Great Article on The Street Law Handbook
From USAWeekend (part of USAToday):
Laws of the street: Why wearing a thong in public could get you arrested.
By Jane Louise Boursaw
Sure, murder and drug-dealing are crimes. But shaking your rugs outside or wearing a thong in public can get you locked up, too.
For a crash course on avoiding arrest, we spoke with New York lawyer Neeraja Viswanathan, author of "The Street Law Handbook: Surviving Sex, Drugs and Petty Crime" (Bloomsbury, $15.95):
Why do penalties differ from state to state?
Our legal system has lots of rules, but how they're enforced is never black-and-white. It depends on community standards, police priorities. ... If drugs are No. 1, they might not care if you are making out in a car. Find out your community laws.
Tell us some of the wackier laws out there.
Most are local -- tying your alligator to a fire hydrant, shaking rugs in the street, or dueling.
Dueling? That's so 19th-century.
A lot of outdated laws just sit on the books because no one takes the time to remove them.
Can you be arrested for wearing a thong?
Yes. It's based on an indecency statute, which assumes that a "reasonable person" will be offended. You probably wouldn't be offended by Britney Spears in a thong ...
We would ...
... but would be offended by Michael Moore in a thong.
Ow. You got us there. Is it a universal law?
The definition [of what's offensive] is community-based. Even Britney couldn't walk down a street in a small town in [some states] and get away with [a thong]. If people knew some of the consequences of their actions, they'd think twice before they acted.
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