How to Use criminalize in a Sentence

criminalize

verb
  • Even when states don’t have such laws, prosecutors have used charges of murder to criminalize pregnant drug users.
    Melissa Gira Grant, The New Republic, 5 May 2022
  • Japan is set to criminalize the recreational use of cannabis while legalizing medical use.
    Dario Sabaghi, Forbes, 16 Sep. 2024
  • At home, Putin has moved to crush dissent and criminalize antiwar activity.
    Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2022
  • And at least 38 states have laws that criminalize pregnant people for everything from not wearing a seatbelt to falling down stairs, the report states.
    Char Adams, NBC News, 7 May 2022
  • At the time there was no Indiana state or federal law to criminalize Cline's actions, and his victims struggled to get justice.
    Ali Pantony, Glamour, 20 Apr. 2022
  • Arizona has a trigger law that would immediately criminalize abortions.
    Safia Samee Ali, NBC News, 5 May 2022
  • And to Stein, these cases illustrate a broader pattern: child welfare agencies’ tendency to criminalize poverty.
    Eli Cahan, Rolling Stone, 22 Sep. 2024
  • The march had been planned in response to a law that will criminalize some drag performances.
    Daniella Silva, NBC News, 2 Apr. 2023
  • And then the other two states there is either a ban or attempts to criminalize it.
    CBS News, 6 Nov. 2022
  • Instead Hong Kong has criminalized Mr. Lai’s calls to uphold freedom and the rule of law.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 12 Jan. 2024
  • His first order of business was to introduce a state bill to criminalize the type of scam that led to his son’s death.
    Faith Karimi, CNN, 13 May 2023
  • There is nothing in the text of the resolution that mentions banning or criminalizing the use or singing of the phrase.
    Isabel C. Morales, USA TODAY, 21 Nov. 2023
  • The law was also amended to criminalize acts such as stalking and voyeurism and allow for suspects to be tried as adults at age 16.
    Mithil Aggarwal, NBC News, 14 Aug. 2024
  • This legislative package will also criminalize both the act of making a threat of mass harm and adding to a threat with overt acts to further it.
    Kyla Guilfoil, ABC News, 6 June 2022
  • That all recently came to a screeching halt when the city criminalized the substance.
    Theara Coleman, The Week, 6 Feb. 2023
  • Dissent has been criminalized as extremist and can lead to sentences of life in prison.
    Shibani Mahtani, Washington Post, 8 June 2023
  • They may be criminalized for sleeping on the street and have a record that prevents them from accessing housing again.
    Dana Taylor, USA TODAY, 29 July 2024
  • The state is currently engaged in a year-long battle over the precedent of an 1849 law that criminalizes the death of an unborn child at the hands of anyone but the mother.
    Joseph Abrams, Fortune, 18 Sep. 2023
  • The analysis of state laws finds most of the rules that criminalize address sharing do so by considering the practice a form of theft.
    Alia Wong, USA TODAY, 8 Aug. 2023
  • So rather than, than further criminalize their hobby Jackson sought to draw them in.
    Laura Johnston, cleveland, 24 May 2022
  • Last month during a Pheu Thai rally, youth activists asked if Pheu Thai would amend the law that criminalizes criticism of the monarchy.
    Muktita Suhartono, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2023
  • And five years after the first deepfakes started to appear, the first laws are just emerging that criminalize the sharing of faked images.
    Matt Burgess, WIRED, 16 Oct. 2023
  • The Court was right that some presidential acts can’t be criminalized.
    Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 1 July 2024
  • Last month, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a first-of-its kind measure that would criminalize some drag performances in the state.
    Matt Lavietes, NBC News, 13 Apr. 2023
  • About 38 states have feticide statutes, which criminalize killing a fetus.
    Melissa Jeltsen, The Atlantic, 1 July 2022
  • In Wisconsin — where an 1849 law that is still on the books would criminalize doctors for performing abortions in most cases — some providers plan to head out of state.
    Devi Shastri, Journal Sentinel, 21 June 2022
  • Pita’s party had vowed to weaken a law that criminalizes criticism of the monarchy and shrink the military.
    Muktita Suhartono, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Aug. 2023
  • Ziegler said efforts to criminalize abortions in the 1860s were led by physicians who knew exceptions to save a mother's life gave them leeway.
    Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 14 Apr. 2024
  • At the top of this year, dozens of bills trying to restrict or criminalize transgender health access were introduced across 11 states.
    Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Ohio lawmakers are working to criminalize these red flags through a bill that was introduced to the Statehouse in November 2023.
    Madeline Mitchell, The Enquirer, 11 Aug. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'criminalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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