ABSTRACT
The politics of the criminalisation, decriminalisation, legalisation or recriminalisation of vice in America has deep roots and complex forms. Other western industrialised countries have used the criminal law to control vice, but in the twentieth century, the United States has displayed a stubborn attachment to the use of the criminal sanction in the area, a prime example being the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the 1920s. Meanwhile, Britain and Germany have chosen less punitive forms of control, utilising medical and market models to restrict citizen access to possible harmful substances. However, a comparative approach examining various countries’ practices on regulating vice is beyond the scope of this chapter. What follows is a comparison within the United States of the status of legal treatment of several types of vice. While the discussion may not be easily related to other countries, even those with similar economic and social structure or shared cultural traditions, it is hoped that the comparative analysis of gambling to other vices within the United States is useful. I aim to explain why gambling has been an exceptional case in the legal treatment of vice, as well as to gauge the extent to which it resonates with elements of deep-seated debate over family, sexuality, privacy, the limits of the criminal sanction and the role of government in matters of personal morality.
