There are many criminal offenses that are enforced much less rigorously than the law allows due to the prevailing norms of the lawyers who serve as prosecuting attorneys and the manner in which the cases present themselves.
Adultery, statutory rape, criminal non-support, and criminal defamation, for example, have never been criminally prosecuted in more than a handful of cases known to law enforcement. Abortion in the pre-Roe era is another example of such an offense.
What does history tell us about how the Idaho Supreme Court might rule on abortion? Idaho banned abortion before even becoming a state — but only found six people guilty in more than a century.
Crimes without a victim?
ReplyDeleteIn some cases, yes.
ReplyDeleteBut, for example, adultery has a pretty identifiable victim (the spouse not having an affair), as does criminal defamation.