Miscellaneous Crimes

NRS Chapter 207 – Overview of Miscellaneous Crimes

Chapter 207 of the Nevada Revised Statutes focuses on a series of miscellaneous criminal acts, including vagrancy, racketeering, interfering with emergency communications, and how Nevada law enforcement handles habitual criminal offenders.

NRS 207.010 to 207.016 – Nevada’s “Three-Strike” Law and Habitual Criminals

There are three types of habitual criminals:

1. Habitual Criminals – Those who have committed two criminal offenses (regardless of what state they were committed in) and commit a third.
2. Habitual Felons – Those who have committed two felonies (regardless of what state they were committed in) and commit a third.
3. Habitual Fraudulent Felons – Those who have committed two felonies “in fraud” or “with the intent to defraud” someone (regardless of what state they were committed in) and commit a third.

Charging and Sentences

When a habitual criminal gets sentenced, their sentencing depends on which type of habitual criminal they are and which offense they’re on.

Habitual Criminals

• Third-Strike – He’ll be charged with a category B felony (which is the second-worst felony charge you can get, a category A felony being the highest possible offense) and sentenced with five to twenty years in the state prison.
• Fourth-Strike – This is when the habitual criminal commits yet another crime or a second felony, regardless of what state the other three were in. At this point, he’ll be charged with a category A felony.

There is a possibility of three sentences:

• Life in prison without having any possibility of parole;
• Life in prison with the possibility of parole. However, parole will only become a possibility after the habitual criminal has serviced at least ten years of his sentence; or
• A sentence of twenty-five years – rather than “life,” with the possibility of parole. However, the same applies here. Parole will only become a possibility after the habitual criminal has serviced at least ten years of his sentence.

Habitual Felons

Third-Strike – He’ll be charged with a category A felony. He will have the same three sentencing possibilities as the habitual criminal has on his Fourth-Strike.

Habitual Fraudulent Felons

Third-Strike – He’ll be charged with a category B felony and sentenced with five to twenty years in the state prison.

NRS 207.030 to 207.070 – Summary of “Vagrant” Laws

A vagrant is defined as a person who meets one of the descriptions:

• Homeless;
• Jobless;
• A beggar;
• Not settled – wanders from place to place.

To be charged with violating NRS 207.030 and other Vagrancy statutes, one of the following conditions must be established:

1. Be immoral or lewd in any open or public place;
2. Engage in or offer or agree to engage in immortality or lewdness in any open or public place;
3. Live in or around a house of prostitution;
4. Be a panderer, pimp, or procurer;
5. Attempt to enter someone’s home under the guise of something else just to see who might be inside or to view the inside of the house;
6. Have stolen or lost items stored where you are staying;
7. Loiter in or around any public bathroom areas so you can solicit or engage in any lascivious, lewd, or illegal act;
8. Stay, or even sleep, in any place that you don’t have the right or permission to be.

There are also ordinances set in place by each county and city government that regulate the manner, location, and time in which vagrants can beg or solicit alms in public areas. These differ from county to county and city to city.

Penalties

The penalties for violating vagrancy statutes differ depending on, not only which law you break, but also on how many times you’ve violated it within a defined time-span.

• First- and Subsequent-Violations at least three years after the First-Violation – You’ll be charged with a misdemeanor.
• Second-Violation within one to three years following the First Violation – You’ll be jailed in the county jail for thirty days to six months. You’ll also be charged a fine of between $250 and $1,000.
• Third- and Subsequent-Violations within three years of the First-Violation – You’ll be jailed in the county jail for six months. You’ll also be charged a fine of between $250 and $1,000.

NRS 207.161 to 207.167 – Laws Related to Emergency Communication Interference

There are three basic “Emergency Communication Interference” laws. They’re pretty point-blank and pretty easy to follow, but, sometimes, they get overlooked or forgotten. According to NRS 207.161 to 207.167, the statutory language is as follows:

1. Hand over the public telephone if someone needs it for an emergency call and there’s not another available.
2. Don’t pretend to need the public phone for an emergency call if you don’t have an emergency.
3. Don’t interfere with the “emergency transmissions over the Citizen’s Radio Service.”

If a person interferes with the “emergency transmissions over the Citizen’s Radio Service” and a person ends up seriously injured or worse, or if the property being called on ends up incurring damages of over $1,000 due to the criminal’s activities, the person committing the crime will be charged with a gross misdemeanor.

NRS 207.390 – Laws Related to Racketeering

According to NRS 207.390, racketeering is defined as a crime that people commit using extortion or coercion. There is also racketeering “activity” that is defined as an engagement of two or more crimes that are racketeering-related (these crimes must also have characteristics that distinguish them as interrelated and must be committed within five years of each other).

If you’re convicted of racketeering, you’ll be charged with a category B felony. This means you’ll be imprisoned by the state for five to twenty years. There is also a possibility that you will be fined up to $25,000.