1

Vagueness Doctrine and Loitering Statutes

Connor E. Pinney

Department of Criminal Justice & Social Work, Olivet Nazarene University

CJUS 343: Criminal Law

Professor Adamson

11 November 2020
 2

Vagueness Doctrine and Loitering Statutes

Vagueness doctrine is a term in American law that describes the unconstitutionality of

laws that are not understandable by the average citizen or not enforceable by law enforcement.

Ultimately it is the wording of that statute that makes a law void for vagueness. Vagueness

doctrine has its roots in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. These amendments are cited as

evidence that vague laws deprive citizens of their rights without due process. Perhaps the most

famous case of the application of void for vagueness doctrine has been City of Chicago v.

Morales, in which the doctrine was applied to loitering law.

Loitering laws exist in various forms throughout the United States, and can be traced

back to similar laws in the United Kingdom. They generally follow along the lines of penalizing

standing or remaining in a public place for an extended amount of time without apparent

purpose. The idea of these laws is to maintain order in public spaces, however often these

statutes have vague instructions for enforcement. This is evidenced by the discriminatory

enforcement that occurred in chicago leading to City of Chicago v. Morales. The city statute left

broad and vague room for law enforcement discretion. This vagueness resulted in the laws being

struck down by the Supreme Court for being used to discriminate against black and brown

Chicagoans.

Void for vagueness doctrine plays an incredibly important role in criminal law in the

United States. It protects vulnerable populations from exploitation by police by creating checks

against discriminatory enforcement. It also protects citizens from exploitation by laws that are

poorly written and not understandable. Laws that simply criminalize being in public cannot be

completely enforced unilaterally, and will likely affect only specific populations, hwich is why
 3

vagueness doctrine necessitates specific laws that allow the people to fully understand the law,

and law enforcement to effectively and equitably.

 4

References

Samaha, J. (2017). Criminal law. Cengage Learning.

Splinter. (2019). Racist history of loitering laws: Racist american history [YouTube

Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=76Is1V7q6o8&ab_channel=Splinter

City of chicago v. morales, (US Supreme Court 1999).