Here’s something to ponder the next time you get to argue with the 911 dispatcher about the guys on the corner (bolds are mine):
Division IV. Criminal Law and Procedure and Prisoners.
Title 22. Criminal Offenses and Penalties. (Refs & Annos)
Subtitle I. Criminal Offenses.
Chapter 13. Disturbances of the Public Peace.
§ 22-1307. Unlawful assembly; profane and indecent language.It shall not be lawful for any person or persons within the District of Columbia to congregate and assemble in any street, avenue, alley, road, or highway, or in or around any public building or enclosure, or any park or reservation, or at the entrance of any private building or enclosure, and engage in loud and boisterous talking or other disorderly conduct, or to insult or make rude or obscene gestures or comments or observations on persons passing by, or in their hearing, or to crowd, obstruct, or incommode, the free use of any such street, avenue, alley, road, highway, or any of the foot pavements thereof, or the free entrance into any public or private building or enclosure; it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to curse, swear, or make use of any profane language or indecent or obscene words, or engage in any disorderly conduct in any street, avenue, alley, road, highway, public park or enclosure, public building, church, or assembly room, or in any other public place, or in any place where from the same may be heard in any street, avenue, alley, road, highway, public park or enclosure, or other building, or in any premises other than those where the offense was committed, under a penalty of not more than $250 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both for each and every such offense.
CREDIT(S)
(July 29, 1892, 27 Stat. 323, ch. 320, § 6; July 8, 1898, 30 Stat. 723, ch. 638; June 29, 1953, 67 Stat. 97, ch. 159, § 210.)
HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 22-1107; 1973 Ed., § 22-1107.; DC CODE § 22-1307
Okay the problem seems that the language hasn’t been changed since 1892, but hey, it’s the DC Code, use that outmoded lingua to your advantage.
Get more of that funky code here.
You'll like this one too.
DC ST § 22-3502
Formerly cited as DC ST 1981 § 22-3302
District of Columbia Official Code 2001 Edition Currentness
Division IV. Criminal Law and Procedure and Prisoners.
Title 22. Criminal Offenses and Penalties. (Refs & Annos)
Subtitle I. Criminal Offenses.
Chapter 35. Vagrancy.
§ 22-3502. "Vagrants" defined.
The following classes of persons shall be deemed vagrants in the District of Columbia:
(1) Any person known to be a pickpocket, thief, burglar, confidence operator, or felon, either by his or her own confession or by his or her having been convicted in the District of Columbia or elsewhere of any one of such offenses or of any felony, and having no lawful employment and having no lawful means of support realized from a lawful occupation or source, and not giving a good account of himself or herself when found loitering around in any park, highway, public building, or other public place, store, shop, or reservation, or at any public gathering or assembly;
(2) Any person leading an immoral or profligate life who has no lawful employment and who has no lawful means of support realized from a lawful occupation or source;
(3) Any person who keeps, operates, frequents, lives in, or is employed in any house or other establishment of ill fame, or who (whether married or single) engages in or commits acts of fornication or perversion for hire;
(4) Any person who frequents or loafs, loiters, or idles in or around or is the occupant of or is employed in any gambling establishment or establishment where intoxicating liquor is sold without a license;
(5) Any person wandering abroad and lodging in any grocery or provision establishment, vacant house, or other vacant building, outhouse, market place, shed, barn, garage, gasoline station, parking lot, or in the open air, and not giving a good account of himself or herself;
(6) Repealed;
(7) Any person who wanders about the streets at late or unusual hours of the night without any visible or lawful business and not giving a good account of himself or herself; and
(8) All persons who by the common law are vagrants, whether embraced in any of the foregoing classifications or not.
CREDIT(S)
(Dec. 17, 1941, 55 Stat. 808, ch. 589, § 1; June 29, 1953, 67 Stat. 97, ch. 159, § 209(b); Nov. 17, 1993, D.C. Law 10-54, § 9, 40 DCR 5450; May 21, 1994, D.C. Law 10-119, § 16(a), 41 DCR 1639; May 17, 1996, D.C. Law 11-119, § 5, 43 DCR 528; June 3, 1997, D.C. Law 11-275, § 9(a), 44 DCR 1408.)
HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 22-3302.
1973 Ed., § 22-3302.
Legislative History of Laws
Law 10-54, the "Panhandling Control Act of 1993," was introduced in Council and assigned Bill No. 10-72, which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Bill was adopted on first and second readings on June 1, 1993, and June 29, 1993, respectively. Signed by the Mayor on July 16, 1993, it was assigned Act No. 10-48 and transmitted to both Houses of Congress for its review. D.C. Law 10-54 became effective on November 17, 1993.
Law 10-119, the "Anti-Gender Discriminatory Language Criminal Offenses Amendment Act of 1994," was introduced in Council and assigned Bill No. 10-332, which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Bill was adopted on first and second readings on February 1, 1994, and March 1, 1994, respectively. Signed by the Mayor on March 17, 1994, it was assigned Act No. 10-209 and transmitted to both Houses of Congress for its review. D.C. Law 10- 119 became effective on May 21, 1994.
Law 11-119, the "Criminal Code Technical Amendments Act of 1996," was introduced in Council and assigned Bill No. 11-484, which was referred to the Committee of the Whole. The Bill was adopted on first and second readings on December 5, 1995, and January 4, 1996, respectively. Signed by the Mayor on January 26, 1996, it was assigned Act No. 11-198 and transmitted to both Houses of Congress for its review. D.C. Law 11-119 became effective May 17, 1996.
Law 11-275, the "Second Criminal Code Technical Amendments Act of 1996," was introduced in Council and assigned Bill No. 11-909, which was referred to the Committee of the Whole. The Bill was adopted on first and second readings on November 7, 1996, and December 3, 1996, respectively. Signed by the Mayor on December 24, 1996, it was assigned Act No. 11-520 and transmitted to both Houses of Congress for its review. D.C. Law 11-275 became effective on June 3, 1997.
DC CODE § 22-3502
Current through July 7, 2008
Copyright © 2008 By The District of Columbia. All Rights Reserved.
It defines a vagrant but I glanced at the vagrancy laws in the DC Code and there doesn’t seem to be any valid law against being a vagrant.
If they actually fined the Q-crew for loitering and foul language, the city would never have to worry about taxes again. It would be an inexhaustible flow of revenue.