loitering laws
No-dawdling legal codes
Loitering laws are statutes that criminalize lingering in public places without apparent purpose.
Historically used to control vagrancy and "undesirable" populations, many such laws have been struck down as unconstitutionally vague or as pretexts for targeting the homeless, minorities, or youth.
Modern versions often specify prohibited conduct more narrowly: The city's loitering law bans standing near ATMs with intent to solicit.
- criminalizationMaking conduct unlawful
- statutesFormally enacted laws
- parksPublic recreation grounds
- racial profilingLaw enforcement by skin color
- civil libertiesRights limiting government power
quality of life crimes · ordinances · advocacy groups · sidewalks · stop and frisk · homelessness · municipal codes · public safety · public nuisance · social stigma · penal codes · bus stations · street corners · plazas · shopping malls · surveillance · community policing · alleyways
- criminal lawcrime, felony, misdemeanor, murder, robbery
- discriminationracism, systemic discrimination, sexism, racial harassment, prejudice
- city ordinancescity charter, noise ordinance, noise ordinances, code enforcement, municipal codes
- city regulationsnoise ordinance, noise ordinances, building regulations, housing codes, health codes
- local lawszoning, city ordinances, zoning ordinance, city ordinance, permits
- local regulationsnoise ordinances, zoning, building codes, housing codes, health codes
loiter, loiters, loitered, loiterer, loiterers, laws, lawful, unlawful, unlawfully