Unlawful assembly can be the predicate offense to riot, which is discussed shortly. The elements required for unlawful assembly are the assembling 1 or meeting 2 (criminal act) of a group, with the specific intent or purposely to commit a breach of the peace, some other unlawful act, 3 or riot. 4 Some jurisdictions and the Model Penal Code punish the failure to disperse (criminal act) when a peace officer or public servant orders a group participating in disorderly conduct likely to cause substantial harm, serious annoyance, or alarm to do so 5 (Model Penal Code § 250.1(2)). The criminal intent element for failure to disperse is general intent or knowingly 6 (Model Penal Code § 250.1(2)).
Jurisdictions vary as to the attendant circumstance for unlawful assembly and failure to disperse, which is the size of the group. Some common group minimums are two, 7 three, 8 or five. 9 The Model Penal Code requires three or more persons (Model Penal Code § 250.1(2)).
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