Yelling, arguing, roughhousing and brawling. Sometimes raucous conduct is viewed as people just having fun. In other cases, however, rowdy behavior may result in a criminal charge for people in New Jersey. Although often overlooked as a possible consequence of boisterousness in public, a disorderly charge may have serious repercussions on people’s personal and professional lives.
According to FindLaw.com, disorderly conduct in New Jersey is defined as the use of improper behavior to cause alarm, inconvenience or annoyance. This may include engaging in violent or tumultuous conduct, creating dangerous conditions for no legitimate reasons and fighting. Additionally, threatening behavior or the use of offensive language may also qualify as disorderly conduct when engaged in or used in reckless indifference and with the purpose of offending the other people around.
The potential penalties for disorderly conduct include jail time and fines. If convicted of this type of improper behavior, people may be sentenced to up to six months in jail. According to New Jersey state law, a disorderly person conviction may also carry a fine of up to $1,000. The fine for petty disorderly person offense convictions is $500.
In addition to the other penalties they may face, the court may also see fit to order people convicted of disorderly conduct to pay restitution. This may be the case in situations when another person suffered property damage, physical or psychological injury, or death as a result of the alleged improper behavior. With few exceptions, the court may only order people to pay restitution up to the alleged victims’ losses.