Disorderly Conduct in Pennsylvania | Nicholas A. Frisk III

Last updated October 4, 2026.

Disorderly conduct is on my criminal defense page as one of the public-order offenses that "are often overcharged." Because it is usually a summary offense, people tend to pay the citation and move on. That can be a mistake: a summary conviction is still a criminal record, and the statute has limits that are worth checking first.

How does a disorderly conduct case move through Lawrence County?

Most disorderly conduct cases start with a citation and stay at the local district court. A misdemeanor charge, or one filed with more serious charges, goes through Central Court instead.

The citation. The officer hands you, or mails you, a citation that names the section and subsection charged, summarizes the facts and lists the district court where it will be filed (Pa.R.Crim.P. 403). For Ellwood City, Ellport, Wampum and the nearby townships, that is District Court 53-3-01 at 607 Lawrence Avenue, described in what to expect at the Ellwood City district court.
The 10-day answer. Within 10 days after the citation is issued, you must notify the district court, by mail or in person, that you plead guilty or not guilty (Rule 407). A not guilty plea by mail must come with collateral equal to the fine and costs on the citation, or $50 if none are listed; if you cannot afford that, you can enter the plea in person (Rule 408(A), 403(B)(2)). Missing this deadline is how a small case turns into a warrant, as explained in what happens if you ignore a citation.
The summary trial. After a not guilty plea, the district judge sets a trial date and tries the case the way a judge tries a criminal case without a jury (Rule 454(b)). If jail or probation is reasonably likely, the judge must first advise you of the right to counsel, and a defendant without the means to hire a lawyer can have one assigned (Rule 454(a)(2)).
The appeal. A conviction, or even a guilty plea, can be appealed for a new trial in the Court of Common Pleas by filing a notice of appeal with the clerk of courts "within 30 days after the entry of the guilty plea, the conviction, or other final order" (Rule 460(a)). The county's Clerk of Courts lists $58.50 as the total for an appeal from a district judge. A motion to suppress evidence is made for the first time on that appeal, not at the district court (Rule 454(g)). The new trial takes place at the Lawrence County Courthouse, 430 Court Street, New Castle.
The misdemeanor path. When the charge is graded as a third-degree misdemeanor, or rides along with a misdemeanor or felony, the officer files a criminal complaint and the case goes to a preliminary hearing. Lawrence County holds every preliminary hearing at Central Court, 202 Milton Street, New Castle, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m., as covered in what happens at a preliminary hearing in Lawrence County.

The county has four district courts, one in Ellwood City and three in and around New Castle. Which one covers your town is listed on the Lawrence County courts page.

What does the law prohibit?

Section 5503(a) makes it disorderly conduct to do any of these things "with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof":

engage in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior;
make unreasonable noise;
use obscene language, or make an obscene gesture; or
create a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act that serves no legitimate purpose.

Two words carry a lot of weight. The conduct has to be aimed at, or recklessly risk, a public effect, and the statute defines "public" as "affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access," naming highways, schools, apartment houses, places of business or amusement and "any neighborhood" (5503(c)). Whether the facts fit the words of the statute is often the first defense question.

When is it a summary offense, and when is it a misdemeanor?

Disorderly conduct grades and maximum penalties (18 Pa.C.S. 5503(b), 1101, 1104, 1105)
Situation	Grade	Maximum jail	Maximum fine
Ordinary case	Summary offense	90 days	$300
Intent to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience	Third-degree misdemeanor	1 year	$2,500
Continuing after a reasonable warning or request to stop	Third-degree misdemeanor	1 year	$2,500

The misdemeanor grade depends on facts the Commonwealth has to prove, especially the warning. If police say they told someone to stop and the person kept going, what was said, when, and whether anyone else heard it all matter. The grade also changes what happens to the record afterward:

Summary or misdemeanor: what the grade changes after the case
Question	Summary offense	Third-degree misdemeanor
Where it is decided	Summary trial before the district judge (Rule 454)	Preliminary hearing at Central Court, then the Court of Common Pleas
Automatic sealing (Clean Slate)	Five years after the judgment, once restitution is paid (9122.2(a)(3))	After seven years free of any conviction punishable by a year or more, once restitution is paid (9122.2(a)(1))
Expungement by petition	After five years free of arrest or prosecution (9122(b)(3))	Generally not available for a misdemeanor conviction (9122(b)); sealing comes through limited access instead (9122.1, 9122.2)
Private employers	Not among the convictions the statute lets an employer weigh (9125(b))	May be weighed if it relates to suitability for the job (9125(b))
State licensing boards	May not be used (9124(b)(3))	May be considered, but does not by itself bar a license (9124(a))

What if disorderly conduct is charged with something else?

It often rides along with other charges from the same incident. A night that involved drinking may bring a public drunkenness citation as well. Pushing or threatening one particular person can be charged as harassment, which requires intent to harass, annoy or alarm another person (18 Pa.C.S. 2709(a)), as explained in what counts as harassment in Pennsylvania. A fight that leads to injury can bring a charge covered in simple assault in Pennsylvania. Broken windows or a damaged car can add criminal mischief.

When a summary offense is joined with a misdemeanor or felony, the district judge does not try the summary charge separately; it moves with the more serious charges through the preliminary hearing process (Pa.R.Crim.P. 542(F)). At a gathering with people under 21, an underage drinking charge often comes with it, covered in what happens after an underage drinking citation. And when the trouble starts at a traffic stop, the DUI side of the case follows its own timeline, laid out in what happens after a DUI arrest in Lawrence County.

Will disorderly conduct stay on my record?

Not necessarily. A summary conviction can be expunged after five years free of arrest or prosecution following the conviction (18 Pa.C.S. 9122(b)(3)). The petition is filed with the clerk of courts in the county where the case ended and served on the district attorney, who has 30 days to consent or object (Pa.R.Crim.P. 490). The county's Clerk of Courts lists the expungement fee as $132 plus a $50 district attorney approval fee, $182 in total.

Clean Slate works without a petition. A summary conviction becomes subject to limited access five years after the judgment, and a third-degree misdemeanor after seven years free from conviction for any offense punishable by a year or more, in both cases once court-ordered restitution is paid (9122.2(a)(1), (a)(3)). Charges that are dismissed or withdrawn are covered too (9122.2(a)(2)). One trap: Clean Slate does not seal an otherwise qualifying misdemeanor if a conviction for an offense involving danger to the person, such as simple assault, came out of the same case (9122.3(b)).

Expungement, limited access and Clean Slate are compared in clearing a criminal record in Pennsylvania. What a private employer may consider in the meantime is covered in whether an employer can refuse to hire you over an old conviction.

What changes the answer?

These facts move the grade, the process or the outcome:

A warning. Persisting after a reasonable warning or request to stop turns a summary offense into a third-degree misdemeanor (5503(b)).
The purpose. Intent to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience is the other route to the misdemeanor grade (5503(b)).
Where it happened. The statute reaches places the public or a substantial group can access, including apartment houses and "any neighborhood" (5503(c)). Conduct with no likely effect on people in such a place does not fit.
Which act is charged. Each of the four acts in 5503(a) has its own words. A hazardous or offensive condition, for example, must come from an act that "serves no legitimate purpose of the actor" (5503(a)(4)), and the citation must name the subsection (Rule 403(A)(6)).
Other charges. A joined misdemeanor or felony pulls the summary charge into the court case (Rule 542(F)).
Probation. If you are already on probation, a new case can lead to a violation hearing, and a conviction for another crime is one of the grounds that allow a jail sentence on revocation (42 Pa.C.S. 9771(c)(1)(i)). That process is explained in probation violation hearings in Pennsylvania.
An adjudication alternative. For a summary charge, the district judge may, after hearing the facts, place a person in an adjudication alternative program without a guilty plea and must dismiss the charge when it is completed (42 Pa.C.S. 1520(a), (c)).

A worked example

For example, take a hypothetical tenant (not a real case) in an Ellwood City apartment building who plays loud music on a balcony at 1 a.m. A neighbor calls the police, and the officer issues a citation dated March 2 for disorderly conduct under 5503(a)(2), unreasonable noise.

An apartment building and its neighborhood fit the statute's definition of "public" (5503(c)), so the real questions are whether the noise was unreasonable and whether the tenant acted with intent or recklessness. The tenant has until March 12 to plead (Rule 407). A not guilty plea mailed with the collateral on the citation leads to a summary trial at District Court 53-3-01 (Rule 408). If the judge convicts, the most the law allows is 90 days and a $300 fine, plus costs (18 Pa.C.S. 1101(7), 1105), and the tenant has 30 days to appeal for a new trial (Rule 460).

Now change one fact. The officer first asked the tenant to turn the music down, and came back twenty minutes later to find it louder. That is persisting after a reasonable warning, so the charge can be filed as a third-degree misdemeanor carrying up to a year and a $2,500 fine, and the case starts with a preliminary hearing at Central Court (5503(b), 1101(6), 1104(3)).

Common mistakes with disorderly conduct charges

Paying to make it go away. Sending the fine and costs is a guilty plea, and money sent without a plea marked is recorded as one (Rule 403(B)(5)). The result is a criminal record.
Letting the 10 days pass. For an adult charged under the Crimes Code, failing to respond leads to an arrest warrant (Rule 403(B)(4)(a)).
Assuming a not guilty plea needs money you do not have. Collateral is required with a plea by mail; a defendant who cannot afford it can plead in person instead (Rule 403(B)(2)(a)(ii)).
Skipping the trial. If you do not appear, the trial is usually held without you, and the notice of conviction arrives by mail while the 30-day appeal period is already running (Rule 455(A), (D), 460(a)).

What to do this week

Find the date the citation was issued and count 10 days; that is your deadline to plead (Rule 407).
Read the section and subsection on the citation and match it to the four acts in 5503(a).
Check whether you received a summary citation or a misdemeanor complaint, and look the case up on the UJS Portal, which the county's Central Court page points to for case information.
Write down what happened while it is fresh: the place, who was nearby, what the officer said, and whether you were warned to stop.
Save phone video and messages, and note the names of anyone who saw it.
If you cannot afford the collateral, plan to enter your plea in person at the district court.
Do not mail any money until you have decided how to plead.

Frequently asked questions

Can I be charged with disorderly conduct at my own home?

It depends on who is affected. The statute counts places where the public or a substantial group has access and names apartment houses and "any neighborhood" (5503(c)). Noise that carries into the neighborhood can fit; conduct that stays private, with no likely effect on the public, does not.

What is the difference between disorderly conduct and harassment?

Disorderly conduct is about a public effect: inconvenience, annoyance or alarm to the public (5503(a)). Harassment is aimed at a particular person, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm that person (2709(a)). The same argument can lead to either charge, or to both.

Can disorderly conduct be resolved without a conviction?

Sometimes. For a summary charge, the district judge may place a person in an adjudication alternative program, which can include work, counseling, education or community service, without a guilty plea, and must dismiss the charge on completion (42 Pa.C.S. 1520(b), (c)). Acceptance still counts as a first conviction if a later charge for a repeat offense comes up (1520(a)).

Do I need a lawyer for a summary citation?

You are not required to have one. If a conviction is reasonably likely to bring jail or probation, the judge must tell you about the right to counsel and assign a lawyer if you cannot afford one (Rule 454(a)(2)). For a misdemeanor, the county Public Defender asks people to apply at least two weeks before the preliminary hearing.

How much can a disorderly conduct citation cost?

The fine for the summary offense is up to $300, plus court costs (18 Pa.C.S. 1101(7)). At sentencing the judge must state the fine, the costs and the due date, and may set installment payments for a defendant who cannot pay at once (Rule 454(f)(1)). An appeal to the Court of Common Pleas costs $58.50 at the county's Clerk of Courts.

Can a disorderly conduct conviction suspend my driver's license?

No. The suspension for an unanswered or unpaid citation applies to violations of the Vehicle Code (75 Pa.C.S. 1533(a)), and disorderly conduct is a Crimes Code offense. Not answering still leads to a warrant (Rule 403(B)(4)(a)).

If you received a disorderly conduct citation or charge in Ellwood City, New Castle or anywhere in Lawrence County, call before the 10-day deadline passes. You work directly with me, and the first consultation is always free and confidential.

Is disorderly conduct a crime in Pennsylvania?