criminalize
verbEtymology From criminal + -ize.
1
To make (something) a crime; to make illegal under criminal law; to ban.
- "Ag-gag laws criminalize undercover investigations by prohibiting one or more of three types of behavior: trespass, recording of videos, and failure to submit a video to law enforcement."2015, Gregg Barak, editor, The Routledge International Handbook of the Crimes of the Powerful:
- The Nixon campaign in 1968[…] had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. […] [B]y getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.2016 April 1, Dan Baum, quoting John Ehrlichman, “Legalize It All”, in Harper's Magazine:
3 more examples
- Advocates for homeless people, the American Psychiatric Association and several left-leaning states, including New York, Illinois and Minnesota, argue that criminalizing homelessness only worsens the problem.2024 April 22, Shawn Hubler, “Homelessness Case Draws Unusual Alliances: Conservatives and California Democrats”, in The New York Times:
- A group of homeless residents sued the city, challenging the ordinances and contending that the local laws essentially criminalized homelessness.2024 June 28, Abbie VanSickle, “Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Sleeping Outdoors in Homelessness Case”, in The New York Times:
- Italy passed a law on Wednesday that criminalizes seeking surrogacy abroad, a move the country’s conservative government said would protect women’s dignity, while critics see it as yet another crackdown by the government on L.G.B.T. families, as the law will make it virtually impossible for gay fathers to have children.2024 October 16, Emma Bubela, “Italy Criminalizes Surrogacy From Abroad, a Blow to Gay and Infertile Couples”, in The New York Times:
2
To treat as a criminal.
- Derived terms
- criminalizable, criminalization, criminalizer, decriminalize, overcriminalization, recriminalize
- Related terms
- felonize, misdemeanorize, illegalize, outlaw