Disorderly conduct can appear in many different forms, with one of the ways being public intoxication. While being drunk is not against the law, for example if you were in a restaurant (as long as you aren't driving anywhere) or your own home, though being drunk and causing a ruckus, or disturbing the peace, is considered to be a crime. When a person is publicly intoxicated to the extent of disturbing others who may be around you, then the police may be required to take steps against you. Also, if people view you as a threat in any way to others in public whether it be simply a disturbance or physical harm, you may be arrested and accused of the offense. Fortunately, in most cases these charges are usually on a misdemeanor level which means that the consequences for being convicted are much less severe than that of felony offense. All that to say, whether it is a small consequence or a severe one, there will still be life changing results after receiving a conviction for any crime, because it will be permanently added to your criminal record. While options such as expungement are possible for offenses, these are not usually an option for convicts until many years down the road and even so not all states allow this as a possibility.
The basic factors of a public intoxication offense include three details that must be met in order for you to be arrested for this offense. First, you must appear to the public that you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Perhaps your BAC levels aren't that high, but if the public still deems you as a threat in some way, you may still face charges. Next, you are actually drunk by alcohol or intoxicated by another substance. Thirdly, you must be doing so in public. However, this is not to say that if you are drunk at the restaurant and you and your husband are walking back to the car that you will be arrested. Most state laws require that the person being accused of public intoxication appear not only intoxicated but also a threat to the public around them, and that they be acting in such a way that they appear to have no personal control.
As stated, these types of charges depend greatly on the state you are arrested in. In some situations, courts do not even require that a person be drunk at all as long as they are appearing to the public as such. For example, if you are simply acting rowdy while out in public, shouting, cursing, or otherwise acting lewdly, then the officers still may have the right to arrest you for public intoxication for merely disrupting the peace of the area. Also, it is important to know that the court reserves the right to define what public means, because there are no literal definitions apart from being out in the open. Essentially, if anyone is acting in the aforementioned ways either around just one other person or at a stadium with thousands of people, the police may still make an arrest for public intoxication.
In the event you are arrested for this offense, some of the common defenses used to fight on behalf to the suspects include proving that you in fact were not drunk at the time of the arrest, nor were your actions appearing to be under the influence of any substance. Also, you may have been arrested in a state that does not consider public intoxication as being a criminal act. For example, the state of Nevada is known for its casinos and gambling, which are usually associated with drinking. If it was illegal to be drunk in public there, the economy would suffer greatly.
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