2020 Georgia Code
Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses
Chapter 11 - Offenses Against Public Order and Safety
Article 2 - Offenses Against Public Order
§ 16-11-31. Inciting to Riot

1. A person who with intent to riot does an act or engages in conduct which urges, counsels, or advises others to riot, at a time and place and under circumstances which produce a clear and present danger of a riot, commits the offense of inciting to riot.
2. Any person who violates subsection (a) of this Code section is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Code 1933, § 26-2602, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 1969, p. 857, § 20.)

- Constitutional guarantee of free speech and press, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. V.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Section not unconstitutionally vague or broad.

- O.C.G.A. § 16-11-31 is neither unconstitutionally vague in that the statute provides overall fair warning to persons of ordinary intelligence as to what conduct is prohibited so that persons may act accordingly, nor is the statute overbroad in that the statute proscribes only certain intentional behavior which produces a clear and present danger of achieving riotous results. Land v. State, 262 Ga. 898, 426 S.E.2d 370, cert. denied, 509 U.S. 909, 113 S. Ct. 3008, 125 L. Ed. 2d 699 (1993); Mastroianni v. Deering, 835 F. Supp. 1577 (S.D. Ga. 1993).

Cited in McElroy v. Williams Bros. Motors, 104 Ga. App. 435, 121 S.E.2d 917 (1961); Sutton v. State, 158 Ga. App. 856, 282 S.E.2d 410 (1981); Powell v. State, 218 Ga. App. 556, 462 S.E.2d 447 (1995).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 53A Am. Jur. 2d, Mobs and Riots, § 20.

- 77 C.J.S., Riot; Insurrection, §§ 4 et seq., 11, 37 et seq.

- Participation of student in demonstration on or near campus as warranting imposition of criminal liability for breach of peace, disorderly conduct, trespass, unlawful assembly, or similar offense, 32 A.L.R.3d 551.

Sufficiency of evidence to establish criminal participation by individual involved in gang fight or assault, 24 A.L.R.4th 243.