IS IT A CRIME WHEN THERE IS NO REAL VICTIM?

It is ironic in the extreme that Peter McWilliams should be on trial for a
"crime" that has no victim ("Medical use of marijuana goes on trial in
Michigan," Nov. 6). Certainly, the state is not a victim in this case.
Perhaps the law itself is the victim, apparently having been offended
somehow by McWilliams' possessing parts of a plant. When a law can claim
injury against a living being, justice is the true victim.

The real irony is that The News makes no mention of a major book written by
McWilliams titled, Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do. The tome makes a
compeling argument against the existence of laws that criminalize conduct
that hurts no one, and that such laws do considerable damage to society as
a whole. Some citizens might consider whether the state has a greater
interest in persecuting McWilliams for his contrarian views than for
breaking a stupid law. It wouldn't be the first time an American was
persecuted for speaking out against unjust laws.
David A. Carter
Houston, Texas

The Detroit News abandoned its principles in the Nov. 16 editorial "The
Case for More Prisons." The unasked questions are: How would the taxpayer
and society benefit from yet more government expansion? Would the
government be locking up real criminals murderers, rapists and robbers
making society more safe and secure? What percentage of people in prison
are nonviolent offenders and victims of an everexpanding, perverse panoply
of governmental agencies, laws and policies?

The only legitimate function of government is to protect citizens from harm
from others. Lifestyle choices and voluntary relationships are none of
government's business. But today, with every form of human behavior
regulated and criminalized, there is an assured stream of society clogging
up the legal system and our prisons.

Daily we read Orwellian stories a mother found guilty for slapping her
teenage daughter; the Wayne County Sheriff's Department recruiting high
school students to entrap party store owners into selling them cigarettes;
the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the government may constitutionally
seize the property of an innocent person; and mass corruption in the White
House.

Every thinking person knows that something is dreadfully wrong in our
country. Any observer of world history knows that tyranny is nothing new.
All I ask of The Detroit News is to have the courage to employ the same
causeandeffect criteria as with issues like welfare and public education.
John Cruz
Plymouth