Public Safety Violations
Certain state and local laws prohibit behavior that could be considered disruptive or threatening to public safety or the general peace of a public area, such playing loud music in front of a restaurant or inciting violence in a public park. Public safety violations include disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace, which are considered "catch-all" violations for actions or words that compromise the safety or overall peace of public places, varying from state to state. This subsection also includes an in-depth article on public intoxication and a link to FindLaw’s list of all criminal charges.
- Disorderly Conduct
General overview of disorderly conduct statutes, general “catch-all” categories that typically include a number of related offenses, which prohibit conduct considered obnoxious, disruptive or otherwise unruly in a public place.
- Disturbing the Peace
In-depth primer on what constitutes a disturbing the peace offense (which is a form of disorderly conduct involving excessively loud noise), how courts determine guilt and common penalties.
- Public Intoxication
Description of the crime of public intoxication (or being “drunk in public”) and the three elements that must be present for such a charge to be made, plus defenses and exceptions.
- View All Criminal Charges
Alphabetically arranged list of most criminal charges, from aiding and abetting to wire fraud and everything in-between, including a short list of the most common criminal charges in the U.S.