Vagrancy laws were historically designed to control transient workforces. In the United States, they evolved after the Civil War to regulate the movement and labor of newly freed individuals. While Louisiana’s statewide vagrancy statute has been repealed, local ordinances are now used to regulate similar behaviors.
Defining Vagrancy Under Former Louisiana Law
Louisiana’s former vagrancy statute defined vagrancy as a status or condition, not a single act. The law targeted specific types of people, identifying vagrants as individuals such as habitual drunkards, professional gamblers, and those who associated with prostitutes.
The law also included able-bodied people without lawful means of support who did not seek available employment, effectively criminalizing poverty. Another clause targeted able-bodied adults who were supported by individuals receiving public welfare or old-age pensions.
The statute also addressed public presence, classifying people as vagrants for habitually loafing on streets or frequenting public places at unusual hours without a clear purpose. The law also criminalized loitering near private property without being able to account for one’s presence and explicitly listed prostitutes as vagrants.
Repeal and Constitutional History of Vagrancy Laws
Louisiana’s vagrancy statute, Revised Statute 14:107, was officially repealed in 2020.1Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes § 14:14:107 – Repealed by Acts 2020, No. 172, §1. Before its repeal, the law was largely unenforceable due to constitutional challenges. Laws that punish a person’s status, like being unemployed, have been challenged for being unconstitutionally vague and violating the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. A law is “void for vagueness” if it lacks clear standards, allowing for arbitrary enforcement.
Vagrancy laws gave law enforcement wide discretion to arrest people based on suspicion rather than criminal conduct. In Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville (1972), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar ordinance, finding that such laws encouraged arbitrary arrests and criminalized innocent activities.2LII / Legal Information Institute. Margaret PAPACHRISTOU et al., Petitioners, v. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE.
Because the statute was constitutionally unsound, prosecutors knew convictions would likely be overturned on appeal. The repeal codified this reality, finalizing the shift from punishing a person’s status to prosecuting specific criminal acts.
Penalties Under the Former Vagrancy Law
Under the former vagrancy law, a person found guilty faced misdemeanor consequences. A conviction could result in a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.
The potential for a six-month jail sentence was a tool for removing individuals deemed undesirable from public spaces. The two-hundred-dollar fine also represented a substantial financial burden for the people targeted by these laws.
Related Local Ordinances Addressing Similar Conduct
Following the repeal of the state vagrancy law, many municipalities in Louisiana use their own local ordinances to manage public spaces and address “quality of life” issues. These ordinances do not punish the status of being homeless or unemployed but instead target specific behaviors like loitering, aggressive panhandling, or camping in public parks.
These local laws are crafted to be more constitutionally sound by focusing on conduct rather than status. For instance, an ordinance might prohibit sitting or lying on a public sidewalk in a commercial district during business hours, or it may regulate the time, place, and manner of soliciting donations. This approach allows cities to manage public order while avoiding the vagueness issues of the old state statute.
Penalties for violating these local ordinances vary by municipality but involve fines, citations, or short-term jail sentences for repeat offenses. They are handled in municipal courts and are distinct from state criminal charges. While the state-level vagrancy law is gone, individuals may still face legal consequences for similar behaviors under specific local regulations.