A night in the pokey

[Orion283]

What sort of offenses are only bad enough to give you an overnight stay in jail?

[MichaelB]

lessee... graffiti if you're underage, minor vandalism, toiletpapering your neighbour's house if the police catch you first, being drunk in public, that sort of thing.

At a guess.

[Sulis]

One of my friends got a night in jail for driving on a suspended license (the courts were closed so he had to wait for the morning for bail.)

And another friend spent the night there because the driver of the car he was in was drunk, and he couldn't get a ride home. He wasn't arrested, they just wouldn't let him leave unless he could find a ride, since he had also been drinking.

[girlunquestioned]

DUIs and related charges I know for sure, most of the time. They will, but not always. It depends on the circumstances.

Probably misdemeanors like inappropriate displays of nudity, etc.

[Sammi]

Probably misdemeanors like inappropriate displays of nudity, etc.
Actually, misdemeanors will net you more than just one day, if it's serious enough. If convicted, you can be sent to jail for up to a year on some misdemeanor charges. In Missouri, for instance, nudity is considered a Class B Misdemeanor, which will get you a fine of up to 500 dollars and/or a sentence of up to six months in jail. If a judge doesn't think you commited a bad enough offense, though, they could just make you pay up and then release you. This could maybe work.

I could see someone who was way too drunk getting picked up by some helpful cop lest they hurt themselves and being set in one of the cozier cells for a night. However, this would probably only feasibly work in a small town, where they don't have a lot of people being held at any one time.

[girlunquestioned]

Yes, exactly. And in any case, many people are only held for one night, and then they pay their bail. They may be sentenced to more later, after their trial, but in most crimes, after being picked up, people only spend one night in the slammer before posting bail.