ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER AND MORALITY

1. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICECRIMES AGAINSTPUBLIC ORDER AND MORALITY

2. I. PUBLIC ORDER AND SAFETY LAWS OFFENSES A. Intended to protect the general public by dealing withbehaviornot necessarily consideredmorallywrong; however, it affects the peace and safety of the community.

3. 1. These laws have developed as a result of common law crimes aimed at keeping thepeaceand evolved during the industrial revolution.

4. 2. These offenses are considered to beactsthat are not inherently bad, but are consideredcrimesonly because thelaw designates them to be for various reasons.

5. B. Public orderandsafety offenses are distinguishable from other crimes because most of them do not require a particularintentin order for a defendant to be guilty.

6. 1. They are usually strictliabilityoffenses, which means that if thedefendant committedtheelementsof the crime, his or her intent to cause harm isirrelevant. a. Simply stated, if the act is committed, the defendant will be foundguilty.

7. 2. Lawmakers generally believe that there is a need to protect the public from potentially harmful conduct. a. The need for this protection out­weighs the need to hold the defendant to a higher standard of blame.

8. b. Supporting this rationale is the fact that the penalties for such offenses are usuallylight.

9. 3. Whenever law enforcement officers and emergency medical technicians are at the scene of an accident, managementof the scene of the accident shall be vested in the appropriate law enforcement agency. a. “Management of the scene of an accident” means thecoordinationof operations which occur at the location of an accident.

10. II. OFFENSES THAT CREATE A PUBLICDISTURBANCEA. In most jurisdictions, any voluntary action thatdisturbsa communities peace withoutlawfuljustification or excuse is considered a crime.

11. 1. These actions are generally categorized under the offense of breach of the peace.a. Breach of the peace offenses includeunlawfulassembly, rout, riot, and disorderlyconduct.

12. 2. Unlawful assembly, in most jurisdictions, may occur under either of the following circumstances: a. When two or more people gather together with the common intent to commit anunlawfulact. (1) Two people meet for the purpose of planning abank robbery. (a) This would constitute an unlawful assembly.

13. b. When two or more people gather together with a lawful purpose but in a violent, boisterous(noisily cheerful) , or tumultuous manner.(tumultuous: very noisy or disorderly) (1) A peaceful demonstrationcould begin as a lawful assembly but develop into an unlawful one.

14. (a) A group of students gather in front of a government building toprotest.(b) Initially, the students are peacefully holding signs.

15. (c) As the day progresses, students beginblockingthe entrance to the government building.(d) This would constitute an unlawful assembly.

16. 3. Rout is an unlawful assembly that is escalating toward, but does not reach, the level of a riot. a. It is an attempted riot that requires a specific intent to riot and conduct that falls short of ariot.

17. b. In most states the crime of rout is usually not a separate crime. It has been either eliminated or mergedwith the crime ofunlawful assembly.

18. 4. Any use of force or violence, disturbing the public peace, or any threat to useforce orviolence, if accompanied by the immediate power of execution, by twoormore persons actingtogether, and without authority of law, is ariot.

19. a. A riot is an unlawful assembly that fulfills the participants' common purpose ofviolentlybreaching the peace and terrorizingthe public.

20. (1) Due to the number of people involved in a riot, the groupbehavioris potentially more dangerous to the public than other activity. (2) Because of this, many police departments have trained riot units and protectiveriot gear with which to handle such occurrences.

21. 5. Every person remaining present at the place of any riot, rout, or unlawful assembly, after the same has been lawfully warned todisperse, is guilty of a criminal act.

22. B. Most states considerbreachesof the peace that cover many public disturbances and offenses asdisorderlyconduct. 1. Modern disorderly conduct laws include behavior thatdisturbsthe safety, health, or morals of others, or that are intended only to annoy another person.

23. 2. Any person who unlawfully fights in a public place orchallengesanother person in a public place to fight. a. "Public place" has been defined in case law as any place which is open topublicview, hence a person may be arrested for this offense on property that isprivate.

24. 3. Any person whomaliciouslyand willfully disturbs another personby loud and unreasonablenoise.a. time of day and type of noise for environment are important considerations.

25. b. peace officers are increasingly using "soundmeters" to determine the level of decibels of “dbs” being generated by the noise and thisquantitativemeasurement is accepted by the courts. X

26. 4. Any person who usesoffensivewords in a public place which areinherentlylikely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.

27. C. Every state makes it unlawful tointerferewith public officers in the performance of their duties. 1. Every person who willfullyresists, delays, or obstructs, any public officer, peace officer, fireman, or EMT, in the discharge or attempt to discharge anofficialduty, is guilty of a criminal offense.

28. D. A nuisance encompasses anything thatendangerslife or health, givesoffenseto the senses, violates laws of decency, or obstructs the reasonable and comfortable use of property.

29. 1. It is unlawful tomaintain, permit, or allow a public nuisance to exist.

30. 2. Criminal prosecution is one remedy for a nuisance; however, the most common approach is by acivilaction on behalf of the community.

31. a. The law suit seeks either monetarydamages or to abate (endoreliminate) the nuisance. b. Violators may receive a notice for abatement, that requires ending or eliminating the nuisance.

32. 3. Criminal prosecution may also be brought for other types of nuisances, such as for the maintenance of disorderly houses, nuisances in streets or highways,and interference with the uses to which property has beendedicated.

33. 4. Nuisancestatuteshave also been used to close crack houses and other establishments used for drug use.

34. 5. Courts also routinely find thatmassageparlorsconstitute a nuisance subject to abatement or otherremedies. a. Administering massages is a legitimate occupation.

35. b. Massage parlors that specialize in sexually oriented massages has led many municipalities to enact ordinancesregulating or prohibiting their operation.

36. E. It is unlawful tothrow, drop, pour, deposit, release, discharge, expose, or to attempt to throw, drop, pour, deposit, release, discharge, expose in, upon or about anytheater, restaurant, place of business, place of amusement or any place of public assemblage:

37. 1. any liquid, 2. gaseous or solid substance or matterof any kind which isinjurious toperson or property, 3. or isnauseous, sickening,irritating or offensive to any of the senses.

38. III. PUBLIC MORALITY OFFENSESA. There are a wide variety of offenses that are considered to be offensive to publicmorality. 1. Somepublic moralityoffenses, such asprostitution and gambling, are geographically restricted to certain areas of the United States.

39. 2. There is considerable public debate about whether some of these offenses, such as gambling, and prostitution, arevictimlesscrimes and thus should bedecriminalized.

40. B. Obscenity and pornography 1. The termpornographyrefers to sexually explicit material that is generally protected byFirst Amendmentguarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Pornography: is any sexually explicit writing and/or picture intended to arouse sexual desire.

41. a. Although the law mayregulatepornography, it does not make the sale, possession, or distributionof it a crime.

42. 2. The termobscenityrefers to the legal definition of certain materials that are not protected under theFirst Amendment. a. The law punishes the sale, possession, and distribution of obscene material.

43. What is considered "obscene" material? a) It depicts sexual acts listed in a state obscenity statute,

44. b) It depicts those acts in a "patently offensive" manner, appealing to the “lustful interest," as judged by a reasonable person applying the standards of the community, and c) It lacks "serious" literary, artistic, social, political, or scientific value.

45. b. Obscenity may take the form of a book, magazine, newspaper, picture, drawing, photograph, motion picture, statue, or recording.

46. 3. The Customs Law of 1842 barred the importation ofindecent and obsceneprints, paintings, lithographs, engravings, and transparencies.

47. 4. The FederalComstockAct of 1873, named after the anti‑vice crusader Anthony Comstock, prohibited the use of themailto convey obscene material. a. The Comstock Act survives today withalterations and additions.

48. 5. In 1973, theUnited States Supreme Courtestablished thetestthat is used today in determining whether material is obscene. The court provided these guidelines: a. Whether theaverageperson, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals toprudentinterest

49. b. Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently (clearly)offensiveway, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law c. Whether the work taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientificvalue

50. 6. The United State Supreme Court held that obscene material is an exception to the First Amendment. a. The burden of deciding whether something is obscene rests upon theUnited State Supreme Court.