405 U.S. 156, 92 S. Ct. 839, 31 L. Ed. 2d 110 (1972)
The case involves eight defendants convicted under a Jacksonville, Florida vagrancy ordinance.1 Margaret Papachristou, Betty Calloway, Eugene Eddie Melton, and Leonard Johnson were arrested early on a Sunday morning and charged with vagrancy by prowling by auto while riding in Calloway's car after leaving a restaurant.2 Jimmy Lee Smith and Milton Henry were charged with vagrancy as vagabonds after being stopped while waiting for a friend to lend them a car for a job application.3 Henry Edward Heath and a codefendant were arrested for loitering and common thief when they arrived at a residence.4 Thomas Owen Campbell was charged with being a common thief after being stopped for speeding near his home.5 Hugh Brown was charged with disorderly loitering on the street and resisting arrest with violence after leaving a hotel.6
The ordinance defined vagrants to include rogues and vagabonds or dissolute persons who go about begging, common gamblers, persons who use juggling or unlawful games or plays, common drunkards, common night walkers, thieves, pilferers or pickpockets, traders in stolen property, lewd wanton and lascivious persons, keepers of gambling places, common railers and brawlers, persons wandering or strolling around from place to place without any lawful purpose or object, habitual loafers, disorderly persons, persons neglecting all lawful business and habitually spending their time by frequenting houses of ill fame gaming houses or places where alcoholic beverages are sold or served, and persons able to work but habitually living upon the earnings of their wives or minor children.7
The facts of the arrests were stipulated by the parties.8 Papachristou was enrolled in a job-training program, Calloway was a teacher and owned the car, Melton was a Vietnam veteran and student, and Johnson was a warehouse worker and lifelong resident.9 Smith was a part-time worker and political organizer with a common-law wife and children, while Henry was a high school student.10 Heath had lived in Jacksonville all his life and worked at an automobile body shop.11 Campbell reached his home early in the morning.12 Brown was observed leaving a downtown hotel and was reputed to be a thief and narcotics pusher, with packets of heroin found during the search.13
All eight defendants were convicted in the municipal court.14 Their convictions were affirmed by the Florida Circuit Court in a consolidated appeal.15 The Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider the challenges to the ordinance.16
Whether the Jacksonville vagrancy ordinance fails to give persons of ordinary intelligence fair notice of the conduct it forbids?17
A criminal statute is unconstitutionally vague under the Due Process Clause if it fails to give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct is forbidden by the statute.18
Yes. The ordinance criminalizes normally innocent activities such as nightwalking, loafing, and wandering without lawful purpose, as applied to Papachristou, Calloway, Melton, and Johnson who were driving in Calloway's car after leaving a restaurant on their way to a nightclub, to Smith and Henry who were waiting for a friend to lend them a car for a job application, and to Heath and Campbell who were observed near residences or traveling home early in the morning, without providing fair notice to persons of ordinary intelligence.19
The Jacksonville vagrancy ordinance is unconstitutionally vague because it fails to give fair notice of the prohibited conduct.20
Whether the Jacksonville vagrancy ordinance encourages arbitrary and erratic arrests and convictions by placing unfettered discretion in the hands of police?21
A criminal statute is unconstitutionally vague under the Due Process Clause if it encourages arbitrary and erratic arrests and convictions by placing unfettered discretion in the hands of police.22
Yes. The ordinance places unfettered discretion in police hands, as demonstrated by the arrests of the eight defendants on stipulated facts including Brown who was stopped after leaving a hotel because reputed to be a thief and narcotics pusher, Heath and his companion who were searched and charged as common thief and loiterer based on reputation and presence at a driveway, Smith and Henry who were arrested for lacking identification while waiting for a job contact, and the others stopped without evidence of breaking and entering or other criminal acts.23
The Jacksonville vagrancy ordinance is unconstitutionally vague because it encourages arbitrary and erratic arrests and convictions.24