# Can You Be Charged With A 'Sex Crime' For Urinating In Public? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005 "2005-02-08T15:45:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/21 "2009-08-09T04:30:18Z")
It doesn’t mention peeing in public specifically. But there is an article in this month’s [Economist](http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14164614&source=hptextfeature) about how draconian sex offender laws ruin the lives of people who are not a risk to anyone (the example they use is a 17 year old girl who performed a sex act with a 16 year old, and has to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/22 "2009-08-09T07:10:07Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > There’s a California Supreme Court case where a guy was charged indecent exosure after officers witnessed him urinating on a retaining wall outside a Taco Bell (the bathroom was unavailable). He pled guilty, and then found out he’d have to register as a sex offender. The court let him withdraw his plea. See _In re Birch_, 515 P.2d 12 (Cal. 1973). > > Here is an excerpt: Ooh, good cite, thanks! But it shows my basic point- get a lawyer! ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/23 "2009-08-09T12:26:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ooh, good cite, thanks! But it shows my basic point- get a lawyer! Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/24 "2009-08-09T13:23:39Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Yes, but idea behind this application of the law, by which it’s an offense in and of itself for the citizen for any reason to drop trou or whip it out in a public space when and where someone else can see it, was that if you’re legitimately caught short, you’ll head into the woods or otherwise make sure you find the requisite privacy to take care of your business, so we’ll never know you did it. I understand that, but it seems like a terrible stretch to do this. Just because a few people are getting away with something because of a loophole, that’s no reason to cast a wide net that will ensnare many innocent people to catch these few. Surely a jury can made a determination beyond a reasonable doubt whether a person was urinating (petty infraction) or trying to show his penis to a young child (felony)? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/25 "2009-08-09T13:36:44Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I understand that, but it seems like a terrible stretch to do this. Just because a few people are getting away with something because of a loophole, that’s no reason to cast a wide net that will ensnare many innocent people to catch these few. Surely a jury can made a determination beyond a reasonable doubt whether a person was urinating (petty infraction) or trying to show his penis to a young child (felony)? Three issues here: 1. Is public nudity a crime? In many jurisdictions it is, despite qualifiers like “lewd.” In many places you can get busted for public nudity for exposing your stuff in public, even if you’re not doing it for a sexual reason. Just about every jurisdiction had to pass a special law to make clear that a woman may expose her breast to nurse a child. [http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/Health/BreastfeedingLaws/tabid/14389/Default.aspx](http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/Health/BreastfeedingLaws/tabid/14389/Default.aspx) That’s how broad the statutes are. 2. Is it a sex crime? As I pointed out above, many jurisdictions lump it in with indecent exposure or some other similar crime. So pee-ers get charged with the same crime as streakers and flashers. 3. Is it the sort of sex crime that requires registration? Because it is technically a sex crime in most places, it depends on the registration statutes. These statutes are typically self-executing, so if the offense qualifies, the offender must register. As you’ve seen, some jurisdictions break the offense down in a way that makes it easy to exclude the minor stuff–others don’t. I suspect that this is, as others have said, because they suspect a lot of people who get convicted of indecent exposure have either obtained that conviction through a plea bargain or might try to falsely claim that they were only peeing, if they thought that would avoid the sex offender list. ---
**Author:** ![MeDrewNotYou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/26 "2009-08-09T14:40:09Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > Agreed. Of course a lawyer says that. 😉 Out of curiosity, any idea when the staff report will be published? This thread has, excuse the term, aroused my interest. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/27 "2009-08-09T14:45:17Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#): > > Of course a lawyer says that. 😉 > > Out of curiosity, any idea when the staff report will be published? This thread has, excuse the term, aroused my interest. Next couple of months. Maybe sooner. It’s ready, but we’ve got a bunch in the queue right now. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/28 "2009-08-09T14:56:55Z")
Once again, I think it’s important to take some time to thank **Gfactor** for again providing great information in GQ. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/29 "2009-08-09T15:12:23Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > Next couple of months. Maybe sooner. It’s ready, but we’ve got a bunch in the queue right now. regardless of what Gfactor does for a living, his posts are informative and well done. I appreciate his contributions to the board, both as a poster and a moderator. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/30 "2009-08-09T17:36:40Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > Once again, I think it’s important to take some time to thank **Gfactor** for again providing great information in GQ. Absolutely!🆒 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/31 "2009-08-09T18:14:13Z")
In Indiana about 15 or 16 years ago, I came close to getting arrested for indecent exposure for watering a wall. I had walked to the local tavern to watch the NCAA basketball semifinals and, since the men’s room was full, I went outside to the alley and walked back to a wall that was left standing after the next-door building had burned down. Although it was obvious what I was doing, you could not see any gentalia. I also was not the first man to piss on that wall. It was not a propitious moment for a whizz as the cops passed by. They let me off with a talking-to after I blew .03 on the breathalyzer. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/32 "2009-08-09T20:35:33Z")
I wonder if the wearing of those swimsuits used in South Florida would be judged obscene? From what i reall, bot womean and men were wearing almost nothing; could you be charged with a sex crime for sporting this attire? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/33 "2009-08-09T20:37:51Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > In Indiana about 15 or 16 years ago, I came close to getting arrested for indecent exposure for watering a wall. I had walked to the local tavern to watch the NCAA basketball semifinals and, since the men’s room was full, I went outside to the alley and walked back to a wall that was left standing after the next-door building had burned down. Although it was obvious what I was doing, you could not see any gentalia. I also was not the first man to piss on that wall. > It was not a propitious moment for a whizz as the cops passed by. They let me off with a talking-to after I blew .03 on the breathalyzer. I guess that this illustrates the point that I am trying to make. You committed a minor indiscretion there by urinating in a public place. An indiscretion so minor that the cops felt like letting you off with a warning. To turn what you did into an offense on par with child molestation is silly. It seems like some states want to make what you did the equivalent of exposing yourself to a child since real pedophiles can simply say that they were only urinating. I find that appalling. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/34 "2009-08-09T20:40:56Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s high noon on the urban frontier, and Hala Salaman’s buns are baked. The dogs are hot. And the customers have begun lining up in the gray dirt behind her lunch cart. > > A click, and the tourist is gone. She calls out, “Thank you, dear!” In recent weeks, Salaman and other young women who sell hot dogs along Pinellas County roadways have found themselves fighting to keep their businesses alive - and their clothes off. > > Salaman and the others wear thong bathing suits that expose most of their backsides to traffic. It’s a great way to attract customers, but recently Pinellas County Sheriff Everett S. Rice decided that it also violates laws against peddling food along public roadways with exposed buttocks. [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/51649227.html?dids=51649227:51649227&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+25%2C+1993&author=JEFFREY+GOOD&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&desc=`We're+just+here+selling+dogs'&pqatl=google](http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/51649227.html?dids=51649227:51649227&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+25%2C+1993&author=JEFFREY+GOOD&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&desc=%60We%27re+just+here+selling+dogs%27&pqatl=google) > **[Ocala Star-Banner - Google News Archive Search](https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kCsTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GQcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1600,6918252&dq=arrested+thong+t-back+bathing+suit&hl=en)** ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/35 "2009-08-09T21:25:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Lee wears thong bikinis, a “swimsuit” that does little, if nothing, to cover the buttocks. Florida officials last month banned thong bikinis on state beaches, saying the suits violate obscenity laws. Some Florida cities have arrested thong-wearers on municipal beaches. Los Angeles Times, July 13, 1990: [Beach-Goers Are Divided: Are Thongs Right Thing?](http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-13/local/me-311_1_manhattan-beach) ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/36 "2009-08-09T22:01:06Z")
GFactor, all of these cites are from the early 90s. Around the same time that the FL authorities were prosecuting 2 Live Crew for obscene lyrics on their albums. Also, these “hot dog vendors” caused a hell of a lot of accidents by flashing their various “assets” at passing motorists. I’m not seeing the connection with the situation in the OP. Nudity/partial nudity on or near the beach doesn’t equal sexually assaulting children. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/37 "2009-08-09T22:15:01Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > GFactor, all of these cites are from the early 90s. Around the same time that the FL authorities were prosecuting 2 Live Crew for obscene lyrics on their albums. Also, these “hot dog vendors” caused a hell of a lot of accidents by flashing their various “assets” at passing motorists. > > I’m not seeing the connection with the situation in the OP. Nudity/partial nudity on or near the beach doesn’t equal sexually assaulting children. Was responding to ralph. And of course I agree that none of these things equals sexually assaulting children. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/38 "2009-08-09T22:16:55Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > Once again, I think it’s important to take some time to thank **Gfactor** for again providing great information in GQ. Aw shucks. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/39 "2009-08-10T02:44:49Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > regardless of what **Gfactor** does for a living, his posts are informative and well done. I appreciate his contributions to the board, both as a poster and a moderator. Thirded! ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005/40 "2009-08-14T03:23:19Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > Next couple of months. Maybe sooner. It’s ready, but we’ve got a bunch in the queue right now. How about now? [Can I be charged with indecent exposure if I stay on my own private property? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2887/is-it-indecent-exposure-if-im-visibly-naked-while-on-my-own-private-property) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-charged-with-a-sex-crime-for-urinating-in-public/289005.md?page=3)