Amanda M.

Labrado
PLSC 210
Prof. Lee Miller
2/6/10
Homework #3
Should the government try to regulate public morals?
1. (a) What is a consensual crime?
A consensual crime is a crime without a victim that usually neither hurts nor bothers any
other person’s property or well being, but the criminal him/herself.
(b) When it comes to consensual crimes, does McWilliams believe that minors should be treated
the same as adults?
Minors should be treated as they would be if they were using alcohol. There should be an
age limit; If marijuana was legalized, a limit would be implemented making the lives of minors
safer from using drugs.

2. (a) How much does the government spend each year combating consensual crimes?
According to McWilliams, the government spends about 50 billion fighting consensual
crimes, and a “yearly grand total” of 450 billion “enforcing the laws against consensual
activities.” (McWilliams p. 162)
(b) How much tax revenue does it miss out on by making such activities illegal, rather than legal
and subject to taxation?
The U.S. could gain 150 Billion dollars per year by legalizing and taxing consensual
crimes.

3. Which two corporations lobbied the federal government in the 1930s to make marijuana
illegal? What were their motivations, according to McWIlliams?
William Randolph Hearst and the Dupont Corporation lobbied the government in the
mid- 1930s to illegalize marijuana; They did this because both corporations made paper, and
machinery had just been made to extract fibers from hemp to make paper, clothing and other
items causing the Hearst and Dupont to worry about their newly bought paper manufacturing
machines. Dupont and Hearst wanted to illegalize marijuana so hemp would not be used as paper
and they could continue making money.

4. (a) List at least three of the arguments used to justify the 18th amendment.
a. Excessive drinking hindered a person’s ability to “plant crops, catch fish, trap animals,
and tame the wilderness.” (McWilliams p.474)
b. Evangelicals believed that alcohol was “a tool of the devil and Satan himself was in
every drop” (p.474)
c. If a person left alcohol it was for “the glory of god and for the greater good of
all”(p.474)
(b) List at least three of the negative consequences of the 18th amendment cited by McWilliams.
a.” Created disrespect for the law”
b. “it created a organized crime”
c.” prohibition over burdened the police, the courts, and the penal system.”

5. (a) List at least three of the main arguments why people oppose the legalization of prostitution.
a. It is viewed as anti-woman
b. Prostitution supports paganism and goes against the belief that women are valued.
 c. Prostitution promotes and spreads unsafe sex.
(b) List at least three of the main arguments that McWilliams presents in favor of legalizing
prostitution.
a. Prostitutes will be safer because they will be protected against violence and rape.
b. Prostitutes who are arrested and sent to jail b/c of their illegal practice can be
eliminated.
c. The conviction of men who visit prostitutes would stop.
6. (a) List at least three of the main arguments why people oppose the legalization of drugs like
marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines.
a. Fear of criminal activity caused by drugs.
b. Increases bin use because wider availability.
c. Health costs that result from drug abuse.
(b) List at least three of the arguments that McWilliams presents in favor of legalizing drugs.
a. There would be “less violence and corruption”(p.313)
b. More tax revenue.
c. There would be content amts. And strengths of drugs listed on packages.
7. (a) List at least three of the main arguments why people oppose the legalization of doctor-
assisted suicide.
a.The death experience for a person with a life-threatening illness is unimaginable.
b. the vegetable might experience suffocation, drowning, or dehydration internally.
c. a vegetable’s loved ones might be forced to wait for death for a long period of time.
(b) List at least three of the arguments that McWilliams presents in favor of legalizing doctor-
assisted suicide.
a. “Our bodies and our lives belong to ourselves”(P.437)
b. It is “ludicrous” to be punished for trying to kill ourselves.
c. It would eliminate taboos against talking about suicide, allowing people to get help.
8. (a) List at least three of the main arguments why people oppose the legalization of same-sex
marriage.
a. “Homosexuality is unnatural”
b. AIDS is spread through gay intercourse
c. “Gays aren’t fit for the military” because they might flirt with straight men like the
straights flirt with women.
(b) Based on McWilliams’ arguments in favor of legalizing “consensual crimes”, list at least
three arguments in favor of legalizing same sex marriage.
a. Same-sex marriage does not bother anyone except possibly the family of a gay.
b. It would cost the government nothing to legalize it.
c. the government has no right to judge who and who can’t marry.
9. All states have law against certain consensual activities. Which of these activities, if any, do
you think should be illegal? Explain.
Public Drunkenness should be made illegal because drunk people often do things which
have consequences that they are unaware of at the time of doing; therefore, by keeping drunk
people off the streets, people would be protected from violence, acts of stupidity that might get a
person in trouble because of the drunkard (drunks might jay walk and get hit by a car), and any
other possibilities, such as rape, or rude comments.