Newark, NJ Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Newark's Revised General Ordinances address public urination and defecation directly in Chapter 20:2, the chapter covering general offenses against public order. Section 20:2-31, adopted by Ordinance 6 S+FH on May 16, 2007, makes it unlawful to relieve oneself outside a proper sanitary facility on a sidewalk, street, alley, public parking lot, park, playground, or cemetery anywhere in the city. The ban extends beyond city-owned land: it covers private property when the act happens in open view of the public, and it reaches indoors too, prohibiting urination or defecation in halls, rooms without restroom facilities, stairways, or elevators of public or commercial buildings.

The same section separately criminalizes exposing genitals in public view or in any place the public is invited into or has access to, closing off an indecent-exposure loophole that a narrower urination-only rule would leave open. There is no carve-out in the text for emergencies, festivals, or construction workers without facilities; the ordinance requires use of a proper lavatory, toilet, or similar facility, full stop. Enforcement runs through the Newark Police Division, which can issue a summons on observation, and adjudication happens in Newark Municipal Court.

A conviction carries a fine of not less than $25 and not more than $125, or, as an alternative penalty the court may impose, a term of community service capped at 30 days.