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4 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 275 (1968-1969)
Loitering and Related Offenses

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl4 and id is 281 raw text is: III. LOITERING AND RELATED OFFENSES Beverly C. Moore Jr. The most repugnant characteristic of aggressive patrol- ling is its overbroad application to persons not reasonably sus- pected of criminal activity. Police patrol activity, usually adopted without statutory authority, is an informal practice not involving actual arrest. More serious are statutes which allow the police to arrest persons who would otherwise be subject only to case II (reasonable suspicion) or case IV (aggressive patrol- ling) field interrogations. Loitering ordinances fall within this category of statutory offenses. 1 A. General Loitering Ordinances The predominant types of general loitering ordinances may be illustrated by means of the following cases. CASE V2 (absolute prohibition). Mr. L stands on a pub- lic sidewalk during normal business hours and leans against an adjacent building. Although many pedestrians are walking by Mr. L he is not obstructing their passage. He has not engaged in any activities that would raise a reasonable suspicion of criminal designs. He is arrested by the police under a statute forbidding all loitering on public thoroughfares, parks, facilities and other specified places. CASE VI (good account). The facts are the same as in case V, except that before arresting Mr. L the police ask him what he is doing and he refuses to answer. The arrest is then made under a statute making it a criminal offense for anyone to loiter in a public place who fails to give the police a good account of his activities upon request. CASE VII (unlawful purpose). The factual situation is the * A. B., University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), 1967; Second year student, Harvard Law School. 1See generally The Constitutionality of Loitering Ordin- ances, 6 St. Louis U. L. Rev. 247 (1960); Comment 4 Ariz. L. Rev. 284 (1963). 2See note on field interrogation~pp. 245-73 supra for hypo- theticals I-IV. -275-

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