activities, instantly they will be crimes in your mind but if you go deep into the details every act mentioned above is done with consent,
the only thing they are doing is enjoying their personal liberty, but still, they are being punished. A Lot of Indian jails are filled with people who commit victimless crimes or enjoy their personal liberty.
Vices Are Not Crimes
vices are not crimes
Every act of man’s life is either vice or virtue and each human being differs from one another. Therefore, an ample number of acts, that are virtues,
tend to happiness in the case of one person and tend to unhappiness in the case of another. So, the distinction between vice and virtues should depend on individuals.
Moral liberty is always controlled by the government, but society finds its way later. Vices 50 years ago are the center of topics these days i.e. pre-marital sex, gender equality, individual liberty, and whatnot.
I concluded that what Lysander Spooner said is correct, “Vices are not crimes”’. But we cannot tell which vices are not a crime. The government cannot and should not infringe on our personal liberty.
But we do have to take the responsibility for our actions because other than us nobody knows about our motives.
And this is also true that there should be a distinction between vices and crimes, because what was considered wrong 100 years ago is considered right nowadays, for example, pre-marital sex.
Morals, virtues, vices, etc are temporal and spatial things. They are dependent on time; we cannot just revolutionize society in a short span.
we should we aware
We can fight for the vices we think are sustainable nowadays, we cannot say all vices are virtues. Believe in the process.
The answer is that the government has no rights whatsoever in this matter as long as these allegedly vicious individuals are still sane, compos mentis, capable of exercising reasonable judgment, and able to exercise self-control.
Vices Are Not Crimes
This is because, as long as these individuals are still sane, they must be given the freedom to judge and decide for themselves whether their alleged vices are,
in fact, vices, whether they are actually driving them to destruction, and whether, on the whole, they will go there or not.
