Gateway Crimes

Authors

Murat C. Mungan, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2017

Journal Title

Alabama Law Review

ISSN

0002-4279

Abstract

Many who argue against the legalization of marijuana suggest that while its consumption may not be very harmful, marijuana indirectly causes significant social harm by acting as a “gateway drug,” a drug whose consumption facilitates the use of other, more harmful drugs. This Article presents a theory of “gateway crimes,” which, perhaps counterintuitively, implies that there are social gains to decriminalizing offenses that cause minor harms, including marijuana-related offenses. A typical gateway crime is an act which is punished lightly, but because it is designated as a crime, being convicted for committing it leads one to be severely stigmatized. People who are stigmatized have less to lose by committing more serious crimes, and therefore the criminalization of these acts increases recidivism. Thus, punishing gateway crimes may generate greater costs than benefits, and this possibility must be kept in mind when discussing potential criminal justice reforms. This “gateway effect” does not require that, but is strongest when, people underestimate or ignore either the likelihood or magnitude of the consequences associated with being convicted for a minor crime. Therefore—if potential offenders in fact underestimate expected conviction costs—this theory not only implies previously unidentified benefits associated with decriminalizing acts that cause questionable or minor harms but also benefits associated with making the costs associated with convictions more transparent.

First Page

671

Last Page

706

Num Pages

36

Volume Number

68

Issue Number

3

Publisher

University of Alabama School of Law

Recommended Citation

Murat C. Mungan, Gateway Crimes, 68 Ala. L. Rev. 671 (2017).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1869

File Type

PDF