Lewd behavior
Lewd behavior laws vary from city to city, state to state, and country to country. This article is being written as a guideline: consult an attorney!
Caliornia law
Penal Code 647a PC is the California statute that prohibits lewd conduct in public. This means to touch your own or another person’s genitals, buttocks, or a female breast, for sexual gratification, when you know or should know there are people present who would be offended by it.
It is also a crime to solicit lewd conduct in public. A conviction is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail and fines of up to $1000.00. Sex offender registration is not required.
Lewd or dissolute conduct is defined as touching your private parts (or another’s private parts) when you do so:
- for the purpose of sexual gratification, or
- to annoy or offend someone else.
Private parts refer to
- the genitals,
- the buttocks, or
- a female breast.
In and of itself, sexual activity — even in a public place — is not a crime. It only rises to the level of “lewd conduct” when you know — or you reasonably should know — that it is likely for someone to be present or watching, who would be offended by your conduct.
- Penalties
Violation of 647a PC is a misdemeanor. It is punishable by up to 6 months in county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000. In reality, many of these charges get reduced to lesser offenses. And many are resolved for misdemeanor probation and little or no jail time.
Currently, a conviction for lewd conduct in public does not require registration as a sex offender. However, prosecutors often charge it together with Penal Code 314 “indecent exposure”. Penal Code 314 does trigger lifetime sex offender registration.
Undercover Sting Operations
Most lewd conduct arrests involve undercover sting operations. Decoy police officers pose as gay men in bathrooms, parks, and adult bookstores. These undercover cops try to “bait” you into sexual behavior. When you
- expose yourself,
- masturbate, or
- propose some sexual act,
they arrest you. It often amounts to very clear cases of police entrapment.
Most people arrested in these stings never engaged in “lewd or dissolute conduct” as the law defines it. In fact, quite often the arrested person does nothing more than making eye contact and “cruise” the decoy officer.
Yet police tend to embellish, exaggerate, and outright lie in order to make it look like something more than that happened. It’s wrong. Yet it happens all the time.
You can fight back.
Legal Defenses to California Charges of Lewd Conduct in Public
Legal defenses to lewd conduct charges include (but are not limited to):
- You didn’t touch your private parts or someone else’s.
- You did touch the private parts, but it was not for sexual gratification.
- You reasonably believed there was no one present who would be offended.
- You were not in a public place or a place open to public view.
- The police used entrapment or engaged in other misconduct.
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