Penal Code § 415 PC – Disturbing the Peace – California Law

California Penal Code § 415 PC prohibits disturbing the peace, which comprises:

1. playing excessively loud music,
2. fighting in public, or
3. using certain offensive language or fighting words.

Disturbing the peace charges can be filed as either a misdemeanor or a noncriminal infraction, as the following table shows:

415 PC Charge	California Penalties
Infraction	Up to $250 in fines (and no jail)
Misdemeanor	Up to 90 days in jail and/or up to $400

In this article, our California criminal defense attorneys discuss the following topics re. disturbing the peace:

• 1. Elements of 415 PC
• 2. Defenses
• 3. Penalties
• 4. Immigration Consequences
• 5. Expungements
• 6. Gun Rights
• 7. Plea Bargaining
• 8. Related Crimes
• Additional Resources

1. Elements of 415 PC

The elements of disturbing the peace are spelled out in California Jury Instruction (CALCRIM) 2688. For you to be convicted of violating 415 PC, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt one of the following elements:

1. You were unlawfully fighting in a public place, or
2. You were disturbing someone with loud noise, or
3. You were using offensive words in a public place.¹

Let’s examine each of these variations.

1) Unlawful Fighting – 415(1) PC

A California prosecutor must prove the following to convict you of disturbing the peace by fighting:

1. You willfully and unlawfully fought another person (or challenged another person to a fight),² and
2. The fight or challenge happened in a public place.³

“Willfully” means you did an act deliberately or on purpose.⁴ You are not guilty under this statute section if you acted in self-defense.⁵

2) Unreasonable Noise – 415(2) PC

In California, violating 415(2) PC through unreasonable noise requires that:

1. You willfully and maliciously caused loud and unreasonable noise, and
2. The noise disturbed another person.⁶

“Maliciously” means you acted with the intent to do something wrongful or annoy or injure someone else.⁷

To disturb another person by “causing loud and unreasonable noise,” then either:

1. There must be a clear and present danger of immediate violence, or
2. The noise must be used for the purpose of disrupting lawful activities rather than as a means to communicate.⁸

3) Offensive Words – 415(3) PC

A prosecutor must prove the following to convict you in California of disturbing the peace by using offensive words:

1. You used offensive words that were likely to provoke a violent reaction, and
2. You used the words in a public place.⁹

You use offensive words “likely to provoke a violent reaction” if:

1. You say something that is reasonably likely to provoke someone else to react violently, and
2. When you make that statement, there is a clear and present danger that the other person will immediately erupt into violence.¹⁰

You do not have to intend to provoke a violent response to be convicted.¹¹ However, you are not guilty under this statute section if you reasonably believed that your words were unlikely to provoke a violent reaction.¹²

2. Defenses

Here at Shouse Law Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with disturbing the peace in California. In our experience, the following four defenses have proven very effective with prosecutors and judges at getting these charges reduced or dismissed.

1) You Had No Criminal Intent

Since prosecutors can never definitively prove what is going on inside your head, it is a very powerful defense for us to argue that you never acted:

• Willfully per 415(1) PC, or
• Maliciously per 415(2) PC, or
• With the intent to incite violence per 415(3) PC.

Instead, we could argue that you were merely being negligent or careless, or that you thought you were being helpful.

2) Your Behavior Was Constitutionally Protected

Disturbing the peace charges should not stand if the First Amendment protects your words or conduct. For example, we would use this defense if you:

• Used offensive words while participating in a political protest, or
• Made a loud religious speech with a bullhorn in a public place.¹³

Helpful evidence in these cases includes video and eyewitness accounts of the event in question.

3) You Were Falsely Accused

We see cases all the time of people wrongfully accusing others of violating 415 PC. A common scenario is a neighbor accusing the people next door of making unreasonable noise as a form of payback for something done in the past.

In these types of situations, we sift through the accuser’s recorded communications (such as text messages and voicemails) in search of evidence of their motivation to lie.

4) You Acted in Self-Defense

415 PC prohibits fighting in public, but fighting back is lawful in California as long as:

• You reasonably believed you were about to suffer harm,
• You reasonably believed that that using force would be necessary to deflect the attack, and
• No more force than necessary was used.

Often we can find video footage or eyewitness accounts that plainly show you acted in lawful self-defense (or defense of others).

3. Penalties

Disturbing the peace is a wobblette in California. This means that a prosecutor can charge it as either an infraction or a misdemeanor depending on the facts of the case and your criminal history.

As an infraction, violating 415 PC carries up to $250 in fines (and no jail). As an infraction, violating 415 PC carries:

• Up to 90 days in jail and/or
• Up to $400.

Disturbing the Peace at Schools

California has a separate statute – 415.5 PC – that makes it a misdemeanor to disturb the peace on school, college, or university grounds. Penalties carry:

• Up to 90 days in jail and/or
• Up to $400.

However, a second conviction carries 10 days to six months in jail and/or up to $1,000. A third or successive conviction carries 90 days to six months in jail and/or up to $1,000.

415.5 PC does not apply to the school’s registered students or to employees engaged in lawful activities.

Los Angeles Prosecutions

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will generally not prosecute disturbing the peace cases unless you have been a repeat offender in the prior 24 months.¹⁴

4. Immigration Consequences

A California conviction of disturbing the peace will not have negative immigration consequences. This is because it is not a “crime involving moral turpitude.”

5. Expungements

If you are convicted under 415 PC, you can get your California criminal record expunged if you successfully complete probation or jail (whichever is applicable).

If you violate a probation term, a judge has the discretion to still grant you an expungement.¹⁵

6. Gun Rights

A conviction under 415 PC does not threaten your gun rights. This is because disturbing the peace is not a felony or related to drugs or domestic violence.

7. Plea Bargaining

In many cases, California prosecutors are willing to reduce serious misdemeanor charges down to disturbing the peace as part of a plea bargain. Some of the charges we got lessened down to 415 PC include:

• Lewd conduct in public,
• Criminal threats,
• Prostitution, or
• Domestic violence.

8. Related Crimes

• Battery (242 PC) – Infliction of unlawful physical force on a person.
• Creating or maintaining a public nuisance (372 & 373(a) PC) – Sustaining a situation that interferes with the community’s enjoyment of life or property.
• Disturbing a public meeting or assembly (403 PC) – Disturbing or breaking up a public assembly or meeting.
• Disturbing a religious meeting (302 PC) – Disturbing a religious service or meeting with profanity, misbehavior, or unreasonable noise.
• Resisting arrest (148 PC) – Obstructive police officers as they are engaged in their duties.
• Trespass (602 PC) – Going on or remaining on property after being asked to leave.

Additional Resources

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• In Pursuit of Ordered Liberty: Breach of the Peace in California – Hastings Law Review.
• The Fighting Words Doctrine – Columbia Law Review.
• Fighting the Fighting Words Standard: A Call for Its Destruction – Rutgers Law Review.
• Disturbing the Peace – Central Law Journal.
• Civil Disturbances, Mass Processing and Misdemeanants: Rights, Remedies and Realities – The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science.

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