SUBPART C. OFFENSES AFFECTING THE

GENERAL PEACE AND ORDER

§103. Disturbing the peace

            A. Disturbing the peace is the doing of any of the following in such manner as would foreseeably disturb or alarm the public:

            (1) Engaging in a fistic encounter; or

            (2) Addressing any offensive, derisive, or annoying words to any other person who is lawfully in any street, or other public place; or call him by any offensive or derisive name, or make any noise or exclamation in his presence and hearing with the intent to deride, offend, or annoy him, or to prevent him from pursuing his lawful business, occupation, or duty; or

            (3) Appearing in an intoxicated condition; or

            (4) Engaging in any act in a violent and tumultuous manner by any three or more persons; or

            (5) Holding of an unlawful assembly; or

            (6) Interruption of any lawful assembly of people; or

            (7) Intentionally engaging in any act or any utterance, gesture, or display designed to disrupt a funeral, funeral route, or burial of a deceased person during the period beginning one hundred twenty minutes before and ending one hundred twenty minutes after the funeral or burial, within three hundred feet of the funeral or burial.

            (8)(a) Intentionally blocking, impeding, inhibiting, or in any other manner obstructing or interfering with a funeral route.

            (b) Intentionally blocking, impeding, inhibiting, or in any other manner obstructing or interfering, within five hundred feet, with access into or from any building or parking lot of a building in which a funeral or burial is being conducted, or any burial plot or the parking lot of the cemetery in which a funeral or burial is being conducted, during the period beginning one hundred twenty minutes before and ending one hundred twenty minutes after the funeral or burial.

            (9) Interrupting any worship service or religious ceremony at a church or other place of worship by any of the following:

            (a) Violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior directed at any person lawfully attending, leading, or participating in the service.

            (b) Unreasonably loud or abusive language or noise such that the service is materially disrupted.

            (c) Interference with the conduct of the service by physical obstruction, intimidation, or threat of force toward clergy, worship leaders, or attendees.

            B.(1) Whoever commits the crime of disturbing the peace shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than ninety days, or both.

            (2) Whoever commits the crime of disturbing the peace as provided for in Paragraphs (A)(7) and (8) of this Section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.

            (3)(a) Except as provided in Subparagraph (b), (c), or (d) of this Paragraph, whoever commits the crime of disturbing the peace as provided in Paragraph (A)(9) of this Section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both. Thirty days of the sentence imposed shall be served without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence.

            (b) Whoever commits the crime of simple battery during the commission of disturbing the peace as provided in Paragraph (A)(9) of this Section shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than two years.

            (c) Whoever commits the crime of simple criminal damage to property during the commission of disturbing the peace as provided in Paragraph (A)(9) of this Section shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than two years.

            (d) Whoever commits the crime of disturbing the peace as provided in Paragraph (A)(9) of this Section while armed with a dangerous weapon shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than five years.

            C. For purposes of this Section:

            (1) "Church or other place of worship" means any building, structure, or defined outdoor area that is owned, leased, or otherwise lawfully possessed by a religious organization that is used for organized religious worship or other religious activities.

            (2) "Funeral" includes a funeral, funeral home viewing, wake, or memorial service.

            (3) "Funeral route" means the route of ingress or egress from the location of a funeral or burial, including thirty feet from the outer edge of the outside lane of the route.

            (4) "Religious organization" means an entity that is operated for religious purposes and qualifies for exemption from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (P.L. 99-514, 26 U.S.C. 501).

            Amended by Acts 1960, No. 70, §1; Acts 1963, No. 93, §1; Acts 1968, No. 647, §1; Acts 1979, No. 222, §1; Acts 2006, No. 805, §1; Acts 2013, No. 30, §1, eff. May 29, 2013; Acts 2026, No. 115, §1.