# Public Vagrancy
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vagrancy/468005
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 15, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vagrancy/468005 "2008-10-15T03:50:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vagrancy/468005/1 "2008-10-15T03:50:15Z")
Is it against the law to lie down in public?
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2008, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vagrancy/468005/2 "2008-10-15T09:57:49Z")
IIRC, people do it all the time in local parks: on a picnic blanket, on the grass for sunbathing/a snooze, on the beach, etc. It’s when you lie down in an ‘inconvenient’ place, that’s when things get weird.
I mean, sunbathing is all good and fun and stuff, but not when it’s in the intersection of Main Street and Broadway.
Tripler
“Um, cleanup in aisle. . . oh, just bring the spatula.”
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vagrancy/468005/3 "2008-10-15T10:50:30Z")
> [@copperwindow](#):
>
> Is it against the law to lie down in public?
Obviously it’s going to depend on local ordinances, but the issue of sleeping in public places has made its way to [federal courts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skid_Row,_Los_Angeles,_California).
[QUOTE=Wikipedia on Los Angeles’ Skid Row]
In 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the amount of beds for the homeless was inadequate, and suspended the city’s anti-camping ordinance within the official boundaries of Skid Row, between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. During the day, homeless individuals are prohibited from sleeping on the sidewalk, although this rule is not regularly enforced. The city originally appealed but later settled the case with the ACLU, which permits sleeping on the streets between nine p.m. and six a.m. until 1,250 additional units are built for the homeless population.
[/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vagrancy/468005/4 "2008-10-15T14:44:56Z")
> [@guizot](#):
>
> Obviously it’s going to depend on local ordinances, but the issue of sleeping in public places has made its way to [federal courts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skid_Row,_Los_Angeles,_California).
But if I’m sleeping in public how could anyone prove it?
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### Author:  [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vagrancy/468005/5 "2008-10-15T19:43:47Z")
Furthermore, why don’t the police start arresting people laying on the beach, catching a tan?