Loitering

The offense of remaining in a public place, or a specific type of place such as a school, transit station or private property, without an apparent lawful purpose, requiring, in a constitutionally sound modern statute, some additional element beyond mere presence, such as an intent to engage in unlawful activity or a refusal to disperse after a lawful police order, following the United States Supreme Court's 1972 decision in Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville and its 1999 decision in City of Chicago v. Morales, both of which struck down a broadly worded loitering or vagrancy ordinance as unconstitutionally vague. Distinguished in criminal law from vagrancy, an offense historically defined more by a person's status, such as being homeless or without visible means of support, in that loitering is defined by conduct, specifically remaining in a particular location, a number of jurisdictions retain a narrower, purpose-specific loitering offense, such as loitering for the purpose of drug activity or prostitution, while having repealed the broader historical vagrancy statute.