UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

PAPACHRISTOU V. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, 405 U. S. 156 (1972)

405 U. S. 156

U.S. Supreme Court

Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156 (1972)

Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville

No. 70-5030

Argued December 8, 1971

Decided February 24, 1972

405 U.S. 156

Syllabus

The Jacksonville vagrancy ordinance, under which petitioners were convicted, is void for vagueness, in that it "fails to give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct is forbidden by the statute," it encourages arbitrary and erratic arrests and convictions, it makes criminal activities that, by modern standards, are normally innocent, and it places almost unfettered discretion in the hands of the police. Pp. 405 U. S. 161-171.

236 So.2d 141, reversed.

DOUGLAS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which all Members joined except POWELL and REHNQUIST, JJ., who took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.


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