Oregon Disorderly Conduct: Degrees, Penalties & Defenses

Oregon disorderly conduct is a criminal charge covering disruptive public behavior, split into two degrees under ORS 166.025 and ORS 166.023. A standard second-degree charge is a Class B misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine, while first-degree charges and certain enhanced versions reach 364 days in jail and a $6,250 fine. A first-degree conviction after a prior one becomes a Class C felony, with up to five years in prison.

What Behavior Counts as Second-Degree Disorderly Conduct

Second-degree disorderly conduct under ORS 166.025 is the version most people face. The statute lists six categories of behavior, any one of which can support a charge if the mental-state requirement is met.¹

Fighting or violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior in public.
Unreasonable noise, judged against what a reasonable person would tolerate given the time, place, and circumstances.
Disturbing a lawful assembly without authority to do so.
Obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic on a public way.
Knowingly circulating a false report of a fire, explosion, crime, or other emergency.
Creating a hazardous or physically offensive condition through an act the person has no license or right to perform.

That last category is the catch-all, and it surprises people. Dumping something foul in a park or blocking a building entrance with debris can qualify without any violence involved. What matters is that the act creates a genuinely dangerous or offensive condition and the person had no legitimate reason to do it.¹

The Mental State the Prosecution Has to Prove

No one is convicted of second-degree disorderly conduct for an accident. The state must prove either that the person acted with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or that the person was reckless about creating that risk.¹

Recklessness means the person was aware of a real risk that their conduct would disturb others and did it anyway. Someone blasting music at 2 a.m. in an apartment complex after neighbors have already asked them to stop is the textbook case. The person may not have wanted to alarm anyone, but ignoring a known risk is enough. That mental state is what turns a neighborhood dispute into a criminal charge.

First-degree disorderly conduct uses a stricter standard. Instead of recklessness, ORS 166.023 requires that the person acted knowingly, meaning they were practically certain their conduct would create the prohibited risk.¹

What First-Degree Disorderly Conduct Actually Covers

First-degree disorderly conduct is narrower than people expect. It does not cover fighting, noise, or general disturbances. The charge applies to one specific act: knowingly circulating a false report of a hazardous substance, fire, explosion, or other emergency that the person claims is located in a court facility or other public building as defined in ORS 166.360.¹

Both elements have to be present. A bomb threat called into a county courthouse fits squarely. A false fire report to a private business does not qualify for first-degree charges, though it could still be charged as second-degree disorderly conduct under ORS 166.025(1)(e). Oregon treats false reports targeting government buildings as more serious because the resulting evacuations shut down courts, delay proceedings, and tie up emergency response.

Penalties by Classification

What you actually face depends on which version of the charge applies.

Second Degree (Class B Misdemeanor)

The standard second-degree charge carries up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.² First-time offenders without aggravating circumstances often receive probation, community service, or a fine rather than jail. The conviction itself still stays on your record.

Second Degree Near a Funeral (Class A Misdemeanor)

If any second-degree offense is committed within 200 feet of property where the person knows a funeral or memorial service is being conducted, the charge jumps to a Class A misdemeanor. The maximum penalty becomes 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $6,250.² The enhancement applies only while the service is actually taking place; there is no buffer window before or after it.¹

First Degree (Class A Misdemeanor)

First-degree disorderly conduct also carries up to 364 days in jail and a $6,250 fine.¹

First Degree With a Prior Conviction (Class C Felony)

A person convicted of first-degree disorderly conduct who has at least one prior conviction under the same statute faces a Class C felony. The maximum rises to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $125,000.¹² This is the sharpest escalation in the framework, and it is why a first conviction for a false emergency report should be treated seriously even when the immediate sentence looks mild.

Defenses That Work Against These Charges

Disorderly conduct charges are more defensible than people assume. The intent requirement gives the defense real ground to work with.

No Intent and No Recklessness

Because the prosecution must prove intent or recklessness, showing that the behavior was accidental, involuntary, or the product of a genuine misunderstanding can defeat the charge. Someone who unknowingly wandered into a restricted area during a funeral, for example, lacked the mental state the statute requires.

Protected Speech

Oregon’s statute cannot be used to punish protected speech, peaceful protest, or recording police activity in public. A defendant charged for yelling during a protest or filming an arrest can challenge the charge on First Amendment grounds, and a law that sweeps in protected expression risks being struck down as vague or overbroad.³ That does not immunize every loud protester, but it does force the state to show the conduct crossed from expression into genuine disruption.

Involuntary Intoxication

If a person was unknowingly drugged or became intoxicated through no fault of their own, involuntary intoxication can negate the intent element. The argument is that the compromised mental state prevented the person from forming the awareness the statute demands. Voluntary intoxication is not a defense to disorderly conduct in Oregon.

Setting the Conviction Aside Later

Oregon lets people petition to set aside certain convictions, including disorderly conduct. This is Oregon’s version of expungement, and the waiting period depends on the classification.⁴

Class B misdemeanor (standard second degree): one year from the conviction date or release from jail, whichever is later.
Class A misdemeanor (first degree, or second degree near a funeral): three years from conviction or release, whichever is later.

You have to have completed your sentence, including probation. If probation was revoked, you cannot apply for at least three years after the revocation date. You also cannot have other convictions (excluding traffic violations) within the applicable waiting period, and you cannot have pending charges when you file.⁴

The motion goes to the court where you were convicted. You serve a copy on the prosecutor’s office and submit fingerprints to the Oregon Department of State Police for a background check. There is no court filing fee for a set-aside motion, but the records check carries a Department of State Police fee. The prosecutor has 120 days to object after you file.⁴

Consequences That Outlast the Sentence

The fine and jail time are the obvious penalties. The record that follows a conviction often causes more lasting damage, reaching employment, licensing, housing, and travel.

A misdemeanor conviction shows up on background checks run by employers and landlords. Oregon’s “ban the box” rules keep employers from asking about criminal history on initial applications, but the conviction can still surface later in the process. For people in licensed professions like healthcare, education, or finance, a conviction may trigger a licensing board review. Boards generally have to consider whether the conviction is substantially related to the profession and weigh rehabilitation evidence, but the review itself creates delay and uncertainty.

International travel catches people off guard. Canada treats even minor U.S. misdemeanors as potential grounds for denying entry. A person with a disorderly conduct conviction may be turned away at the border unless they have been deemed rehabilitated based on the passage of time, or have applied for and received individual rehabilitation. The rehabilitation application cannot be submitted until at least five years after the sentence ends, and processing can take over a year.⁵

These are the reasons the set-aside process matters. A conviction that seems minor at sentencing can quietly limit your options for years, and the sooner the waiting period starts running, the sooner you can clear it.

1
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 166
2
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 161
3
Constitution Annotated. Vagueness, Statutory Language, and Free Speech
4
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 137.225 – Order Setting Aside Conviction or Record of Criminal
5
Government of Canada. Overcome Criminal Convictions