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“Loitering” aka “standing while young”
this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2026
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Let's be fair, here. You can also get done for "standing while homeless," and "standing while poorly dressed," and also "standing while black and/or Hispanic."
Curiously enough, you'll never get nicked for loitering if you appear to be doing something vaguely socially acceptable. I suggest showing up with an easel and paints; you can hang around all day without anyone bothering you.
Is this another stupid American thing? I've never heard anyone getting in trouble for just laying around on public property
There's plenty of places by me where you can do this, and I live in the most dense state in America.
You hear about mainly in front of stores and malls in general. Your milage will vary depending on how dark, young or poor you look.
When you say dense.......... what is it we're... talking about?.. 😏
Credit where it's due!
Loitering...I don't even think that word has a translation in my language. You made up a term and turn it into a crime?
I think it means like hanging around. But I guess they thought a 'Hanging around' charge would be hard to take seriously in court. Land of the free, eh
Started as a Dutch word then moved into middle English. I'm sure there is an equivalent word on whatever language you speak.
Except in Italy, nearly the totality of the coast is privately handled and you must pay to access it...
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In Finland we have "Everyman's Right" which is the right to access nature on private land without needing the owner's permission.
You can walk, hike, cycle, swim, pick berries/mushrooms, and camp temporarily, as long as you stay away from homes, gardens, and cultivated fields. Making a fire is however not allowed without permission.
“Everyman’s Right”
As a side note fact they changed it to "everyone's rights" (jokamiehenoikeudet -> jokaisenoikeudet) recently
Allemannsretten lenge leve
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Few places nowadays is it legal to lay around & do whatever you want outdoors, usually getting cited for loitering or something.
What kind of shitty place are you living in?
I always find it funny to figure out that stuffblike loitering isn't something the Simpson invented. It's something americans are not allowed to. But freedom is very important to them
Loitering laws are mostly just racism.
It's rich people not wanting "riff raff" hanging around. No one cares if you're hanging around slums and ghettos.
That's where you're wrong. Police love loitering laws there too. Easy excuse to harass people and search them
Every day I learn more about how that country is a shithole
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The US is a shithole
I once went to a park sat on a bench and right in front of me was a no loitering sign. It's a park, what else am I going to do?
Most of those "no loitering" signs only exist to give the police a legal crowbar against homeless people. Realistically if you're just sitting and minding your business nobody will actually come along and eject you.
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I once went to a park sat on a bench and right in front of me was a no loitering sign. It’s a park, what else am I going to do?
That is hilarious (well, sad actually, but you get what I mean). Also kind of reminds of that one politician once saying that "breast are not suitable for small children" in the public breastfeeding debate ...
I immediately thought of homeless people when I read this. I mean I could probably lollygag a lot of places but if you look a certain way, have long hair, dirty clothes, a few bags with you, you start attracting the wrong kind of attention fast. Often in the nicest places of all. Shittier places leave you alone.
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TIL that "loitering" does not mean leaving garbage in public spaces. Ive heard the term but never expected it to mean standing around idle, this is so stupid.
EDIT: nvm i was thinking about “littering”. english is hard.
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Loitering is illegal in the US because public spaces are free. Why are you just sitting in a public space for free when you could be sitting in a cafe or restaurant and contributing to the economy? Oh you don't have that money? Well then you're worthless to society and just shouldn't exist, obviously.
when you could be sitting in a cafe or restaurant and contributing to the economy
or even better, being exploited for cheap labor in prison!
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In some places the nice beaches have been privatised by local hotels or clubs so you gotta pay them to sit on the beach or go sit somewhere less nice. Coming from Western Australia where we have the nicest beaches in the world (all free), I take this concept of "owning beach space" as a personal affront.
personal affront
as opposed to personal beach front
They don't even have to be privatized. Some municipalities in the US require a "beach tag". I lived on a barrier island growing up, and we had to buy ours every year, or go to the beach two towns over where it was free (...except where it was privatized).
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In the UK all farmland is fenced off, with occasional walking paths available. I used to think the Ridgeway was great because there was about 50 miles of trails one could walk on or ride a bike, and in summer motorbikes and 4x4s were allowed too.
It blew my mind when I moved to Spain and I worked out I could get pretty much anywhere off road whenever I felt like it.
For novelty I once rode my little motorbike from my house to the supermarket, with only about 50m on paved roads. It was very liberating. But unfortunately some of the yoghurt I bought got squashed by the jostling on the way home, and my bag smelled of bad milk for a couple months even after I'd washed it :-/
In Scotland under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 you can walk, camp, and explore most land in Scotland—even if it’s private—as long as you’re respectful, don’t cause damage, and give people (especially homes and farms) their space.
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I disagree with the initial claim.
I can go sit just about anywhere without concern of being cited for loitering.
Not sure where you get this idea from.
Are you white?
TBF they might just not live in America. Never really seen "loitering" being a thing outside of that mistake of a country, or at least I haven't seen it enforced and I've been everywhere in Western Europe (where one would assume these things are more enforced since they're culturally closer, idk).
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