Law To violate a law or ordinance that prohibits persons from remaining in a given location without a clear purpose for an extended period of time, especially when behaving in a manner indicating a possible threat to persons or property in the vicinity.

What does loitering with intent mean?

Stand or wait around with the intention of committing an offence. A legal phrase derived from an 1891 Act of Parliament, it is also used figuratively and humorously of anyone who is waiting around for some unspecified purpose. From: loiter with intent in The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable »

Is loitering with intent a crime?

It makes mere intent criminal and subject to imprisonment. It allows proof of previous convictions to be introduced at the trial as evidence of that intent. That is the legal side.