“Decriminalization” or “Decriminalisation”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 8 prefer “decriminalization” and 3 prefer “decriminalisation”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	decriminalization	decriminalisation	Preference
United States	100	0	“decriminalization”
United Kingdom	45	55	“decriminalisation”
India	71	29	“decriminalization”
Philippines	100	0	“decriminalization”
Canada	95	5	“decriminalization”
Australia	27	73	“decriminalisation”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	39	61	“decriminalisation”
New Zealand	61	39	“decriminalization”
Jamaica	100	0	“decriminalization”
Trinidad & Tobago	93	7	“decriminalization”
Guyana	100	0	“decriminalization”

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“decriminalization”

…legalization of self-employment, and the decriminalization of the United States dollar.
…Wilmington, who also sponsored the decriminalization legislation.
…rights movement was founded and decriminalization measures in Berkeley and San…
…result of the law on decriminalization.
Decriminalization (2015)
…workers, and has advocated the decriminalization of adult prostitution.
…jail sentence following the 1978 decriminalization.
…on Canada's July 1, 2018 decriminalization of marijuana.
…sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are…
…UNDP and UNAIDS, recommended the decriminalization of brothels and procuring.

“decriminalisation”

EMCDDA – Decriminalisation in Europe?
The society campaigned for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in private…
…reform, voluntary euthanasia, family planning, decriminalisation of prostitution, and other reforms.
…Act 1967 for the limited decriminalisation of homosexual acts, but this…
…LGBT rights, having opposed the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the 1980s,…
…a Royal Commission to consider decriminalisation of cannabis.
…only 27% of voters favoured decriminalisation.
…social liberal stances such as decriminalisation of male homosexuality, pay equity…
…which brought about the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK.
…of Representatives calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, co-sponsored by Labor's…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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