Is It a Crime to Wear Baggy Pants?

— -- When the Virginia House of Representatives tried to outlaw the wearing of low-slung pants two years ago, they drew ridicule from Sydney to London. Comedians joked about a "boxers' rebellion," and so many online political blogs derided the bill that the state Senate quickly killed it.

The mockery in Richmond, however, hasn't stopped other politicians from trying to stamp out sagging pants. Bans have become law or are being considered in at least eight states. The movement is fueled by growing worries among lawmakers that sloppy dress by America's youth could be related, no matter how indirectly, to delinquency, poor learning and crime.

"If we have kids going around wearing pants below their butts, it's not nice, not decent," says Timothy Holmes, a city commissioner in Opa-locka, Fla. "If you ask six of these kids, 'What are your grades?' four will tell you they're making C's, D's and F's. I see how senior citizens respond to these kids. They're afraid."

Opa-locka, a Miami suburb of 15,000 that has struggled to curb violent crime, is the latest municipality to take up sagging pants. Holmes has proposed an ordinance that would ban wearing them in city parks, the library and other municipal buildings. The proposal, which will be voted on Oct. 24, carries no fines or jail time, although violators would be evicted from city property. Holmes says he expects the measure to pass.

Low-slung pants, which droop below the hips and expose underwear and more, are the latest in generations of adolescent fashion statements to rankle adults. Just as miniskirts in the 1960s prompted unsuccessful civic efforts to cover up exposed legs, civil libertarians warn that banning sagging pants will be exceedingly difficult to defend in court.

"Wearing of clothing is absolutely free expression" protected by the First Amendment, says Marjorie Esman, executive director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

That prospect hasn't deterred officials from Texas to Connecticut from trying to pass new indecency statutes. Among their efforts: