Jefferson Parish, LA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Chapter 20's public-decency article bans a list of acts described as lewd conduct when performed in a public place or a place open to public view. Sec. 5 defines lewd conduct as the intentional performing of a lewd act in public, and defines a lewd act to include exposure of one's genitals, sexual intercourse, masturbation, or urination or defecation. Because the ordinance groups public urination and defecation with indecent exposure and public sex acts rather than treating it as a minor nuisance, a citation carries the same exposure as those more serious lewd-conduct charges.

The section sits alongside companion provisions in the same article: Sec. 20-82 separately bans knowingly and voluntarily appearing nude in public, and Sec. 20-83 bans obscene live conduct in public, both traced to the same 1961 Code base as Sec. 5's own 1986 ordinance origin. None of Chapter 20's public-decency sections set their own fine schedule, so a violation of Sec. 5 defaults to the Code's general penalty at Sec. 1-10: a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court, with each day a violation continues counted as a separate offense.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's deputies patrol the entire unincorporated parish, including Metairie and Terrytown, where there is no separate city police force to make the arrest.