Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Definition:
- Although they dont hurt individual victims, some acts have been deemed criminal
based on social morals or order
- Religion has played a big part in determining what is illegal
CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC MORALITY
Prostitution and Solicitation
- Prohibited in every state but Nevada, where every county has its own authority
- Prostitution: providing sexual services in exchange for compensation
o Different states include different sexual acts
o Must be compensation, no payment=no crime
Can be in any form, not just money
- Solicitation: when a person engages in selling, buying, or attempting to buy sex
o Clients of prostitutes are guilty and the prostitute if they make the first contact
- Pimping is more severe: felony if child is under 16, forces another to engage in
prostitution, the victim is a ward or wife of pimp, or if the defendant runs a house of
prostitution
Deviate Sexual Conduct
- Very hard to prosecute because it happens privately between 2 consenting adults
Indecent Exposure and Lewdness
- An intentional exposure of ones private parts in a public place.
o Some jurisdictions require it to be done in an offensive manner
Obscenity
- Federal and state governments regulate speech, books, movies, etc that they find
obscene
- Fine line on what is invading first amendment rights
- States have substantial power when minors are involved
o Such as in child porn and exploitation
Illegal to possess, even in the home
- Hard to convict someone on obscenity in their own home
Regulating the Internet
- Governments have tried to regulate and control internet content, but it is increasingly
difficult
CRIMES AGAINST THE PUBLIC ORDER
- Involve breaches of the peace: any illegal public disturbance, disturbing tranquility
and order of society
Riot and Unlawful Assembly
- All jurisdictions have laws that prohibit groups from meeting with the purpose of
committing an unlawful act or committing a lawful act in an unlawful manner
- Minimum number for an assembly can be 3 or 5
- Riot: purpose of assembly is to commit a crime, coerce public officials to act/not act,
or if deadly weapon is used
- Failure to disperse: when an officer orders a group to disperse and there is refusal
Tax Crimes
- Tax evasion: paying less tax than required, or underreporting ones income with the
intent of paying less tax
o Statute says up to $100,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison
- Tax fraud: using fraud or false statements to avoid a tax obligation
o Can include falsifying statements provided to a revenue agency
o Also filing false tax returns
o Tax law requires disclosure of all income, including from illegal sources such
as gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing
All information is to be kept confidential
Obstruction of Justice
- Any act that interferes with the performance of a public officials duties
o Usually associated with law enforcement and judicial officials
- Tampering with witnesses or jurors, interfering with police officers, destroying
evidence, intentionally giving false info to a prosecutor
- Broad statutes allow prosecution to get creative with prosecuting for many acts
- Resisting arrest: most states prohibit any resistance to any arrest
o Many remedies exist for unlawful arrests, such as immediate release once at
police station, or if arrest was malicious, a civil case for false imprisonment
and violation of civil rights
Contempt
- A willful disobeying of a judges command or official court order
- Direct contempt: acts that occur in the presence of the judge
- Indirect contempt: actions taken outside the presence of a court, but violate a court
order
- Civil Contempt
o No punishment, usually confinement until they obey
o No rights, no appeals
- Criminal Contempt: levied to punish a person for violating a court order
o Indirect has rights of all other criminal defendants, direct do not b/c they acted
in front of a judge
CRIMES AGAINST THE ENVIRONMENT
- 1 class of laws intend to further the public health and safety
o Clean Water Act: regulates the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters
Both negligent and knowing acts without permit are criminal
b/w 1-15 years in jail
false reporting also criminal: up to 2 years in prison plus fine
o Clean Air Act: criminalizes negligent and knowingly releasing dangerous
emissions
- Another class protects environment itself, such as the endangered species act