decriminalization

• (mainly UK) decriminalisation

de- +‎ criminalization

• enPR: dēkrĭ"mĭnəlīzā'shən, IPA^(key): /diːˌkɹɪmɪnəlaɪzˈeɪʃən/

decriminalization (uncountable)

1. The act of making an activity or substance no longer criminalized (no longer a crime, subject to criminal penalties, to perform or possess). (Compare legalization, which often implies regulation.)

   the decriminalization of all plant-based psychedelics

2. The act of ceasing to treat a person as a criminal, by making their activities legal or no longer subjecting them to the criminal justice system (but instead possibly the mental healthcare system, etc).
   • 2006, Mark R. Munetz, Patricia M. Griffin, “Use of the Sequential Intercept Model as an approach to decriminalization of people with serious mental illness”, in Psychiatric Services, 57(4), 544-549:
   • 2012, Sverre Molland, The Perfect Business? Anti-Trafficking and the Sex Trade along the Mekong, University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, page 38:

     Most sex work feminists support either the legalization or the decriminalization of sex workers.

• criminalization

• legal reclassification

• legalization