MMC 4200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: California Penal Code, Plaintext

• School: University of Florida
• Department: Mass Media Communication
• Course: MMC 4200
• Professor: Calvert Clay

Document Summary

Cohen vs california: paul robert cohen landed in trouble with the law because he wore a jacket into the courthouse that said (cid:494)fuck the draft(cid:495). He violated a california statute: california: issue: whether california can excise, as (cid:498)offensive conduct,(cid:499) one particular. Penal code 415 which prohibits maliciously and willfully disturbing the peace or quite of any neighborhood or person by offensive conduct. He wore the jacket as a means of informing the public about his feelings on the vietnam war and the draft. He was convicted and spent 30 days in prison. It is not a fighting words case because the word on his jacket was not (cid:494)clearly directed to the person of the hearer(cid:495: fuck the draft imprints a clear message on the mind. A word that is sometimes offensive is surely going to deliver a more pungent message than a politically correct statement.