Conn. Crim. Jury Instr. 8.4-6

The defendant is charged [in count__] with breach of the peace in the second degree. The statute

defining this offense reads in pertinent as follows:

a person is guilty of breach of the peace when, with intent to cause inconvenience,

annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, such person in a public

place, uses abusive or obscene language or makes an obscene gesture.

For you to find the defendant guilty of this charge, the state must prove the following elements

beyond a reasonable doubt:

Element 1 - Intent

The first element is that the defendant

• acted with the intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm. The predominant

intent must be to cause what a reasonable person operating under contemporary

community standards would consider a disturbance to or impediment of a lawful activity,

a deep feeling of vexation or provocation, or a feeling of anxiety prompted by threatened

danger or harm. <See Intent: Specific, Instruction 2.3-1.>

• recklessly created a risk of causing inconvenience, annoyance or alarm. A person acts

“recklessly” with respect to a result or circumstances when (he/she) is aware of and

consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or

that such circumstances exist. <See Recklessness, Instruction 2.3-4.>

The words “inconvenience, annoyance or alarm” refer to what a reasonable person operating

under contemporary community standards would consider a disturbance to or impediment of a

lawful activity, a deep feeling of vexation or provocation, or a feeling of anxiety prompted by

threatened danger or harm.1

Element 2 - Abusive or obscene language or gesture

The second element is that the defendant used abusive or obscene language or made an obscene

gesture. The alleged language used or the obscene gesture made must be overheard or seen by

others.

Language is “abusive” if it is so coarse and insulting as to create a substantial risk of provoking

violence. The words used must be “fighting words.” <See Fighting Words, Instruction 2.2-7.>

To be obscene, language or gestures must, under contemporary community standards, be so

grossly offensive to members of the public who actually overhear the language or who see the

gesture, as to amount to a serious annoyance. It must be in a significant way erotic and must

appeal to prurient interest in sex or portray sex in a patently offensive way.2

Element 3 - Public Place

The third element is that the conduct took place in a public place. “Public place” means any area

that is used or held out for use by the public whether owned or operated by public or private

interests.3

Conclusion

In summary, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant 1) (intended to

cause / recklessly created a risk of causing) inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, 2) <describe

conduct>, and 3) it was in a public place.

If you unanimously find that the state has proved beyond a reasonable doubt each of the elements

of the crime of breach of peace in the second degree, then you shall find the defendant guilty.

On the other hand, if you unanimously find that the state has failed to prove beyond a reasonable

doubt any of the elements, you shall then find the defendant not guilty.

1 The Supreme Court applied this interpretive gloss to the mens rea language of the disorderly

conduct statute in State v. Indrisano, 228 Conn. 795, 810-811 (1994). In State v. Wolff, 237

Conn. 633, 670 (1996), the Court applied it to the breach of peace statute. See the discussion of

intent in the Introduction to this section.

2 See State v. Anonymous, 34 Conn. Supp. 575, 577 (App. Sess. 1977).

3 Defined in § 53a-180aa (b).