The Statutory Standard: Disorderly Conduct

Compare the Texas disorderly conduct statute to the laws previously discussed.

Texas Code Section 42.01. Disorderly Conduct

(1)    A person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly:

(a)  uses abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace;

(b) makes an offensive gesture or display in a public place, and the gesture or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace;

(c)  creates by chemical means, a noxious and unreasonable odor in a public place;

(d) abuses or threatens a person in a public place in an obviously offensive manner;

(e)  makes unreasonable noise in a public place other than a sport shooting range . . . or in or near a private residence that he has no right to occupy;

(f)  fights with another in a public place;

(g) discharges a firearm in a public place other than a public road or a sport shooting range . . . ;

(h) displays a firearm or other deadly weapon in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm;

(i)  discharges a firearm on or across a public road;

(j)  exposes his anus or genitals in a public place and is reckless about whether another may be present who will be offended or alarmed by his act; or

(k) for a lewd or unlawful purpose:

(i)   enters on the property of another and looks into a dwelling . . . through any window or other opening. . . .

(ii)  while on the premises of a hotel . . . looks into a guest room. . . .

(iii) while on the premises of a public place, looks into an area such as a restroom or shower stall or changing or dressing room that is designed to provide privacy to a person using the area. . .

(2)  It is a defense to prosecution . . . that the actor had significant provocation for his abusive or threatening conduct. . . .
 

The Statutory Standard: Riot

Consider these statutory provisions on the crime of riot.

Ohio Laws

Section 2917.03. Riot

(A) No person shall participate with four or more others in a course of disorderly conduct. . . .

(1)  With purpose to commit or facilitate the commission of a misdemeanor . . . ;

(2)  With purpose to intimidate a public official or employee into taking or refraining from official action, or with purpose to hinder, impede, or obstruct a function of government;

(3)  With purpose to hinder, impede, or obstruct the orderly process of administration or instruction at an educational institution, or to interfere with or disrupt lawful activities carried on at such institution.

(B) No person shall participate with four or more others with purpose to do an act with unlawful force or violence, even though such an act might otherwise be lawful. . . .

(C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of . . . a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Section 2917.02. Aggravated Riot

(A) No person shall participate with four or more others in a course of disorderly conduct. . . .

(1)  With purpose to commit or facilitate the commission of a felony;

(2)  With purpose to commit or facilitate the commission of any offense of violence;

(3)  When the offender or any participant to the knowledge of the offender has on or about the offender’s or participant’s person or under the offender’s or participant’s control, uses, or intends to use a deadly weapon or deadly ordnance. . . .

(B) (1) No person, being an inmate in a detention facility, shall violate . . . (A)(1), (2), or (3). . . .

(C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of aggravated riot . . . a felony. . . .

The Statutory Standard: Loitering

The California statute on loitering provides:

California Penal Code Section 653(g)

Every person who loiters about any school or public place at or near which children attend or normally congregate and who remains at any school or public place at or near which children attend or normally congregate, or who reenters or comes upon a school or place within seventy-two hours after being asked to leave by the chief administrative official of that school . . . [or by member of the security patrol, city police officer, or sheriff] is a vagrant and is punishable by a fine of not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by both the fine and the imprisonment. . . . “Loiter” means to delay, to linger, or to idle about a school or public place without lawful business for being present.

 

The Statutory Standard: Obscenity

Pennsylvania Statutes Section 5903. Obscene and Other Sexual Materials and Performances

(1)  No person, knowing the obscene character of the materials or performances involved, shall:

(a) display or cause or permit the display of any explicit sexual materials . . . in or on any window, showcase, newsstand, display rack, billboard, display board, viewing screen, motion picture screen, marquee or similar place in such manner that the display is visible from any public street, highway, sidewalk, transportation facility or other public thoroughfare, or in any business or commercial establishment where minors . . . will probably be exposed to view all or any part of such material;

(b)  sell, lend, distribute, exhibit, give away or show any obscene material to any person 18 years of age or older or offer to sell, lend, distribute, transmit, exhibit or give away or show, or have in his possession with intent to sell, lend, distribute, transmit, exhibit or give away or show any obscene materials to any person 18 years of age or older, or knowingly advertise any obscene material in any manner;

(c) design, copy, draw, photograph, print, utter, publish or in any manner manufacture or prepare any obscene materials;

(d) write, print, publish, utter, or cause to be written, printed, published or uttered any advertisement or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, stating or purporting to state where, how, from whom, or by what means any obscene materials can be purchased, obtained or had;

(e) produce, present or direct any obscene performance or participate in a portion thereof that is obscene or that contributes to its obscenity;

(f) hire, employ, use or permit any minor child to do or assist in doing any act or thing mentioned in this subsection;

(g)  knowingly take or deliver in any manner any obscene material into a State correctional institution, county prison, regional prison facility or any other type of correctional facility [other sections address possession of such material in a penal institution and permitting such material to enter any such institution]. . . .

(2)  No person shall knowingly disseminate by sale, loan or otherwise explicit sexual materials to a minor . . . material which depicts nudity, sexual conduct, or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors; or detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, or sadomasochistic abuse and which, taken as a whole, is harmful to minors.