Vice constitutes activities not condoned by the local community, which may include substance abuse, prostitution, and other "immoral" behavior or actions.
Since the definition of "vice" varies from community to community, vice crimes have been left chiefly to the local authorities to pursue, enforce, and prosecute. The exceptions to this have been few in the history of the United States -- the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act (1915) and the Volstead Act (1919) were two attempts at the national level to regulate substance on a "moral" basis.
In the post-Cold War era, the Drug Enforcement Agency continues to enforce the spirit of the Harrison Act, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation targets new "vice" crimes such as child pornography and human trafficking.
