Disorderly Conduct

East Brunswick NJ Disorderly Conduct Lawyers

East Brunswick is one of the more heavily populated towns in the region which translates in a high amount of disorderly conduct charges. Municipalities like Woodbridge, Edison and New Brunswick are similarly situated and also have plenty of individuals charged with disorderly conduct annually. If you are facing a disorderly conduct offense anywhere in Middlesex County, our lawyers have the qualifications necessary to reach a favorable outcome of your case. This is an important consideration given that this form of disorderly persons offense results in up to six (6) months in jail and a “2C” criminal record. It is therefore in your best interests to contact an attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall. We are available around the clock for free consultation. Contact our East Brunswick Office at 732-227-1200 to speak to a lawyer now.

Charged With Disorderly Conduct in Middlesex County

N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2 is the New Jersey Disorderly Conduct Law and it is directed at conduct that disturbs public order. Disorderly conduct is committed if someone engages in improper behavior or uses offensive language in public. The more specific provisions of the statute are as follows:

§ 2C:33-2. Disorderly conduct

a. Improper behavior. A person is guilty of a petty disorderly persons offense, if with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof he

1. Engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; or
2. Creates a hazardous or physically dangerous condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor.

b. Offensive language. A person is guilty of a petty disorderly persons offense if, in a public place, and with purpose to offend the sensibilities of a hearer or in reckless disregard of the probability of so doing, he addresses unreasonably loud and offensively coarse or abusive language, given the circumstances of the person present and the setting of the utterance, to any person present.

“Public” means affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access; among the places included are highways, transport facilities, schools, prisons, apartment houses, places of business or amusement, or any neighborhood.

Elements of Offense. In order to prove disorderly conduct based on improper behavior, the state must prove that: (1) the defendant engaged in fighting, threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior OR created a hazardous or physically dangerous condition by an act which serves no legitimate purpose; AND (2) his or her intended to was or recklessly created a risk of public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm. In terms of offensive language which violates subsection (b) of 2C:33-2, the law requires that the words be likely to result in immediate breach of the peace. The language typically needs to be in the nature of “fighting words”.

Penalties. A conviction for disorderly conduct results in a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six (6) months in the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center.

Disorderly Conduct Charge vs. Municipal Ordinance

A disorderly conduct charge under N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4 is a form of criminal offense which will usually be reflected on a criminal background check. In contrast, a municipal ordinance violation is devoid of any criminality and simply involves failure to adhere to some local regulation in a town. The infraction is not criminal in nature and certainly represents a far more favorable resolution than a plea or finding of guilt to disorderly conduct. The following is a breakdown of the breach of peace ordinance in some of Middlesex County’s busiest municipalities:

Old Bridge

§ 342-3 Disorderly conduct prohibited.

A. No person shall, with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof:

1. Engage in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; or
2. Create a hazardous or physically dangerous condition by an act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor.

B. No person shall, in a public place, and with purpose to offend the sensibilities of a hearer or in reckless disregard of the probability of doing so, address unreasonably loud and offensively coarse or abusive language, given the circumstances of the persons present and the setting of the utterance, to any person present. “Public” means affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access; among the places included are highways, transport facilities, schools, prisons, apartment houses, places of business or amusement or any neighborhood.

Edison

10-5.1   Prohibited Acts; Disorderly Conduct; Intoxication in Public.

No person or persons shall make, aid, assist in any riot, breach of peace or disturbance or be guilty of any disorderly conduct or open drunkenness or drink intoxicating liquors in the open streets or highways of the Township or other quasi-public open places in the Township. (1999 Code § 9.08.010A)

New Brunswick

9.04.050 – Disorderly conduct.

A. It is unlawful for any person within the city of New Brunswick to engage in any of the following activities:

1. To make any indecent exposure or exhibition of any kind in or upon any street, road, highway, place, alley or lane, public or private in the city; or
2. To expose to public view, within the aforesaid city, his or her genitals, pubic hair, buttocks, anal region or pubic hair region; or
3. To engage, within the aforesaid city, in any practice to annoy persons passing on the streets or sidewalks, while sitting or standing on porches or lawns or yards facing the streets or sidewalks, by the making of indecent gestures or acts; or
4. To engage, within the aforesaid city, in any practice, while passing on the streets or sidewalks, to annoy persons sitting or standing on porches or lawns or yards facing the streets or sidewalks, by the making of indecent gestures or acts; or
5. To possess a radio, phonograph, tape or cassette player, television, musical instrument loudspeaker, or amplifier, or other machine or device for the electronic or stereophonic production or reproduction of sound that is operated on any public street, highway, building, sidewalk, park, recreation area, thoroughfare, or other public place, and any vehicle on a public street, area, thoroughfare, or other public place, and any vehicle on a public street, highway or public space that disturbs the quiet enjoyment of the city; or
6. Reserved; or
7. To sleep in any parked vehicle in any location in the city.

B. Penalty. Any person found guilty of violating any of the provisions of this section, upon conviction, shall pay a fine not to exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) and/or be subject to imprisonment for not more than ninety (90) days, or both. (Ord. No. O-051503, § 1, 5-20-15; Ord. No. O-051502, § 2, 5-20-15; Ord. O-120606 § 1, 2006)

Piscataway

3-23 PEACE AND GOOD ORDER.

3-23.1 Unlawful Acts.

It shall be unlawful for any person to commit any of the following offenses within the Township:

a. Disturbing the quiet of the Township or of any lawful assembly of persons, or of any neighborhood, family or person within the Township by using any profane, indecent or obscene language, or any indecent conduct whatever or by quarreling, assaulting, fighting or otherwise disturbing the public peace.

b. Intentionally obstructing, molesting, hindering, annoying, frightening or interfering with any other person upon the streets, parks, public or private place, or in any automobile, bus, or other means of transportation or conveyance, public or private.

c. Engaging in any conduct the purpose of which is to defraud or cheat any individual or entity within the Township.

d. Keeping or causing or permitting to be kept a house, shop, room or place of any description in which any kind of disorder is made or permitted, to the alarm, annoyance or disturbance of the neighborhood, or in which persons assemble, or which place is injurious to the public health, public quiet or public morals, or which is used for the purpose of prostitution, or in which is kept any table or device of any kind upon or by which any game of chance or hazard shall be played.

e. Engaging in any riotous conduct, indecent conduct, breaches of the peace, vagrancy, begging, prostitution in any street or alley or other public place in the Township. (Ord. No. 08-22 § 5-14.1)

Old Bridge Disorderly Conduct Attorney

If you hire an experienced Old Bridge disorderly conduct attorney, you may be able to have your offense downgraded to an ordinance or to secure an acquittal altogether. Irrespective of which outcome you are able to reach, these resolutions will allow you to escape a criminal record and significant penalties. The lawyers at The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall have a track record of successfully defending individuals in Old Bridge, Piscataway and elsewhere in this manner. To discuss the particulars of the offense that was filed against you, call our Piscataway Office at 732-392-7202 for a free consultation.

Municipalities Our Middlesex County Disorderly Conduct Lawyers Serve