> Not so. Millions upon millions are treated as criminals for completely
> noncriminal (*victimless*) behavior, usually involving voluntary
> transactions (economic or sexual) among mentally competent persons.
>
> Shane Mage
Well sure -- lots of activities that are illegal shouldn't be (drug-related activity, prostitution, doctor-assisted suicide, etc.). Whether an activity actually is illegal is a wholly separate question from whether it should be illegal (unless you take the position -- rather untenable, I think -- that only just laws properly qualify as Law).
I think our cultural obsession with guilt and innocence obfuscates the much more relevant questions of 1) what activities should be proscribed by the law? 2) how can just laws be enforced equitably? (e.g. why do black murderers usually receive harsher punishments that white murderers?) 3) what is the purpose of constitutional protections for criminal defendants: are these just to protect "innocent" defendants or are these protections valuable in and of themselves?
-WD