New York’s law prohibiting loitering for the purpose of prostitution has been challenged as unconstitutional and for allegedly being enforced by the New York City Police Department in a discriminatory way.
The Legal Aid Society of New York City and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton contended in a Southern District lawsuit, D.H. v. City of New York, that the statute, state Penal Law §240.37, is unconstitutionally imprecise on its face because it allows police officers to decide what kinds of activities constitute “loitering” by suspects.
