Have crimes such as prostitution, drug use etc declined, remained
about the same or increased since statistics have been kept. Are the
statistics reliable?

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Request for Question Clarification by answerfinder-ga on 01 May 2004 09:10 PDT

Is this a general question or country specific? If so, which country?

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Clarification of Question by bnabs-ga on 01 May 2004 16:22 PDT

I was thinking more of governments inability to control drugs and
prostitution except when they want to generate revenu and satisfy the
public they are indeed necessary. Include speed limits in open areas
among those.

My comments need to be USA oriented. Statistics are of some value, but
you need to analyze how each is skewed by various factors. I don't
know anyone who pays a prostitute (but then I live a shelterd life) 
My guess is the traditional pimp, madam, whore house has declined in
spite of the growing USA population. That does not mean sex between
persons not married to each other has decreased. It may have doubled
in the past ten years, and frequently involves persons under 21 so
victimless crime is hardly reality. Even where the person is middle
age, no victim is rare as nearly all of us have ties to several other
people, and seeing your idol fall can be devastating.
 My guess is; neither the consequences nor the frequency of drug use
have declined, but are likely increasing faster than the population
for the past ten years, unless you want to add in caffein, aspertain,
marijuana, alcohol, nicotine, and perscription drug abuse use. Telling
lies is sometimes victimless. Cheating and stealing is almost
victimless, occasionally.  What other "victimless" crimes are you
interested in? My guess is the rate of increase is about the same in
nearly all countries.   Neil

It is my contention that the supply meets the demand be it hookers,
drugs etc, and that decriminalization of such "crimes" could free up
money and even generate tax revenue. Some countries have n o laws
forbidding it in certain areas and even in the USA in Boston, Nevada
and other areas I don't think crime has risen and I was looking for
statistics to reenforce my thinking. Bill