LOITERING

'Loitering' (IPA pronunciation: is an intransitive verb meaning to stand idly, to stop numerous times, or to delay and procrastinate. Hanging out at the sales desk (R Abi-Nader).

Contents

Social issue

Legal issues

Discriminatory history

See also

Social issue

It is not rare to see young people loitering on street corners, or outside distinct places within towns (such as shops, filling stations, liquor stores). In a bid to try and combat this, many stores have installed signs on their exterior walls, on which is written 'NO LOITERING'. The same approach has been taken with some lamp posts.

Legal issues

Local areas vary on the degree to which police are empowered to arrest loiterers; limitations on their power are sometimes made over concerns regarding racial profiling.
In Jamaica the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal regarding a case of loitering near a playground by a man convicted of child abuse. (see R. v. Heywood).
However in Minneapolis for example, loitering on public property is not actually a crime. 1
In 1992, the City of Chicago adopted an anti-loitering law (Chicago Municipal Code 8-4-015 (1992)) aimed at restricting gang related activity, especially violent crime and drug trafficking. [1]. The law, which defined loitering as "''remain(ing) in any one place with no apparent purpose''", gave police officers a right to disperse such persons and in case of disobedience, provided for a punishment by fine, imprisonment and/or community service. It was struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States (''Chicago v. Morales'', ) as unacceptably vague and not giving citizens clear guidelines on what the acceptable conduct was. In 2000, the city adopted a revised version of the ordinance, eliminating the unconstitutional elements. Loitering was then defined as "''remaining in any one place under circumstances that would warrant a reasonable person to believe that the purpose or effect of that behavior is to enable a criminal street gang to establish control over identifiable areas, to intimidate others from entering those areas, or to conceal illegal activities''"
In Portland, Oregon a wide range of measures have been enacted to tackle loitering and related issues.
3

Discriminatory history

Although loitering laws date back to 16th Century England, in the United States they have long been used for expressly racist purposes. After the Civil War they were used in conjunction with vagrancy laws to reinforce a state of quasi-slavery for African Americans in the South.¹ During the Civil Rights era, they were used to break up protests (by arresting the protesters), and were used on at least one occasion to prevent court testimony by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (who was arrested for loitering in the courthouse).²

See also

★ The Mosquito

★ Teenager
^1: ''Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review''. Volume 37.
^2: Hendrickson, Paul. ''Sons of Mississippi: A Story of Race and Its Legacy''. Alfred A. Knopf. New York: 2003.
For UK issues relating to this matter see Sus law.