A look at a criminal court docket in Michigan will show at least several defendants charged with the crime of uttering & publishing. But what does this odd sounding crime involve? Uttering and publishing means to falsify a document in order to cheat someone. Often times this involves the passing of bad checks. The âintentâ to injure or defraud is a crucial element in the case against the defendant, and may be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.