The Legal Costs of Public Misconduct ?

Answer 1

Legal cases involving public misconduct are filling the dockets of today's courts at an alarming rate. Impropriety in behavior has escalated in every area of society from average citizens to clergy and everyone in between as more and more people have pushed the envelope past what is legally accepted and allowable in public.

One of the most common public misconduct charges is disorderly conduct. A person is guilty of disorderly conduct when he or she breaches the peace. Offenders are arrested for these misdemeanors when fighting, swearing, exhibiting threatening behavior or making loud noise, to name a few. Depending on the severity of the offender's actions and legal counsel, the outcome could lead to up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Although charges such as these are referred to as misdemeanors, they can still have negative consequences for the offenders' future and a lawyer should be obtained to get the charges dropped or at least reduced, if possible.

Advocates for the homeless and lawyers who work with legal aid clinics regularly assist them in defending against charges such as trespassing, littering, spitting, loitering, public urination and panhandling as a result of having nowhere else to go and no other means of survival. Citizens will also often have public misconduct charges added on to other charges such as truancy, harassment, racial abuse, theft, cursing/swearing at sports events, assault, and drunkenness.

Protesters are also charged with public misconduct by police officers who will many times grab anyone in the vicinity of a demonstration and shuttle them off to jail. 20 protesters out of 100 were arbitrarily plucked from the crowd and charged with pedestrian interference while blocking the streets in Seattle during a recent demonstration. Pedestrian interference is the same misdemeanor statute used for aggressive begging and an arrestee could have to pay up to $1,000 in fines and/or serve 90 days in jail. Most organizations have legal observers who will take on these cases and achieve an agreed upon resolution for all who have been arrested, however there are some that become tied up in the system for months and even years due to the politics of the court and need separate legal counseling and advocacy.

Public misconduct arrests take many forms but always end badly and at great expense. Young people should be counseled to think before they act spontaneously and to always consider the potential consequences of their behavior.