LiberalNation
05-12-2010, 05:14 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100512/ap_on_re_us/us_swearing_citations_lawsuits
swearing, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a pair of free-speech lawsuits filed Wednesday.
ACLU lawyers reviewed 770 disorderly conduct citations issued by Pennsylvania State Police in a recent one-year span. They said they found that while officers applied the law correctly in some cases, the majority involved profanities and other legal, nonobscene speech.
The lawsuits' plaintiffs are a pizza delivery driver briefly jailed for cursing at a local officer over a parking ticket and a Luzerne County woman cited by state police for hurling a derogatory name at a swerving motorcyclist.
Pennsylvania's disorderly conduct statute carries a possible 90-day jail term and $300 fine. The woman paid $1,500 to fight the ticket, while the deliveryman lost $560 in wages and had to pay a $75 towing fee, the suits state.
"You absolutely cannot cite someone just for uttering a profanity," said ACLU lawyer Marieke Tuthill.
The problem is ultimately a lack of police training, most likely because officers misunderstand "the difference between the colloquial definition of obscenity and the legal definition of obscenity," she said.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court follows U.S. Supreme Court holdings on obscenity, which refers to speech that is more violent, graphic and sexual than the seven dirty words of George Carlin fame, Tuthill said.
State police had not yet seen the lawsuit and had no immediate response, said Lt. Myra Taylor, a spokeswoman.
swearing, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a pair of free-speech lawsuits filed Wednesday.
ACLU lawyers reviewed 770 disorderly conduct citations issued by Pennsylvania State Police in a recent one-year span. They said they found that while officers applied the law correctly in some cases, the majority involved profanities and other legal, nonobscene speech.
The lawsuits' plaintiffs are a pizza delivery driver briefly jailed for cursing at a local officer over a parking ticket and a Luzerne County woman cited by state police for hurling a derogatory name at a swerving motorcyclist.
Pennsylvania's disorderly conduct statute carries a possible 90-day jail term and $300 fine. The woman paid $1,500 to fight the ticket, while the deliveryman lost $560 in wages and had to pay a $75 towing fee, the suits state.
"You absolutely cannot cite someone just for uttering a profanity," said ACLU lawyer Marieke Tuthill.
The problem is ultimately a lack of police training, most likely because officers misunderstand "the difference between the colloquial definition of obscenity and the legal definition of obscenity," she said.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court follows U.S. Supreme Court holdings on obscenity, which refers to speech that is more violent, graphic and sexual than the seven dirty words of George Carlin fame, Tuthill said.
State police had not yet seen the lawsuit and had no immediate response, said Lt. Myra Taylor, a spokeswoman.