Articles

Students will read the following situation/article below and answer the questions that follow for their initial post. (You are expected to respond to one classmate.)

Situation: A statute defines the crime of disorderly conduct as using profanity in a public place. A defendant, while standing on his porch, yelled obscene comments at a passerby. The defendant was charged with this crime. As a defense, he denied that the porch was a public place.

In your post, address the following items for the article:

• What is the issue in this case that the judge must decide?
• If a precedent exists, what effect will that have on the decision?
• What do you think the decision should be? Why?
• If the defendant claims the statute is unconstitutional because it infringes his right of free speech, who decides that issue?

Be sure to reference the rubric for this assignment for clarification on expectations.

After completing and submitting your document, move to the discussion to make your initial post.

Participant Expectations

1. See the discussion grading rubric for expectations of a well-developed initial post and replies.
2. For more information about how best to maximize the learning experience, see the Discussion Guidelines. If you are referencing a source, please include proper citations using AMA style. Please see Writing Resources for more on AMA citation style.
3. Posts should be concise and not longer than one paragraph per question.