Public Indecency, Yes or No

[Skwim]

One night I was watching an episode of Cops wherein a guy was at a public beach and approached a woman and asked her for oral sex. She said no and then called the police. After she explained what had happened they arrested the guy for public indecency.

Question: does asking this really amount to public indecency?

If yes, why?

If no, why not?
​

And here's the real kicker; he was with his wife---evidently she wasn't nearby when he made the proposition---and when the police explained why they were arresting her husband she was utterly unfazed. No reaction whatsoever.


Just as a note of clarification:

I'm noty looking for any legal opinion or definition. If that was the case I could have simply looked them up (well, maybe not so simply). What' I'm looking for is if one feels it's indecent to ask a stranger for oral sex in a public setting. ​

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[Twilight Hue]

Well it's not something a normal person would be expected to say at random.

If I was that woman I probably would have called the police too. I think she did the right thing considering this guy was a total stranger she knew nothing about. I'm figuring her heart skipped a few beats in face of that type of boldness.

 

[BSM1]

One night I was watching an episode of Cops wherein a guy was at a public beach and approached a woman and asked her for oral sex. She said no and then called the police. After she explained what had happened they arrested the guy for public indecency.

Question: does asking this really amount to public indecency?

If yes, why?

If no, why not?
​

And here's the real kicker; he was with his wife---evidently she wasn't nearby when he made the proposition---and when the police explained why they were arresting her husband she was utterly unfazed. No reaction whatsoever.

.

Well, was he polite?

 

[Skwim]

Well, was he polite?

His demeanor wasn't mentioned.

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[Valjean]

No actual harm was done. Apparently "indecency" is interpreted pretty broadly. Nevertheless, his behavior was annoying and could be interpreted as threatening. I think, though, that an actual arrest, unless such behavior was habitual, might be overkill -- courts, lawyers, time, expenses, he said-she said, &c.

I'd lean toward banning him from the beach &/or informing his wife of his indiscretions.

 

[Jumi]

Yes, it's public indecency. Don't just go up to people and ask them for a sexual act.

 

[Valjean]

Yes, it's public indecency. Don't just go up to people and ask them for a sexual act.

Yet people ask for money all the time and aren't arrested.

 

[Skwim]

Well it's not something a normal person would be expected to say at random.

If I was that woman I probably would have called the police too. I think she did the right thing considering this guy was a total stranger she knew nothing about. I'm figuring her heart skipped a few beats in face of that type of boldness.

Gotta agree with you here. Anybody stupid enough to ask a stranger for oral sex might be unbalanced enough to resort to sexual assault. However, I don't see it as an arrestable offense.

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[Holdasown]

I would say it is but if the guy asked then walked away and was not threatening seems the police are an overreaction. Better to humiliate him by being loud about him being a pervert or something. Unless he seemed to be harassing every person on the beach.

 

[Wu Wei]

One night I was watching an episode of Cops wherein a guy was at a public beach and approached a woman and asked her for oral sex. She said no and then called the police. After she explained what had happened they arrested the guy for public indecency.

Question: does asking this really amount to public indecency?

If yes, why?

If no, why not?
​

And here's the real kicker; he was with his wife---evidently she wasn't nearby when he made the proposition---and when the police explained why they were arresting her husband she was utterly unfazed. No reaction whatsoever.

.

It would depend entirely on the laws of that state as to what constitutes public indecency. In the state in which I live it would be public Lewdness

Public lewdness.
A person is guilty of public lewdness when he intentionally exposes
the private or intimate parts of his body in a lewd manner or commits
any other lewd act (a) in a public place, or (b) in private premises
under circumstances in which he may readily be observed from either a
public place or from other private premises, and with intent that he be
so observed.

Public lewdness is a class B misdemeanor.

 

[Holdasown]

Gotta agree with you here. Anybody stupid enough to ask a stranger for oral sex might be unbalanced enough to resort to sexual assault. However, I don't see it as an arrestable offense..

If it happened in a bar would you think differently? I mean stuff like that gets said a good bit in bars.

 

[Skwim]

Yes, it's public indecency. Don't just go up to people and ask them for a sexual act.

True that hardly anyone does, but how does it qualify as a crime or offense of public indecency?

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[Jumi]

Yet people ask for money all the time and aren't arrested.

Not sure if money is the same as sex. Probably not.

Where I live asking for money became rare in the 90s, because almost everyone's carrying plastic. Asking for someone's phone also sounds 00s... I'd probably get a culture shock where you live.

 

[Jumi]

True that hardly anyone does, but how does it qualify as a crime or offense of public indecency?

Let them off with a warning first. If they don't stop, let them take a small break in holding cell for the rest of the night.

 

[Skwim]

It would depend entirely on the laws of that state as to what constitutes public indecency. In the state in which I live it would be public Lewdness

Public lewdness.
A person is guilty of public lewdness when he intentionally exposes
the private or intimate parts of his body in a lewd manner or commits
any other lewd act (a) in a public place, or (b) in private premises
under circumstances in which he may readily be observed from either a
public place or from other private premises, and with intent that he be
so observed.

How does asking a simple question fit this description?

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[Valjean]

It would depend entirely on the laws of that state as to what constitutes public indecency. In the state in which I live it would be public Lewdness

Public lewdness.
A person is guilty of public lewdness when he intentionally exposes
the private or intimate parts of his body in a lewd manner or commits
any other lewd act (a) in a public place, or (b) in private premises
under circumstances in which he may readily be observed from either a
public place or from other private premises, and with intent that he be
so observed.

Interesting choice of pronoun gender...

 

[Wu Wei]

How does asking a simple question fit this description?

.

Your question was

" does asking this really amount to public indecency?"

If you want an answer based on the legality of it, it depends entirely on the laws of the state. If you are asking this from the perspective of morality it falls to personal opinion.

Which one are you after?

 

[Wu Wei]

Interesting choice of pronoun gender...

Glad you like it, however I did not write the law. That is a direct quote of the penal code of my state

 

[Skwim]

Let them off with a warning first. If they don't stop, let them take a small break in holding cell for the rest of the night.

Don't know where you live, but in the USA the law has to have just cause to lock someone up over night. What would be the just cause in this instance?


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[Audie]

No actual harm was done. Apparently "indecency" is interpreted pretty broadly. Nevertheless, his behavior was annoying and could be interpreted as threatening. I think, though, that an actual arrest, unless such behavior was habitual, might be overkill -- courts, lawyers, time, expenses, he said-she said, &c.

I'd lean toward banning him from the beach &/or informing his wife of his indiscretions.

Call it by any label one chooses, except
maybe polite and respectful.

Maybe a night with some friendly cellmates
will teach him that actions have consequences.

For someone such as myself who is, what,
"pre-stressed' by ugly encounter(s) with men,
the shot of stress hormones we get from that
sort of verbal assault is very real, and should
not be simply permitted.