Victimless crimes are not crimes at all.

RebuttalI disagree with your assertion that the purpose of law is solely to withhold the autonomy of an individual. All law relating to crime is based around safety. Someone cannot kill, steal, assault, harm, offend or abuse someone in a countless amounts of ways, and surely these are infringing on true freedom? Restrictions on purchasing alcohol, drugs, tobacco, knives and a variety of other products also infringes on freedom. Voting age, to driving age, to littering to rape all infringe on the freedom of the individual. Most of law is not based around withholding autonomy, because autonomy is the choice to do what you want, and those who want to commit crimes are all at a disadvantage. Those who want to litter, or vote under sixteen when they are underage cannot. Autonomy here is being infringed, so how can you say that law does not have a direct correlation with individual safety? How can you say that the purpose is to withhold autonomy, when so much of law is about keeping people from being killed? Maybe I want to drive down a road at 200mp/h, but I cannot because it is not safe. Maybe I want to enter a legally binding contract as a minor, maybe I want to drive a car without working lights, maybe I want to drink and drive, but all of these I cannot do, because they aren't safe. Your premise is incorrect thus every argument to follow is as well, because law isn't just about safety, but isn't mainly about autonomy. It is about the protection of rights. Law is about withholding the rights of everybody. There are 30 human rights and I will go through each one to explain firstly why I am right in that law withholds these rights, and why victimless crimes can be against them. 1. We are all free and equal. - Everyone is equal and has all rights. This is why there is law against abuse, racism and offense. This is why every citizen has the right to vote once they reach a certain age, and everyone has the right to drink, buy knives and drive once they reach a certain age. This is why there is law against discrimination, sexism and abuse. 2. Don’t discriminate. - This is obvious. There is a bounty of law against discrimination. racism and sexism for this reason. 3. The right to life. Murder, manslaughter and offenses which mentally slay a person applies here, such as rape and abuse. This is why a victimless crime such as publicly supporting murder, which may not directly offend someone, is illegal, because it is displaying discontent against a human right, 4. No slavery – past and present. Trafficking, rape, kidnapping. See number three and replace murder with slavery. 5. No Torture. Torture and abuse is internationally illegal. See number three and replace murder with torture. 6. We all have the same right to use the law. The law applies to all, not some. See number three and replace murder with a discontent for the idea of law. 7. We are all protected by the law. This is self-implied. That is why we have lawyers and courts. See above. 8. Fair treatment by fair courts. There is law advocating fair treatment. Bias and lying, even if it is victimless for this reason is illegal. 9. No unfair detainment. Also obvious. 10. The right to trial. All people have a right to trial. Even if it saves time, money and effort and doesn't harm anyone, it is illegal because it is a human right. 11. Innocent until proven guilty. Again, this is the way the justice system works, and it is legally enforced. It can be so succinctly obvious that somebody committed a crime, and as I said before it can save time, money and effort and can cause no harm, but it is a human right and is legally enforced. 12. The right to privacy. This is where law helps with autonomy. From spying, to hacking, to the right to have personal data kept hidden, all of these are enforced. Somebody can install hacking programs and not use them to harm anybody, so by definition it is victimless, but he could be arrested because of potential harm. 13. Freedom to move. Obvious again. From kidnapping to forcing somebody to stay, this is illegal. Even if the person consents, forcing somebody to stay is still illegal. 14. The right to asylum. Even more obvious and you should be seeing the pattern. Keeping somebody from asylum is illegal even if they consent. 15. The right to a nationality. Everybody has the ability to become a citizen in a country. See above. 16. Marriage and family. Every grown-up has the right to marry and have a family if they want to. Men and women have the same rights when they are married, and when they are separated. See 14 and replace asylum with marriage. 17. Your own things. Everyone has the right to own things or share them. Nobody should take our things from us without a good reason. Which is why we have laws against theft. 18. Freedom of thought. We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe, to have a religion, or to change it if we want. This is where autonomy also comes in place. 19. Free to say what you want. We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people. Law as well is a bit sketchy with this one, but just like 18 it is enforced. 20. Meet where you like. See 13, they are similar. 21. The right to democracy. We all have the right to take part in the government of our country. Every grown-up should be allowed to choose their own leaders. And every grown-up can. 22. The right to social security. We all have the right to affordable housing, medicine, education, and child care, enough money to live on and medical help if we are ill or old. There is once again, lots of legislation for this. 23. Workers’ rights. Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair wage for their work, and to join a trade union. Legislation helps this. 24. The right to play. We all have the right to rest from work and to relax. That is why there are restrictions on working hours. 25. A bed and some food. We all have the right to a good life. Mothers and children, people who are old, unemployed or disabled, and all people have the right to be cared for. A social safety net and welfare exists for this. 26. The right to education. Education is a right and a privilege. And that is definitely enforced by law. Whether you want to or not, because it is vital. 27. Culture and copyright. Copyright is a special law that protects one’s own artistic creations and writings; others cannot make copies without permission. We all have the right to our own way of life and to enjoy the good things that “art,” science and learning bring. 28. A free and fair world. There must be proper order so we can all enjoy rights and freedoms in our own country and all over the world. 29. Our responsibilities. We have a duty to other people, and we should protect their rights and freedoms. Law helps this. 30. Nobody can take away these rights and freedoms from us. And this is important, and heavily protected by law.My point is that the purpose of law coincides with rights, which contain safety and autonomy together. Legislation is there for everyone of these points. Your premise has been defeated. Victimless crimes should be crimes, but I have to get on to that later because I am running out of space. But in short, they may not harm others, but they can harm the rights of people themselves. Drug use can prevent you from thinking correctly leading to stupid decisions. In turn, you can kill yourself, hinder your responsibilities, not have freedom of thought and you are more likely to ruin these for others. Prostitution can lead to diseases brought along by yourself hindering the right to live and can be mental torture if you will. Suicide harms others mentally and you have a right to live, which you are ignoring. Even subjectively, sodomy and homosexuality are sins and the bible states that sin is death, so practicing these is hindering your right to live. My point is, law isn't for safety or autonomy, but rights, which victimless crimes cannot always support. Sources I'm afraid will have to come next round.