The Utah Legislature recently passed SB 16, Prohibited Gang Activity, which purports to create the “offense of failure to disperse from loitering in a public place by groups that include gang members.” Although this sounds like a potentially reasonable idea, the major problem with this bill is that is has already been found to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.

In City of Chicago v. Morales, the Supreme Court overturned a law that is nearly identical to the law recently passed here in Utah. The Supreme Court found that such a law is unconstitutional vague because it fails to provide fair notice of the prohibited conduct and also fails to establish minimal guidelines for enforcement. Beyond the legal precedent, we are concerned about any law that increases the ability of law enforcement to profile people, particularly young people, based on race, class or other unjust considerations. In the future we request that the Legislature considers the ramifications of passing a law that will inevitably lead to litigation.