Illegal vice trade in Urcea

The illegal vice trade in Urcea refers to criminal conduct relating to the distribution and sale of prohibited goods within Urcea, especially with respect to items prohibited by order of the Censor or by national law. Most items considered part of the vice trade are items considered inappropriate for personal consumption according to Catholic social teaching, ranging from pornographic materials to contraception.

Much of the vice trade within Urcea is conducted by organized crime syndicates, most of whom have foreign connections and sources. For various reasons including successful enforcement methods, production of vice materials within Urcea is limited.

Terminology

The "vice trade" refers broadly to the distribution and sale of any non-narcotic prohibited good or service in Urcea, but the term usually relates to three specific categories: pornography, contraceptives, and abortion, specifically provision of it or creation of support networks for abortion tourism. Prostitution and human trafficking are considered separate crimes but are almost always enforced as part of prosecutions against pornography. The Agency for Controlled Substances has an extensive list for prohibited items and services, which it summarizes as "items or practices which are against the common good of the people of Urcea and are contrary to the moral law."

Criminal networks

According to law enforcement, the vast majority of entry of vice materials or facilitation of vice-related services occur on Urcea's northern borders. Due to the existence of Levantine Union travel laws, individuals can enter and exit Urcea without a permit. Accordingly, the vice trade is commonly known to run from Yonderre through Anglei into Urcea on land or simply into Urcea from Yonderre by air travel. Law enforcement agencies also say that vice smuggling occurs frequently from Ardmore, as the proximity of the island nation allows smugglers to land in Roscampus or Lower Carolina.

Much of the vice trade in Urcea is known to center around the Urceopolitan borough of Campori, one of the poorest parts of the country.

Law enforcement agencies believe that the majority of organized crime syndicates in Urcea are ones which are primarily engaged in the vice trade.

Enforcement agencies

The "War on Vice" in Urcea is usually prosecuted by the Agency for Controlled Substances (ACS), whose primary mandate relates to vice crimes. ACS efforts are usually done in conjunction with local law enforcement or the Agency for Domestic Intellignece and Investigatory Services, Urcea's primary federal law enforcement agency.

Enforcement efforts overseas

Preventing the illegal vice trade in both Lariana and New Harren, nations in a real union with Urcea, prove significantly more difficult than in Urcea proper. Inversely, most of Urcea's other overseas possessions are islands, making enforcement relatively easy due to watchful customs officials and controls.

In Lariana, the Agency for Controlled Substances works with a wide berth of authority over local law enforcement to prevent transportation of illegal goods into the Kingdom from its neighbors in Urlazio, Cartadania and Caphiria. Urlazio is considered the primary east-to-west "abortion tourism highway" due to the lessened travel visa requirements on the island. Most law enforcement agencies refer to Lariana as the front line in the war against the illegal vice trade.

Efforts to combat the vice trade in New Harren face less problem with organized foreign opposition to Urcea's domestic practices; enforcement issues there stem from the autonomous nature of indigenous peoples within the Kingdom combined with an extremely porous border.

Impact on human trafficking prosecutions

In Urcea, facilitators and producers of pornography are often charged with human trafficking. Urcea collaborates and cooperates with many foreign nations in its pursuit of human traffickers, and due to the common relationship between pornography and trafficking, Urcean investigators are viewed abroad to be particularly effective. This vigor, however, is also known to cause administrative problems overseas, as some pornographers operating in Urcea are charged with human trafficking and deported regardless of whether or not the participants in the pornography were willing. A major recent case occurred in 2024, when public outcry erupted in Yonderre as a Yonderian national named Phillipe Marceau was arrested in Urcea and deported for filming a pornographic movie in Eastglen with paid volunteer actors; although this is not a crime in Yonderre, he was deported there and held as a criminal anyway at the request of the Government of Urcea. A compromise was reached whereby the man was sent back to Urcea and tried and convicted of his crimes there, then given a suspended sentence and returned to Yonderre.

Foreign attitudes

Many nations view Urcea's prosecution against "vice" items negatively, ranging from concerns about the harshness of zero tolerance policies (by Levantine nations) to arguments about the regressive nature of the items and actions prosecuted under Urcean law (largely by nations in Sarpedon). Accordingly, many nations act relatively leniently with those participating in the illegal vice trade. The degree of non-compliance with Urcean law varies by nation and by proximity to Urcea, with most Levantine Union members working actively to prevent exportation of vice items from their nation to Urcea, though a vocal minority in most Levantine Union nations find their participation to be distasteful. Many nations in Sarpedon, and especially Cartadania, actively work to undermine Urcean vice laws by facilitating abortion tourism out of the country by varying degrees. Few nations - among them Anglei, Hollona and Diorisia, and to a lesser extent Kiravia - enthusiastically cooperate with Urcea in vice trade disruption activities. Anglei in particular is known abroad to have an even harsher stance on the vice trade due to the impact of organized crime using their nation as a corridor; Anglei has been known to employ the death penalty for vice trade smugglers charged with violent crimes within its borders.