Chances are that at some point in your life, you’ve heard of someone TP’ing or toilet papering another person’s home. It could have happened either somewhere in your own neighborhood or in another location across the country.
Generally defined, toilet papering or TP’ing involves covering someone else’s personal property with toilet paper. The property involved could be a car or, as previously mentioned, a home. This type of act is generally committed by young people who are trying to think of a sneaky way to be mischievous. Oftentimes, this type of act is committed during the Halloween holiday; however, there are sometimes other instances in which it is randomly committed as well.
So what exactly is the legality of toilet papering a person’s home or other personal property? Well, the simple answer is this: there are some states in the United States that consider this type of act as being a form of vandalism, even going so far as to implement criminal mischief charges, which is a misdemeanor; however, other states do not consider toilet papering as a form of vandalism.
One specific example citing vandalism and toilet papering involves a mother from the state of Texas who is said to have assisted a group of middle school girls with committing this very act against the home of one of their own neighbors. As a result, the mother faced a criminal mischief case for assisting the group of girls with the following incidents:
*Covering the neighbor’s home with toilet paper.
*Covering the neighbor’s home with both peanut butter and mustard.
*Causing a total of $6,000 in damage to the neighbor’s home.
In terms of criminal mischief being mentioned here, a further explanation should be made. More specifically, criminal mischief requires the damage, defacement, or destruction to another individual’s property. This can include, as previously mentioned, vandalism.
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