Reduced or absence of a criminal penalty for certain acts, illegal or legal
Not to be confused with legalization.
Decriminalization or decriminalisation is the legislative process which removes prosecutions against an action so that the action remains illegal but has no criminal penalties or at most some civil fine.[1] This reform is sometimes applied retroactively but otherwise comes into force from either the enactment of the law or from a specified date. In some cases regulated permits or fines may still apply (for contrast, see: legalization), and associated aspects of the original criminalized act may remain or become specifically classified as crimes. The term was coined by anthropologist Jennifer James to express sex workers' movements' "goals of removing laws used to target prostitutes", although it is now commonly applied to drug policies.[2] The reverse process is criminalization.
Decriminalization reflects changing social and moral views. A society may come to the view that an act is not harmful, should no longer be criminalised, or is otherwise not a matter to be addressed by the criminal justice system. Examples of subject matter which have been the subject of changing views on criminality over time in various societies and countries include:
Abortion (see: abortion law and abortion-rights movements)
Breastfeeding in public
Drug possession, and recreational drug use (see: drug liberalization)
Euthanasia (see: legality of euthanasia)
Gambling (see: gambling age)
Homosexuality (see: decriminalization of homosexuality and LGBT rights by country or territory)
Polygamy[3] (see: legality of polygamy)
Prostitution (see: decriminalization of sex work)
Public nudity
steroid use in sport
Suicide (see: suicide legislation)
In a federal country, acts may be decriminalized by one level of government while still subject to penalties levied by another; for example, possession of a decriminalized drug may still be subject to criminal charges by one level of government, but another may yet impose a monetary fine. This should be contrasted with legalization, which removes all or most legal detriments from a previously illegal act.
^"decriminalization". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
^M. G. Grant, Playing the Whore (Verso/Jacobin, 2014), p. 112
^"Forum focuses on polygamy woes". Deseret Morning News. April 25, 2007. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
decriminalization of homosexuality and LGBT rights by country or territory) Polygamy (see: legality of polygamy) Prostitution (see: decriminalization...
Denver, Colorado, that were pushing for the decriminalization of psilocybin. Advocates for decriminalizing psilocybin have formed their movement based...
re-legalization), and drug decriminalization. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) defines decriminalization as the removal of...
prohibited in most countries; however, many have adopted a policy of decriminalization to make simple possession a non-criminal offense (often similar to...
April 2009, the Cato Institute published a White Paper about the "decriminalization" of drugs in Portugal, paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project. Data...
Pedophilia (alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual...
Cannabis in Portugal is decriminalized, as a result of the decriminalization of all drugs in Portugal in 2001. Medical use of cannabis was legalized in...
Australia legalised male homosexuality in 1989 – Under the Law Reform (Decriminalization of Sodomy) Act 1989, as did New South Wales and the Northern Territory...
"Good practice recommendations": All countries should work toward decriminalization of sex work and elimination of the unjust application of non-criminal...
debilitating condition. Prior to statewide decriminalization, possession of small amounts of marijuana was first decriminalized in the cities of New Orleans, Baton...
resistant depression. This went into effect on 1 July 2023. Psilocybin decriminalization in the United States Legal status of psychoactive Amanita mushrooms...
Amnesty International is one of the notable groups calling for the decriminalization of prostitution. Prostitute is derived from the Latin prostituta....
June 2010. Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work? Greenwald, Glenn (2 April 2009). "Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair...
Yade announced that she would appeal at the UN for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality; the appeal was quickly taken up as an international...
trial, and notes that the 2017 decriminalization makes it even harder to prosecute abusers. The 2017 decriminalization of domestic violence opposed over...
oldest newspaper still in circulation). Homosexual activity has been decriminalized in Turkey since 1858. LGBT people have had the right to seek asylum...
Senate passed legislation on a marijuana decriminalization plan. In April 2020, this bill to decriminalize simple marijuana possession was approved by...
Judgement, thereby decriminalizing homosexual sex. The judgement was interpreted as paving the way for the eventual decriminalization of homosexuality in...
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