Criminal Law Chapter 11 Summary

Journal #6 Criminal Law
May 8 2010

Chapter Eleven & Twelve Summary:
Chapter Eleven:
Terrorism, Treason, and Sedition
The goals of those that commit crimes of terrorism are disruption of government based on ideological, political or religious views. They are sometimes under the direction of another government or act as a group.
Treason is the only crime that is written within the Constitution. The acts required for treason are: (1)declaring war against the US (2) Joining the enemy (3) giving the enemy Aid and Comfort. It requires the testimony of two witnesses or a confession to prove treason. There is a short list of people who have been found guilty of treason because of the two witness requirement.
Sedition is the “act
Although these crimes are focused at disrupting the government , they are normally committed against people and property.
The Federal government separates international and domestic terrorism as defined under 18 U.S.C. 2331. The three main elements under this code of defined terrorism are:
• Commission of a crime
• Intention to coerce a population or government
• Accomplished by intimidation or fear
Throughout the years and as a result of terrorist acts, new laws have been enacted. One such law is the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. This was introduced in response to the 1996 bombing of the FBI building in Oklahoma City. It provided to limit federal habeas corpus by limiting file time to one year, and limited the amount of petitions filed per case. It also required CCTV for victims upon venue changes.
After the September 11th terrorist attacks, The USA Patriot Act was initiated. Some of the area addressed were:
• The Attorney General was given more power over the extradition of suspected foreign terrorist
• The expansion of powers to federal agents to obtain private documents from third parties when investigating suspected terrorist.
• Federal agents allowed to monitor email, voicemail, and other
Pandering is the act of soliciting another to engage in an act of prostitution.
Certain massage parlors also fall under prostitution statutes in certain states if those parlors “sexually stimulate” its clients via masturbation.
Pornography, Obscenity, and Lewdness
Pornography is defined as depicted sexual behavior that’s serves to sexually excite. Obscenity is items which “lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” Obscene material may be acceptable within ones home however this does not include material which depicts minors or the public exhibition of obscene material.
Child pornography is of special concert to the states and federal governments. There are also federal laws prohibiting the traffic of child pornography as outlined in the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.
The rise of internet usage has led the courts to address the inappropriate images and other offensive materials available to children. In 1997 the US Supreme Court ruled the 1996 Communication Decency Act to be unconstitutional because it prohibited free speech. The courts were able to lean on the advancement in internet monitoring and security software to prevent this