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

Under Penal Code § 415 PC, California law defines the crime of disturbing the peace as doing any of the following:

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:

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

Examples

• picking a fight with someone in a bar.
• trying to disturb a neighbor by blasting loud music in his direction.
• yelling a highly offensive racial slur to someone in public.

Our California criminal defense attorneys will explain the following in this article:

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

1. Elements

The elements of disturbing the peace are spelled out in California Jury Instruction 2688. For you to be convicted of violating PC 415, 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.

Unlawful fighting – PC 415(1)

A prosecutor must prove the following to convict you of disturbing the peace via a fight:

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 Note that you are not guilty under this statute if you were acting in self-defense.⁵

Unreasonable noise – PC 415(2)

Violating PC 415(2) 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

In order to disturb another person by “causing loud and unreasonable noise,” there must be either:

1. 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

Offensive words – PC 415(3)

A prosecutor must prove the following to convict you of disturbing the peace via 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 of this crime 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 our experience, the following four defenses have proven very effective with prosecutors and judges at getting these charges reduced or dismissed.

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 PC 415(1)),
• maliciously (per PC 415(2)), or
• with the intent to incite violence (per PC 415(3)).

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

Your Behavior Was Constitutionally Protected

Disturbing the peace charges should not be sustained 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.

You Were Falsely Accused

We see cases all the time of people wrongfully accusing others of violating PC 415. 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 in search of evidence of their motivation to lie.

You Acted in Self-Defense

PC 415 prohibits fighting in public, but fighting back is perfectly legal 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 your actions fell within the bounds of lawful self-defense (or defense of others).

3. Penalties

Disturbing the peace is a wobblette. 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.

The maximum penalties for violating PC 415 include:

• a 90-day jail sentence and/or
• a fine of up to $400.

Disturbing the Peace at Schools

PC 415.5 specifically prohibits disturbing the peace on school, college, or university grounds. If you are not a student or staff member of the school, the penalties are the same as for disturbing the peace under NRS 415.

However, if you have any prior convictions for crimes on school grounds (such as disturbing the peace), then the minimum jail sentence is three months, and the maximum fine is $1,000.

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

A 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 this statute, you can get your criminal record expunged if you successfully complete:

• probation or
• a jail term (whichever is applicable).

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

6. Gun Rights

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

7. Plea Bargaining

The crime of disturbing the peace is often used as a negotiating tool for plea bargains. When this happens, a defense lawyer negotiates a PC 415 charge in lieu of a more serious offense, such as:

• lewd conduct in public,
• criminal threats,
• prostitution, or
• domestic violence.

8. Related Crimes

• battery – PC 242
• creating or maintaining a public nuisance (PC 372 & 373(a))
• disturbing a public meeting or assembly (PC 403)
• disturbing a religious meeting (PC 302)
• resisting arrest – PC 148
• trespass – PC 602

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.

---

Legal References: