Editing Civil disobedience (section)

== Choices ==
{{Further|Examples of civil disobedience}}

===Action===
Civil disobedients have chosen a variety of different illegal acts. Hugo A. Bedau writes,
{{Blockquote|There is a whole class of acts, undertaken in the name of civil disobedience, which, even if they were widely practiced, would in themselves constitute hardly more than a nuisance (e.g. trespassing at a nuclear-missile installation)&nbsp;... Such acts are often just a harassment and, at least to the bystander, somewhat inane&nbsp;... The remoteness of the connection between the disobedient act and the objectionable law lays such acts open to the charge of ineffectiveness and absurdity.}}
Bedau also notes, though, that the very harmlessness of such entirely symbolic illegal protests toward [[public policy]] goals may serve a propaganda purpose.<ref name="Bedau"/> Some civil disobedients, such as the proprietors of illegal [[medical cannabis dispensaries]] and Voice in the Wilderness, which brought medicine to Iraq without the permission of the US government, directly achieve a desired social goal (such as the provision of medication to the sick) while openly breaking the law. [[Julia Butterfly Hill]] lived in [[Luna (tree)|Luna]], a {{convert|180|ft|m|adj=on}}-tall, 600-year-old [[California Redwood]] tree for 738 days, preventing its felling.

In cases where the criminalized behaviour is [[pure speech]], civil disobedience can consist simply of engaging in the forbidden speech. An example is [[WBAI]]'s broadcasting of the bit "[[Filthy Words]]" from a [[George Carlin]] comedy album, which eventually led to the 1978 Supreme Court case of ''[[FCC v. Pacifica Foundation]]''. [[Threatening government officials]] is a way to express defiance toward the government and unwillingness to stand for its policies. For example, a supporter of some [[Tax denier|tax deniers]] in [[New Hampshire]], [[Edward and Elaine Brown]], was arrested for allegedly telling the local city councillors to "Wise up or die."<ref>{{citation |title=Brown case e-mails investigated |date=21 June 2007 |url=http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Brown+case+e-mails+investigated&articleId=083dd586-0d54-4650-a9ca-07f99d4d3914 |access-date=19 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019220544/http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Brown+case+e-mails+investigated&articleId=083dd586-0d54-4650-a9ca-07f99d4d3914 |archive-date=19 October 2007 |url-status=dead |publisher=Union-Leader}}</ref>

More generally, protesters of particular [[victimless crime]]s often see fit to openly commit that crime. [[Indecent exposure|Laws against public nudity]], for instance, have been [[nudity and protest|protested by going naked in public]], and laws against cannabis consumption have been protested by openly possessing it and using it at cannabis rallies.<ref>{{citation|url=http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig8/clark-d5.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320185626/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig8/clark-d5.html/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 March 2022 |title=Civil Disobedience and the Libertarian Division of Labor |author=Clark, Dick |date=22 April 2008 |publisher=LewRockwell.com }}</ref>

Some forms of civil disobedience, such as [[illegal boycott]]s, [[refusals to pay taxes]], [[draft dodging]], [[denial-of-service attack|distributed denial-of-service attack]]s, and [[sit-in]]s, make it more difficult for a system to function. In this way, they might be considered coercive; coercive disobedience has the effect of exposing the enforcement of laws and policies, and it has even operated as an aesthetic strategy in contemporary art practice.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Steinberg|first=Monica|date=2021-07-03|title=Coercive Disobedience: Art and Simulated Transgression|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2021.1920288|journal=Art Journal|volume=80|issue=3|pages=78–99|doi=10.1080/00043249.2021.1920288|s2cid=237576098|issn=0004-3249}}</ref> Brownlee notes that "although civil disobedients are constrained in their use of coercion by their conscientious aim to engage in moral dialogue, nevertheless they may find it necessary to employ limited coercion to get their issue onto the table".<ref name=Brownlee>{{citation|title=The communicative aspects of civil disobedience and lawful punishment|author=Kimberley Brownlee|date=9 November 2006|journal=Criminal Law and Philosophy|volume=1|doi=10.1007/s11572-006-9015-9|issue=2|page=179|s2cid=145019882|author-link=Kimberley Brownlee}}</ref> The [[Plowshares]] organization temporarily closed [[GCSB Waihopai]] by padlocking the gates and using sickles to deflate one of the large domes covering two satellite dishes.

[[Electronic civil disobedience]] can include [[web site defacement]]s, [[URL redirection|redirect]]s, [[denial-of-service attack]]s, [[information theft]] and [[Internet leak|data leaks]], illegal web site [[parody|parodies]], [[virtual sit-in]]s, and [[virtual sabotage]]. It is distinct from other kinds of [[hacktivism]] in that the perpetrator openly reveals his identity. Virtual actions rarely succeed in completely shutting down their targets, but they often generate media attention.<ref>{{citation|doi=10.1177/0002716204270338|title=The New Digital Media and Activist Networking within Anti-Corporate Globalization Movements|author=Jeffrey S. Juris|volume=597|pages=189–208|journal=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|issue=Cultural Production in a Digital Age|jstor=25046069|year=2005|s2cid=145327747}}</ref>

[[Dilemma action]]s are designed to create a "response dilemma" for public authorities "by forcing them to either concede some public space to protesters or make themselves look absurd or heavy-handed by acting against the protest."<ref name=Moth>Laura Moth, [[Today's Zaman]], 19 June 2013, [https://archive.today/20130620053234/http://www.todayszaman.com/blogNewsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=318666 A standing dilemma in Taksim ]</ref>

===Response to punishment {{Anchor|Compliance}}===
As civil disobedience is intentionally breaking the law, people engaging in civil disobedience can expect to be [[arrested]], [[criminally charged]], [[tried]], and legally [[Punishment|punished]] for breaking the law. Protestors have to make choices about how to respond to each of these results.  

[[Al Sharpton]], a civil rights and social justice activist, says that civil disobedients "must be prepared to say the cause is more important than my freedom" and not incorrectly believe themselves to have [[legal immunity]] or feel a [[sense of entitlement]] to break laws without being subject to the ordinary legal punishments for breaking those laws.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Peters |first=Jeremy W. |date=2024-06-04 |title=Students Want Charges Dropped. What Is the Right Price for Protests? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/04/us/college-protests-charges-students.html |access-date=2024-07-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>  

==== Arrest strategies ====
[[File:Police officer speaking to demonstrator during civil disobedience action.jpg|thumb|right|A police officer speaks with a demonstrator at a union picket, explaining that she will be arrested if she does not leave the street. The demonstrator was arrested moments later.]]
Some disciplines of civil disobedience hold that the protester must submit to arrest and cooperate with the authorities. Others advocate falling limp or [[resisting arrest]], especially when it will hinder the police from effectively responding to a mass protest.

Many of the same decisions and principles that apply in other criminal investigations and arrests arise also in civil disobedience cases. For example, the suspect may need to decide whether to grant a [[consent search]] of his property and whether to talk to police officers. It is generally agreed within the legal community,<ref>''[[Watts v. Indiana]]'', {{ussc|338|49|1949}}</ref> and is often believed within the activist community, that a suspect's talking to criminal investigators can serve no useful purpose and may be harmful. Some civil disobedients are compelled to respond to investigators' questions, sometimes by a misunderstanding of the legal ramifications or a fear of seeming rude.<ref>{{citation|journal=The Yale Law Journal|title=A Postscript to the Miranda Project: Interrogation of Draft Protestors|author=John Griffiths and Richard E. Ayres|volume=77|issue=2|date=Dec 1967|pages=300–319|doi=10.2307/795080|jstor=795080|url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/3995|access-date=27 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218011631/http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/3995/|archive-date=18 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Also, some civil disobedients seek to use the arrest as an opportunity to make an impression on the officers. Thoreau wrote,
{{Blockquote|My civil neighbor, the tax-gatherer, is the very man I have to deal with—for it is, after all, with men and not with parchment that I quarrel—and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government. How shall he ever know well that he is and does as an officer of the government, or as a man, until he is obliged to consider whether he will treat me, his neighbor, for whom he has respect, as a neighbor and well-disposed man, or as a maniac and disturber of the peace, and see if he can get over this obstruction to his neighborliness without a ruder and more impetuous thought or speech corresponding with his action.<ref name=Thoreau>Thoreau, Henry David. ''[[Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)|Civil Disobedience]]''.</ref>}}

==== Trial strategies ====
Some civil disobedients feel it is incumbent upon them to accept punishment because of their belief in the validity of the [[social contract]], which is held to bind all to obey the laws that a government meeting certain standards of legitimacy has established, or else suffer the penalties set out in the law. Other civil disobedients who favour the existence of government still do not believe in the legitimacy of their particular government or do not believe in the legitimacy of a particular law it has enacted. Anarchistic civil disobedients do not believe in the legitimacy of any government, so see no need to accept punishment for a violation of criminal law.

===== Pleading guilty =====
An important decision for civil disobedients is whether to [[plead guilty]]. There is much debate on this point, as some believe that it is a civil disobedient's duty to submit to the punishment prescribed by law, while others believe that defending oneself in court will increase the possibility of changing the unjust law.<ref>{{citation|url=http://freestateproject.org/news/issues/civil_disobedience.php|title=Rules for Engaging in Civil Disobedience|publisher=Free State Project|access-date=17 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613110110/http://freestateproject.org/news/issues/civil_disobedience.php|archive-date=13 June 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> It has also been argued that either choice is compatible with the spirit of civil disobedience. [[ACT UP]]'s Civil Disobedience Training handbook states that a civil disobedient who pleads guilty is essentially stating, "Yes, I committed the act of which you accuse me. I don't deny it; in fact, I am proud of it. I feel I did the right thing by violating this particular law; I am guilty as charged", but that pleading not guilty sends a message of, "Guilt implies wrong-doing. I feel I have done no wrong. I may have violated some specific laws, but I am guilty of doing no wrong. I, therefore, plead not guilty." A plea of [[Nolo contendere|no contest]] is sometimes regarded as a compromise between the two.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/ACTUP_CivilDisobedience.pdf|title=Civil Disobedience Training|publisher=ACT UP|year=2003|access-date=17 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100622091604/http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/ACTUP_CivilDisobedience.pdf|archive-date=22 June 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> One defendant accused of illegally protesting [[nuclear power]], when asked to enter his plea, stated, "I plead for the beauty that surrounds us";<ref>{{citation|author=Hurst, John|year=1978|title=A-plant protesters being freed|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> this is known as a "creative plea", and will usually be interpreted as a plea of not guilty.<ref name=NLG/>

When the Committee for Non-Violent Action sponsored a protest in August 1957, at the Camp Mercury nuclear test site near Las Vegas, Nevada, 13 of the protesters attempted to enter the test site knowing that they faced arrest. At an announced time, one by one they crossed a line and were immediately arrested. They were put on a bus and taken to the Nye County seat of Tonopah, Nevada, and arraigned for trial before the local Justice of the Peace, that afternoon. A civil rights attorney, Francis Heisler, had volunteered to defend the accused, advising them to plead ''[[nolo contendere]]'' rather than guilty or not guilty. They were found guilty and given suspended sentences, conditional on not reentering the test site.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Public Safety |date=2018-12-21 |title=The Social Reintegration of Offenders and Crime Prevention |url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/scl-rntgrtn/index-en.aspx |access-date=2022-07-10 |website=www.publicsafety.gc.ca}}</ref>

Howard Zinn writes,
{{Blockquote|There may be many times when protesters ''choose'' to go to jail, as a way of continuing their protest, as a way of reminding their countrymen of injustice. But that is different than the notion that they ''must'' go to jail as part of a rule connected with civil disobedience. The key point is that the spirit of protest should be maintained all the way, whether it is done by remaining in jail, or by evading it. To accept jail penitently as an accession to "the rules" is to switch suddenly to a spirit of subservience, to demean the seriousness of the protest&nbsp;... In particular, the [[neo-conservative]] insistence on a guilty plea should be eliminated.<ref>Howard Zinn, ''Disobedience and Disorder: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order'', cited in {{citation|title=On Civil Disobedience in Recent American Democratic Thought|author=Paul F. Power|publisher=The American Political Science Review|volume=64|issue=1|date=Mar 1970|pages=40}}</ref>}}

Sometimes the prosecution proposes a [[plea bargain]] to civil disobedients, as in the case of the [[Camden 28]], in which the defendants were offered an opportunity to plead guilty to one misdemeanour count and receive no jail time.<ref>{{citation|author=Mirelle Cohen|title=The Camden 28 (review)|journal=Teaching Sociology|volume=35|issue=4|date=Oct 2007|pages=391–392|doi=10.1177/0092055x0703500423|s2cid=144154349}}</ref> In some [[mass arrest]] situations, the activists decide to use [[solidarity]] tactics to secure the same plea bargain for everyone.<ref name=NLG>{{citation|url=http://www.nlg-la.org/index_files/cd_questions.pdf|title=Questions and Answers about Civil Disobedience and the Legal Process|author=National Lawyers Guild, LA Chapter|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727003254/http://www.nlg-la.org/index_files/cd_questions.pdf|archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref> 

But some activists have opted to enter a [[blind plea]], pleading guilty without any plea agreement in place. Mahatma Gandhi pleaded guilty and told the court, "I am here to&nbsp;... submit cheerfully to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen."<ref>{{citation|title=Three Principles of Civil Disobedience: Thoreau, Gandhi, and King|publisher=Lewiston Morning Tribune|date=15 January 2006|author=Nick Gier}}</ref>

===== Allocution =====
Some civil disobedience defendants choose to make a defiant speech, or a speech explaining their actions, in [[allocution]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pestorius |first=Margaret |date=2020-02-18 |title=Your Activist Speech in Court |url=https://commonslibrary.org/your-activist-speech-in-court/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref> In ''U.S. v. Burgos-Andujar'', a defendant who was involved in a movement to stop military exercises by trespassing on US Navy property argued to the court in allocution that "the ones who are violating the greater law are the members of the Navy". As a result, the judge increased her sentence from 40 to 60 days. This action was upheld because, according to the [[US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit]], her statement suggested a lack of remorse, an attempt to avoid responsibility for her actions, and even a likelihood of repeating her illegal actions.<ref>{{cite court|url=http://openjurist.org/275/f3d/23/united-states-of-america-v-norma-burgos-andjar|vol=275|reporter=F.3d|opinion=23|litigants=United States of America v. Norma Burgos-Andjar}}</ref> Some of the other allocution speeches given by the protesters complained about mistreatment from government officials.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prosario-2000.0catch.com/Politics/allocution.htm|title=Allocution|website=prosario-2000.0catch.com|access-date=12 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116083104/http://prosario-2000.0catch.com/Politics/allocution.htm|archive-date=16 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Tim DeChristopher]] gave an allocution statement to the court describing the US as "a place where the rule of law was created through acts of civil disobedience" and arguing, "Since those bedrock acts of civil disobedience by our founding fathers, the rule of law in this country has continued to grow closer to our shared higher moral code through the civil disobedience that drew attention to legalized injustice."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://grist.org/climate-energy/2011-07-27-tim-dechristophers-statement-to-the-court/|title=Tim DeChristopher's statement to the court|date=28 July 2011|access-date=2 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013163122/http://grist.org/climate-energy/2011-07-27-tim-dechristophers-statement-to-the-court/|archive-date=13 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

===== Trial strategies =====
[[Steven Barkan]] writes that if defendants plead not guilty, "they must decide whether their primary goal will be to win an acquittal and avoid imprisonment or a fine, or to use the proceedings as a forum to inform the jury and the public of the political circumstances surrounding the case and their reasons for breaking the law via civil disobedience." A [[technical defence]] may enhance the chances for acquittal but increase the possibility of additional proceedings and of reduced press coverage. During the [[Vietnam War]] era, the [[Chicago Eight]] used a [[political defence]], but [[Benjamin Spock trial|Benjamin Spock]] used a technical defence.<ref>{{citation|title=Strategic, Tactical and Organizational Dilemmas of the Protest Movement against Nuclear Power|author=Steven E. Barkan|author-link=Steven Barkan|publisher=Social Problems|volume=27|issue=1|date=Oct 1979|pages=19–37}}</ref> In countries such as the United States, whose laws guarantee the right to a [[jury trial]] but do not excuse lawbreaking for political purposes, some civil disobedients seek [[jury nullification]]. Over the years, this has been made more difficult by court decisions such as ''[[Sparf v. United States]]'', which held that the judge need not inform jurors of their nullification prerogative, and ''[[United States v. Dougherty]]'', which held that the judge need not allow defendants to openly seek jury nullification.

==== Choices made by the legal system ====
British judge [[Lennie Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann|Lord Hoffman]] writes that "In deciding whether or not to impose punishment, the most important consideration would be whether it would do more harm than good. This means that the objector has no right not to be punished. It is a matter for the state (including the judges) to decide on [[utilitarian]] grounds whether to do so or not."<ref>{{citation |title=Judgments – Sepet (FC) and Another (FC) (Appellants) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) |date=20 March 2003 |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldjudgmt/jd030320/sepet-2.htm |access-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009181022/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldjudgmt/jd030320/sepet-2.htm |archive-date=9 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Hoffman also asserted that while the "rules of the game" for civil disobedients were to remain non-violent while breaking the law, the authorities must recognize that demonstrators are acting out of their conscience in pursuit of democracy. "When it comes to punishment, the court should take into account their personal convictions", he said.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ho |first=Joyce |date=4 December 2014 |title=Punish surrendering Occupy protesters leniently, Hong Kong top court judge urges |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1655502/punish-surrendering-occupy-protesters-leniently-urges-hong-kong-top |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508173115/https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1655502/punish-surrendering-occupy-protesters-leniently-urges-hong-kong-top |archive-date=8 May 2019 |access-date=30 May 2020 |work=[[South China Morning Post]]}}</ref>

=== Choices made by society ===
In addition to legal action, civil disobedients may be affected socially. For example, student protesters may be [[Suspension (punishment)|suspended]] or [[Expulsion (education)|expelled]] from school.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Paul |first=Pamela |date=2024-05-30 |title=And Now, a Real-World Lesson for Student Activists |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/30/opinion/college-activism-israel-gaza.html |access-date=2024-07-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gecker |first=Jocelyn |date=2024-04-28 |title=College protesters want 'amnesty.' At stake: Tuition, legal charges, grades and graduation |url=https://apnews.com/article/student-protest-gaza-war-arrest-amnesty-ae235703d6a9b99114078fca13a530a0 |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Mitchell K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhXHEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22civil+disobedience%22+disowned&pg=PA190 |title=Vietnam War Era: People and Perspectives |date=2009-05-20 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-59884-130-5 |pages=190 |language=en |quote=activists who participated in nonviolent civil disobedience faced...university administrators who expelled them, parents who disowned them, and other students who shunned them.}}</ref> Civil disobedients may be [[disowned]] by or become [[Family estrangement|estranged]] from their families.<ref name=":1" /> Some employers may prefer to hire people who did not engage in civil disobedience<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Rafi |date=2024-05-15 |title=Are campus protesters jeopardizing their employment futures? |url=https://theweek.com/politics/gaza-war-campus-protests-employment-graduation-job |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=theweek |language=en}}</ref> or fire employees who do.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tenbarge |first=Kat |date=2023-10-17 |title=Law firm rescinds job offers to Harvard students over Israel letters |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/business/corporations/harvard-letter-israel-columbia-ivy-davis-polk-law-firm-student-rcna120881 |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Grant |first=Nico |date=2024-04-18 |title=Google Fires 28 Employees Involved in Protest of Israeli Cloud Contract |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/technology/google-firing-israeli-cloud-contract.html |access-date=2024-07-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>