I'm aware you can be arrested for it in the US (which is to say I'm mistaken, it does fall under criminal law), but can it get you a criminal record?
Somewhat related: here in the UK, littering is technically a crime, but apparently [0] you'll only get a criminal record if you refuse to pay the fine.
Here in California, jaywalking is an infraction, not a crime. Jaywalkers (who are caught) have to pay a fine. It can basically be considered getting sued by the city for breaking the rules.
If you can't pay the fine, it can turn into a warrant that can get you arrested. Thus jaywalking actually is a crime, but only for poor people.
> If you can't pay the fine, it can turn into a warrant that can get you arrested.
Technically, inability to pay does not have this effect, only refusal. But you have to actually show up to court (as specified in the ticket, which is a summons to appear with bail that can be forfeited in lieu of appearance) and assert hardship to get a different penalty or payment arrangement set if you are unable to pay; if you just ignore the summons and don’t pay the bail set, then you are committing a crime.
Nobody in those examples was arrested for jaywalking.
All of them were arrested for bullshit "contempt of cop" type offenses. If they could arrest people for jaywalking they would have done that because arresting someone for something they've actually done makes for a much harder charge to beat. Jaywalking is just the pretext.
Somewhat related: here in the UK, littering is technically a crime, but apparently [0] you'll only get a criminal record if you refuse to pay the fine.
[0] https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/roads-and-pavements/fines-and-o...