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Questions 1, 2, & 3. You are a police officer on patrol and, over the course of your shift, see three sets of people in the streets.
The first pair are tumbling down the sidewalk engaged in a mutual fight at 2AM and appear to have been drinking.
The second pair are telling rude jokes (in your opinion) to each other in a public park where children are playing on a Saturday afternoon.
The third pair are loudly singing song lyrics to each other as they walk down a crowded street.
How many of these pairs could you arrest / charge for the offense of disorderly conduct? Make any assumptions you like – but include the detail of your assumptions in your answer.
Question 4. Boca Raton is concerned about the use of pandemic-protection masks with “objectionable language” in areas where children and families are found. On that basis, the city passes a bylaw that prohibits
“two or more people from loitering in any area open to the public where at least one person of the number identified loitering is wearing clothing, garments, or a mask that has words, slogans, or images that would reasonably cause concern or offense.”
Police arrest two people wearing shirts and masks both bearing the words “FCUK the POLICE!” The Mayor knows you are studying criminal justice and wants your opinion on whether this city bylaw is valid and whether the charges can be prosecuted. What will you tell the Mayor?
Question 5. The Palm Beach County government is considering a new county law that would punish both prostitutes and their customers (sometimes called “johns”) but with a specific assumption. The county commissioners are debating the provisions. One commissioner argues that the penalties for such victimless crimes should punish prostitutes twice as harshly as the “johns” because ‘they’re like drug dealers, if there’s no supply, there’s no crime.’ Another county commissioner feels the opposite is true, “that’s wrong, it is just like drugs, if there was no demand, there would be no supply.” As the commission’s criminal justice intern, they want your recommendation. Assuming that only these options are before the board, will you recommend that punishment is for both prostitutes and johns but twice as severe for prostitutes OR twice as severe for johns as prostitutes. The punishment will be fines in the amount of $500 and $1000 allocated based on your recommendation. What will you tell the County Commissioners?
After studying this chapter, students will:
1. Understand and appreciate that the efforts to control bad manners in public create a tension between order and liberty in constitutional democracies.
2. Know the definition of disorderly conduct and its widespread impact on the criminal justice system.
3. Know and understand how our present “quality of life” offenses aimed at controlling “bad manners” in public grew out of the ancient offense of disorderly conduct.
4. Know and understand why the “broken windows” theory claims that “quality of life” crimes are linked to serious crime.
5. Know the difference between vagrancy and loitering and appreciate the history of laws that address these crimes.
6. Know the definition of panhandling and understand how laws to restrict it have led to claims that they violate the First Amendment ban on free speech.
7. Understand that widespread fear of gangs has led state and city governments to enact criminal laws that allow them to obtain civil gang injunctions to regulate gang behavior.
8. Understand that the link between violent video games and criminal behavior is based on the “broken windows theory” of disorderly conduct.
9. Know that “victimless crimes” against public decency (the ancient “crimes against public morals”) generate heated disagreement and debate between those who believe that criminal law should enforce morality and those who believe the nonviolent behavior of
competent adults is none of the law’s business.
10. Know that prostitution is a “victimless crime” with a long history of punishing women
more than men.
11. Understand and appreciate the ethical dilemmas posed by discretionary decision making
in the enforcement of crimes against public morals.
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