Robert H. Jackson

“ The dictionary definition of dissolute given to the jury by the court described a crime of such nebulous amplitude that no person could know how to defend himself. The court said:
'Now, dissolute is defined as 'loosed from restraint, unashamed, lawless, loose in morals and conduct, recklessly abandoned to sensual pleasures, profligate, wanton, lewd, debauched.' Now, the word 'dissolute,' as you see from this definition, covers many acts not necessarily confined to immorality. ”

“ For even superficial examination of the California vagrancy statute and petitioner's trial under it will reveal the gravity of the constitutional questions which petitioner urges and which the appellate court left unconsidered and undecided.
Subsection 5 of § 647 of the Penal Code of California provides that 'Every idle, or lewd, or dissolute person, or associate of known thieves * * *' is a vagrant, punishable by fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment of not more than six months, or both. [2] Petitioner was charged with and convicted only of being a 'dissolute' person. ”

“ And petitioner's difficulty was not made easier by these additional statements to the jury:
'Vagrancy is a continuing offense. It differs from most other offenses in the fact that it is chronic rather than acute; that it continues after it is complete and subjects the offender to arrest at any time before he reforms. One is guilty of being a vagrant at any time and place where he is found, so long as the character remains unchanged, although then and there innocent of any act demonstrating his character. ”