Due Process, Public Order, Drug, Breach Of Peace

The Due Process Clause

  • Found in Amendment V (applies to the Federal Government) and Amendment XIV (applies to State Government).
  • States that "No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
    • Substantive Due Process: The government cannot deny an individual their substantive rights.
    • Procedural Due Process: The government cannot deprive an individual of notice and an opportunity to be heard.
    • Statutes cannot be void for vagueness.
    • Statutes cannot be overbroad.

Crimes Against Public Order and Morals

  • Defined as crimes that interfere with the operation of society and the ability of people to function efficiently.
  • Behavior contrary to shared norms, social values, and customs.
  • These crimes are misdemeanors in most states.

Drug Crimes

  • Can violate both federal and state laws.
  • Involve possession, manufacture, distribution, and use of drugs.
  • Federal punishments are very harsh and vary based on:
    • Drug type
    • Quantity
    • Purpose of possession (distribution or personal use)
    • Prior convictions
    • Probation or parole status
  • Private recreational drug use can lead to:
    • Imprisonment
    • Probation/parole
    • Loss of custody of children
    • Fines
    • Loss of residency
    • Deportation

Prostitution

  • Soliciting money or engaging in sexual acts for money.

Public Drunkenness

  • Recklessly or intentionally engaging in violent behavior or breach of peace crimes.
  • Misdemeanors.
  • Often involves mentally ill or drunken behaviors, loitering, riots, or participating in unlawful assemblies.

Misdemeanors

  • Examples include disorderly conduct, underage sex, and disrupting funeral services.
  • Pornography-related crimes are also included.

Gangs (M.G.L. 265 § 44)

  • Coercion of a child under eighteen into a criminal conspiracy:
    • Penalties:
      • First offense: Imprisonment in state prison for 3-5 years or in the house of correction for up to 2.5 years.
      • Second or subsequent offense: Imprisonment in state prison for 5-10 years.
  • Involves assault and battery on a child to force them to join a criminal conspiracy, including criminal street gangs or organizations with a common name/symbol whose members engage in criminal activity.

Hazing (M.G.L. 269 § 17)

  • Principal organizer or participant in hazing can be punished by a fine of no more than 3,000 or imprisonment in a house of correction for up to one year, or both.
  • Hazing is defined as any conduct or method of initiation into a student organization that willfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any student or other person.
  • Includes:
    • Whipping
    • Beating
    • Branding
    • Forced calisthenics
    • Exposure to the weather
    • Forced consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug, or other substance
    • Any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity likely to adversely affect physical health or safety
    • Subjecting someone to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.

Criminal Gang Definitions

  • Criminal Gang: A group that commits crimes and has in common identifying characteristics, such as style of dress or tattoos.
  • Criminal Gang Member: An individual who belongs to a criminal gang and engages in criminal activity on behalf of the gang.
  • Criminal Gang Participation: A gang member promotes or facilitates the commission of a felony.
  • Criminal Gang Enhancement: A defendant's sentence is enhanced if a crime is committed on behalf of a criminal gang.

Victimless Crimes

  • Crimes that are illegal but cause no direct harm to anyone involved, as participation is usually voluntary.
  • Examples: Prostitution, drug use, trespassing, traffic citations, public drunkenness, suicide, gambling, various sex acts such as adultery, bigamy, incest, sodomy.

Quality of Life Crimes

  • Zero tolerance policies with heavy policing.
  • Target minor offenses such as drinking in public, public urination, panhandling, littering, unlicensed street vending, and graffiti.
  • Rooted in the Broken Windows Theory: Order maintenance by the police leads to a lower crime rate (Wilson & Kelling, 1982 article, used in 1990 New York).

Crime Components

  • To define certain crimes, several elements must be present:
    • Criminal Act
    • Criminal Intent
    • Attendant Circumstance

Disorderly Conduct

  • Criminal Act: Unreasonable noise, obscene utterance or gesture, fighting, threats, fighting words, creating a hazardous condition.
  • Criminal Intent: Specific or purposely or recklessly disturb the public or create a risk thereof.
  • Attendant Circumstance: Act takes place in public.

Loitering

  • Criminal Act: Loitering, wandering, remaining.
  • Criminal Intent: Specific or purposely to beg, gamble, solicit prostitution.
  • Attendant Circumstance: Act takes place near a school, transportation facility: the defendant is masked.

Sit-Lie Law

  • Criminal Act: Sitting or lying down.
  • Criminal Intent: Strict liability
  • Attendant Circumstance: Act takes place between certain times of day, in public, on a sidewalk, or on a street.
    *Exceptions for medical emergencies, people who have disabilities, protests