Pryor v. Municipal Court: California's Narrowing Definition of Solicitation for Public Lewd Conduct
![handle is hein.journals/hastlj32 and id is 491 raw text is: Notes and Comments
Pryor v. Municipal Court: California's
Narrowing Definition of Solicitation for
Public Lewd Conduct
By Lawrence Carl Levine*
California Penal Code section 647, subdivision (a),1 declares
that every person who solicits anyone to engage in or who engages
in lewd or dissolute conduct in any public place or in any place
open to the public or exposed to public view is guilty of a misde-
meanor.2 Since the enactment of section 647(a) in 1961, the courts
have struggled to interpret the terms lewd or dissolute as used in
the section. These ambiguous terms have been subject to several
conflicting interpretations leading to the discriminatory enforce-
ment of section 647(a) against homosexual men.-
In Pryor v. Municipal Court,4 the California Supreme Court
acknowledged the discriminatory enforcement and conflicting in-
terpretations of section 647(a), putting the statute through a rigor-
ous vagueness analysis. Deeming the phrase lewd or dissolute con-
duct unconstitutionally vague, the court presented its new
* B.A., 1976, Allegheny College. Member, Third Year Class.
1. This section must be carefully distinguished from California Penal Code § 647a,
which proscribes lewd acts with a minor. See People v. Hensel, 233 Cal. App. 2d 834, 835
n.1, 43 Cal. Rptr. 865, 866 (1965) (first reported appellate case concerning § 647(a), in which
the trial court confused the two sections).
2. CAL. PENAL CODE § 647(a) (West 1970).
3. The vast majority of section 647(a) arrests have involved male homosexual activity.
See generally Copilow & Coleman, Enforcement of Section 647(a) of the California Penal
Code by the Los Angeles Police Department (1972) (unpublished); Toy, Update: Enforce-
ment of Section 647(a) of the California Penal Code by the Los Angeles Police Department
(July 19, 1974) (unpublished); Project, The Consenting Adult Homosexual and the Law: An
Empirical Study of Enforcement and Administration in Los Angeles County, 13 U.C.L.A.
L. REv. 643 (1966) [hereinafter cited as Project].
The great majority of the arrests have resulted from the use of male undercover police
officers. See Project, supra, at 691 n.30.
4. 25 Cal. 3d 238, 599 P.2d 636, 158 Cal. Rptr. 330 (1979).
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Pryor v. Municipal Court: California's Narrowing Definition of Solicitation for Public Lewd Conduct
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