{"id":1841,"date":"2023-04-12T15:22:07","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T19:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/?page_id=1841"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:09:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:09:20","slug":"when-riot-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-the-critical-need-for-constitutional-clarity-in-riot-laws","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/in-print\/volume-60-number-2-spring-2023\/when-riot-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-the-critical-need-for-constitutional-clarity-in-riot-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"When “Riot” Is in the Eye of the Beholder: The Critical Need for Constitutional Clarity in Riot Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twenty-first century, American streets are frequently filled with<\/span><\/span> passion<\/span>ate<\/span><\/span> protest and political dissent. Protesters of diverse backgrounds range from <\/span>those waving flags or lying on the ground to re-enact police killings to those<\/span><\/span> car<\/span>rying<\/span><\/span> lit torches or hand-made weapons. This Article addresses how, as between <\/span>such groups, it may initially seem clear which has a propensity to engage in<\/span><\/span> vio<\/span>lent<\/span><\/span> riots, but too often,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>rioter<\/span>\u201d<\/span> is in the eye of the beholder, with those both <\/span>regulating and reporting on riots defining the term inconsistently. And ironically, <\/span>while police brutality is often the subject of protests, non-violent protesters who <\/span>take their outrage to the streets are frequently met with police decked out in<\/span><\/span> mili<\/span>tarized<\/span><\/span> riot gear who engage in disproportionate heavy-handedness culminating <\/span>in mass arrests, including of the non-violent protesters. The irony is compounded <\/span>when the police turn a blind eye to comparatively violent counter-protesters,<\/span>
some of whom were the actual instigators of the violence for which<\/span><\/span> compara<\/span>tively<\/span><\/span> non-violent protesters were later blamed and labeled<\/span> \u201c<\/span>rioters.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This Article documents conflicting descriptions of the same protests either as <\/span>riots or not, both by media sources and even by court opinions. The Article <\/span>explains how the problem of inconsistent interpretations of<\/span> \u201c<\/span>riot<\/span>\u201d<\/span> is rooted in <\/span>and aggravated by the unclear and overbroad language of a substantial number <\/span>of riot laws. Whether due to sloppy drafting or less benign reasons (as may be <\/span>the case with riot laws granting immunity to those who drive vehicles into crowds <\/span>of protesters), such flawed legislation endangers the liberty and potentially even <\/span>lives of protesters. A misplaced comma can thus potentially become a matter of <\/span>constitutional crisis, as poorly drafted legislation risks violating due process<\/span><\/span> pro<\/span>hibitions<\/span><\/span> on vague laws that foster discriminatory or arbitrary enforcement, First <\/span>Amendment prohibitions on overbroad laws that chill and punish constitutionally <\/span>protected expression.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To address the problem of inconsistent and unclear riot laws, this Article <\/span>engages a comparative analysis of litigation in which riot statutes have been <\/span>challenged as unconstitutional. Correspondingly, the Article also catalogs dozens <\/span>of state statutes that remain on the books despite being dangerously vague or <\/span>overbroad in a variety of respects. The Article proposes various specific revisions <\/span>legislators should make to constitutionally flawed legislation, while also making <\/span>substantive suggestions for those challenging the laws. Fundamentally, riot laws <\/span>must provide sufficiently clear standards that unambiguously limit the potential <\/span>prosecution of<\/span> \u201c<\/span>rioters<\/span>\u201d<\/span> to those with intent to commit imminent violence. Riot <\/span>laws must carefully, clearly, and precisely define their key terms and delineate <\/span>the intent requirements and requisite violent conduct to constitute rioting, rather <\/span>than risk being struck down as unconstitutional.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While there is a strong governmental interest in protecting public safety, even <\/span>that interest does not excuse laws that fail to clearly define what constitutes <\/span>unlawful rioting, resulting in sweeping dragnets that ensnare non-violent and <\/span>violent protesters alike. It is imperative that when history has its eyes on these <\/span>unfolding chapters of political dissent and division, what it records is a respect <\/span>for constitutional rights, not a continued pattern of those in power violating the <\/span>rights of passionate, but non-violent, protesters.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the twenty-first century, American streets are frequently filled with passionate protest and political dissent. Protesters of diverse backgrounds range from those waving flags or lying on the ground to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9515,"featured_media":0,"parent":1835,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"abstract.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-1841","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1841"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1841\/revisions\/1845"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}