The company we keep

Via KempLaw comes a law so stupid that I had to verify it's existence:

Indiana has a law prohibiting being at a place where illegal activities are going on. This law permits the arrest and conviction of someone who is not actively engaged in any otherwise illegal conduct (I've had clients who were sleeping upon arrest for this), but there is illegal activity going in the place where they are.

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The crime is called visiting a common nuisance, and is defined by I.C. § 35-48-4-13(a), as: “[a] person who knowingly or intentionally visits a building, structure, vehicle, or other place that is used by any person to unlawfully use a controlled substance commits visiting a common nuisance, a Class B misdemeanor.”

Please read the full post (especially if you live in Indiana) for the implications of this law.

Comments

[NORMAN WILMES]

QUESTION:
MY MINOR SON AND HIS MINOR FRIENDS WENT TO A BAND CONCERT LOCATED AT A BUSINESS. THEY PAID A TEN DOLLAR ADMISSION CHARGE AND WERE MARKED ON THE HAND THAT THEY WERE MINORS SO THEY WOULD NOT BE SERVED BOOZE. THEY HAD NO IDEA THAT THIS BUSINESS WAS DOING ANYTHING ILEAGLE.
THE EXCISE RAIDED THE CONCERT AND ARRESTED EVERYBODY BECAUSE THE OWNER DID NOT HAVE A PERMIT TO SELL BOOZE. THE KIDS WERE JUST THERE FOR THE BAND AND NONE OF THEM REGISTERED WHEN GIVEN THE BREATHERLIZER TEST.
WHY WERE THEY ARRESTED FOR VISITING A COMMON NUSIANCE WHEN THEYRE WAS NO WAY FOR THEM TO KNOW?
WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT?
THE ARREST PAPER SAYS THEY WILL GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM AT A LATER DATE
THANKS FOR ANY INFO YOU CAN PROVIDE,
THIS WAS IN INDIANA