June 2014 Archives

In the early years of drug trafficking in the United States, telephones were rarely used, in part because telephones themselves were less common than they are today, where everyone seems to have a cellphone glued to their hand, not to mention home and office lines. However, even as the years continued on, drug traffickers typically shunned the use of telephones to conduct business, preferring to discuss business face to face or via a third party messenger. The reasoning behind this was that even thirty, forty, fifty, years ago, it was easy to tap a phone and get incriminating details such as pickup locations, drop-off times and the names or voices of those who were involved in the illegal transactions.

Disorderly Conduct is one of the most commonly charged offenses in Wisconsin. That's in part because it is classified as a Class B misdemeanor, which is really the lowest classification--the lowest level--of criminal behavior in Wisconsin. If a person is charged criminally with just Disorderly Conduct, it means that in the State's view, the person's conduct has just crossed the line into the territory of criminal conduct. It's also probably in part because Disorderly Conduct can be charged as a municipal ordinance violation. If a person is charged with a municipal ordinance violation, that means the State has decided that a person's conduct may have been unlawful, but not criminal. A municipal ordinance violation is a forfeiture level offense, as opposed to a criminal offense. What's the difference between a forfeiture violation and a criminal violation? A criminal violation means that a person could be penalized by being put in jail, or put on probation, as well as possibly being made to pay a fine. A monetary fine is also known as a forfeiture. A forfeiture offense is punishable by a forfeiture--being made to pay a fine--but not by jail or probation.