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