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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:09 pm
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Results for vagrants
6 results foundAuthor: University of California School of Law - Berkeley. Policy Advocacy Clinic Title: California's New Vagrancy Laws: The Growing Enactment and Enforcement of Anti - Homeless Laws in the Golden State Summary: Executive Summary More than one in five people who are homeless in the United States live in California, and two - thirds of all people experiencing homelessness in California are unsheltered. Although homelessness exists statewide - exacerbated by decades of deep cuts to federal a nd state funding for affordable housing and by rising inequality - it is managed mostly at the local l evel. The state legislature has been slow to respond to this widespread problem, forcing municipal governments to address homelessness often with l imited resources. While some local governments have invested in social services, shelters , and supportive housing, cities have also responded by enacting and enforcing a wide range of anti - homeless laws - municipal codes that target or disproportionately impact people experiencing homelessness . Fortunately , t he conversation about homelessness has begun to shift in California. In the past year, San Francisco announced plans to create and fund a new Department on Homelessness and Supportive Housing. Oakland, Berkeley and San Jose each declared a shelter crisis . A nd Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti asked the Governor to declare a homeless state of emergency . 2 When Mayor Garcetti held a press conference on the city's homeless crisis in late 2015, Los Angeles Councilmember Jose Huizar explained : Unless we change our approach, this crisis will continue to worsen.... This approach to homelessness has failed. We can't ignore the problem, and we can't arrest our way out of it. W hile t his shift in rhetoric is a notable development, evidence suggests that California cities continue to pursue inhumane , ineffec tive , and costly policies that criminaliz e homeless people. This report update s our 2015 study on the enactment and enforcement of anti - homeless laws in California with new ordinance data from cities and updated arrest data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program. We find that California cities are enact ing and enforc ing anti - homeless laws in record numbers. In contrast with historical post - recession trends , arrests of people who are homeless continue to rise in spite of an improving economy. Further, cities appear to be arresting people increasingly based on their homeless status as opposed t o any concrete unlawful behavior. Details: Berkeley, CA: Policy Advocacy Clinic, 2016. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 3, 2016 at: http://wraphome.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/NVL-Update-2016_Final.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://wraphome.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/NVL-Update-2016_Final.pdf Shelf Number: 140147 Keywords: Homeless PersonsHomelessnessVagrancy LawsVagrants |
Author: Frankel, Allison Title: "Forced into breaking the Law": The Criminalization of Homelessness in Connecticut Summary: The report examines how Connecticut’s homeless residents face the threat of criminal sanctions for simply existing. The report also documents how Connecticut city ordinances, such as those prohibiting loitering, panhandling, and sleeping in public, punish people for performing necessary, life-sustaining functions, which effectively criminalizes homelessness itself. It further outlines how the criminalization of homelessness violates state, federal, and international law. The release of the report coincides with National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and the launch of the national "Housing Not Handcuffs" campaign, organized by National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which aims to end the criminalization of homelessness. The criminal justice system often escalates and results in a downward spiral, students said. If people are too poor to pay their fine, they must contest the ticket in court. But those interviewed for the report faced high barriers to showing up on their court date. For instance, many people never received notice of their court dates because they did not have an address or lacked transportation to get to court. Failure to pay the fine or go to court can result in arrest and incarceration, making it even more difficult to obtain housing and employment. In this way, the criminalization of homelessness further entrenches a cycle of homelessness, poverty, and criminalization, the report argues. Details: New Haven, CT: Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, 2016. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 21, 2016 at: https://www.law.yale.edu/system/files/documents/pdf/news/criminalization_of_homelessness_report_for_web_full_report.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.law.yale.edu/system/files/documents/pdf/news/criminalization_of_homelessness_report_for_web_full_report.pdf Shelf Number: 140217 Keywords: Homeless PersonsHomelessnessLoiteringPanhandlingVagrancy LawVagrants |
Author: Ruan, Nantiya Title: Too High a Price: What Criminalizing Homelessness Costs Colorado Summary: Like most of America, Colorado faces a homeless epidemic. Amidst a stark rise in housing costs and equally sharp drop in available affordable housing, Colorado's cities struggle to address the overwhelming needs of its homeless residents. While professing a dedication to eliminating homelessness through homeless and poverty services, state actors continue to write, pass, and enforce local ordinances that criminalize life-sustaining behaviors. Laws that criminalize panhandling, begging, camping, sitting or lying in public, and vagrancy target and disproportionately impact residents that are homeless for activities they must perform in the course of daily living. This Report examines how laws criminalizing homeless people for being homeless have become widespread in Colorado. Through a comprehensive analysis of the enforcement of anti-homeless laws, this Report also examines the cost-economic and social-anti-homeless laws impose upon all Colorado citizens. In the process of examining trends across branches of government and across the state, we found similarities between the constitutional challenges to anti-homeless laws and other discriminatory legal frameworks that criminalized people for their identities or statuses. Ordinances punishing people without homes for behaviors necessary to their daily lived existence will soon become another chapter in a shameful history of invalidated laws, such as Anti-Okie Laws, Jim Crow Laws, "Ugly Laws," and Sundown Laws. Federal courts have begun to recognize the dubious constitutionality of anti-homeless laws, and, in turn, municipalities like Denver and Boulder have begun re-examining how they enforce anti-homeless ordinances. But the data still reveal a trend: a startling high number of ordinances enforced at an alarming rate which comes with a high price tag for Colorado. To analyze statewide trends, we identified 76 cities in Colorado based on population and geographic diversity, which represent roughly 70% of the state's population. We surveyed these 76 municipal codes and identified numerous anti-homeless ordinances that target those without homes, such as: sitting, sleeping, lying, or storing belongings in public prohibitions; restrictions on begging or panhandling; camping bans; loitering and vagrancy prohibitions; and trespass, park closure, and sanitation laws. Based on this research, we have come to following conclusions: - Colorado's 76 largest cities have 351 anti-homeless ordinances; - Cities criminalize homelessness in a variety of ways; - Adopted ordinances inspire similar ordinances in other municipalities; and - Ordinances lack clarity and obstruct government transparency and accountability From the 76 surveyed cities, we selected 23 cities for more in-depth research using Open Records Requests to examine how anti-homeless ordinances are enforced. We found: - Cities issue citations to homeless residents at a staggering rate. For example, 30% of all citations that Grand Junction issued are pursuant to an anti-homeless ordinance. Fort Collins issues citations to homeless individuals at the rate of two citations per homeless resident per year. Colorado Springs has doubled the rate at which they enforce anti-homeless ordinances between 2010 and 2014. - Many cities aggressively target homeless residents for panhandling and for trespassing. Fewer than half of the cities surveyed have restrictions on begging or panhandling, yet Denver arrested nearly 300 homeless individuals in 2014 for panhandling. Between 2013 and 2014, Denver issued over 2,000 trespass citations to homeless individuals. This represents more than half of all trespass citations in the city even though homeless residents are only 0.05% of the population. - Some cities use camping bans to target homeless residents. Boulder stands out in issuing camping ban citations by issuing 1,767 between 2010 and 2014-as compared with Denver, which issued fifteen in the same time frame, or Durango, which issued zero. Boulder issued camping ban citations at a rate of two citations per homeless resident. Eighty-seven percent of Boulder's camping citations were issued to homeless residents. - Several cities fail to track how anti-homeless citations are enforced against individuals who are homeless-this includes Durango, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Aurora. Because most cities also do not track "move on" orders, the data provided by the cities do not address how these widely used policing tactics impact homeless residents' lives. - Cities do not provide sufficient services for their homeless populations. For example, Fort Collins provides 118 shelter beds for over 400 homeless residents. On its best night, Boulder provides 280 beds for 440 homeless residents. Some cities, like Grand Junction, have limited services and publicize their attempts to deter people who are homeless from coming to their city. A major contribution of Too High A Price is that it comprehensively analyzes the cost of anti-homeless ordinances by calculating the cost of policing, adjudication, and incarceration. By studying the enforcement of five anti-homeless ordinances in Denver, we found that in 2014 alone, Denver spent nearly three-quarters of a million dollars ($750,000.00) enforcing these ordinances. We estimate that just six Colorado cities spent a minimum of five million dollars ($5,000,000.00) enforcing fourteen anti-homeless ordinances over a five-year period. For reasons discussed in the report, this number is significantly under-inclusive. Reducing or eliminating anti-homeless ordinances would achieve governmental goals of reducing ineffective spending; expanding efficient homelessness services and prevention; and reducing collateral consequences and implicit social costs associated with criminalizing homelessness. Too High A Price also includes seven separate City Spotlight Reports that takes a deeper dive into the criminalization of homelessness in the cities of Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Durango, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, and Pueblo. With these case studies, this Report also shows that judicial action alone is not enough to stop the unconstitutional criminalization of homeless people. Despite recent court decisions invalidating panhandling ordinances as unconstitutional, Colorado cities enforce other more facially-neutral ordinances in a way that disparately impacts homeless people. Because so many cities have such ordinances, the Colorado state legislature must step in and enact legislation that establishes affirmative rights for homeless individuals at the state level. The Right to Rest Act, Colorado House Bill HB-16-1191, introduced by Representatives Salazar and Melton in February 2016, will help combat the disparate impact of these ordinances in Colorado's communities. Details: Denver: University of Denver Sturm College of Law, 2016. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 9, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3169929 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3169929 Shelf Number: 150125 Keywords: BeggingHomeless PersonsHomelessnessLoiteringPanhandlingVagrants |
Author: Ruan, Nantiya Title: Too High a Price 2: Move on to Where? Summary: Over two years have passed since the University of Denver Sturm College of Law's Homeless Advocacy Policy Project released its report, Too High a Price, detailing the tremendous expenditures Colorado cities make in an effort to criminalize homelessness. As Colorado housing costs continue to skyrocket, its homeless epidemic has grown as well. Unfortunately, state actors continue to write, pass, and enforce ordinances that criminalize some of our most basic, life-sustaining activities. Laws such as camping, sitting or lying in public, begging, and loitering disproportionately target behaviors associated with homelessness, leaving one of the state's most vulnerable populations living in fear. As a follow-up to Too High a Price, this Report details the increased efforts to criminalize homelessness in the state of Colorado. Through an examination of three of Colorado's most prominent cities, Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs, this Report highlights the stark rise in enforcement of anti-homeless laws, and the disproportionate and inhumane impact they have on the day-to-day lives of people experiencing homelessness. In the process of examining Colorado's ever-increasing criminalization of homelessness, we found that law enforcement frequently issues "move-on" orders to remove visible poverty from its city streets. A move-on order, also referred to as a police "street check," is a law enforcement technique used to further enforce certain ordinances, including camping bans. In lieu of issuing a citation or making an arrest, officers are directed to instruct homeless individuals, upon contact, to pack up their belongings and "move on" to somewhere else. At first glance, these move-on orders may seem like a viable alternative to outright issuing citations. However, with the extreme decline in affordable housing and the lack of emergency shelter space to accommodate Colorado's growing homeless population, these move-on orders leave homeless people with nowhere to go. Instead, they are merely pushed from one place to the next. To analyze the trends of criminalization of homelessness, we utilized Open Records Requests to obtain data detailing the enforcement of anti-homeless laws in Colorado Springs, Denver, and Boulder. This data revealed that Colorado cities have increased enforcement more than we anticipated. Furthermore, we researched the adverse effects move-on orders have on homeless populations. Based on this research and data, we came to the following conclusions: - The overall number of anti-homelessness ordinances has increased. Between Denver, Colorado Springs, and Boulder, there are at least thirty-seven ordinances that criminalize behaviors associated with people experiencing homelessness. Since Too High a Price was first released, Colorado Springs has added one new anti-homeless ordinance and Denver Law students found four additional ordinances in Denver. - Colorado Springs and Boulder have increased the number of citations issued under camping bans. In 2017, Boulder issued 376 citations under its camping ban ordinance. Of those 376 citations, an incredible 81.9% were issued to homeless individuals. Additionally, Colorado Springs increased its enforcement of its two camping bans by a staggering 545% over the span of three years. - Denver's use of move-on orders has skyrocketed at an alarming rate. In 2016 alone, Denver law enforcement made contact with over 5,000 people in move-on encounters. Denver police increased its contact with homeless individuals through the use of street checks by 475% in the span of three years. - The number of emergency shelter beds cannot accommodate Colorado's homeless population. In all three cities we surveyed, none provide enough beds to meet the needs of its homeless populations. In Colorado Springs, the number of year-round shelter space can only accommodate 38% of El Paso County's homeless population. Boulder has even fewer resources, with only enough beds for roughly 25% of its homeless population. Denver doesn't fare better, with the 2017 Point-in-Time count indicating that on a given night, nearly 1,000 homeless people sleep on the streets. - Move-on orders have overwhelming collateral consequences on homeless populations. The use of move-on orders has grave consequences on people experiencing homeless, including: pushing people to dangerous areas, pushing people farther away from vital resources, and causing adverse health effects. As homeless people are forced into the shadows, extremely harmful consequences usually follow. Beyond the lack of shelter space and affordable housing, and how criminalization makes homelessness harder to escape, the larger issue is this: why are we so uncomfortable with facing homelessness? Our parks are for everyone. Our streets are for public use. Our free speech rights allow for all citizens to ask for what they may need. We should not view visible poverty as something to be avoided at all costs-especially if that cost results in further degradation and ostracism. Despite some city officials acknowledging that issuing citations does nothing to solve the homeless crisis, our research reveals that city actors continue to criminalize homelessness. This Report concludes by offering suggested changes for Colorado cities moving forward. First, only through stopping the criminalization efforts will we begin to alleviate the vicious cycle of homelessness in Colorado. Colorado cities should repeal camping bans that merely criminalize the human necessity to sleep and rest, provide new resources to homeless populations such as twenty-four-hour restrooms, and invest in education efforts that promote the dignity of people in poverty. Trying to make homelessness invisible does nothing more than make homelessness inevitable. Details: Denver: University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Homeless Advocacy Policy Project, 2018. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: U Denver Legal Studies Research Paper No. 18-14: Accessed May 9, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3174780 Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3174780 Shelf Number: 150126 Keywords: Begging Homeless Persons Homelessness HousingLoiteringPanhandling Vagrants |
Author: John Howard Association of Illinois Title: Punishment That Doesn't Fit the Crime: Stories of People Living on the Margins Summary: This report examines stories of marginalized individuals in relation to criminal justice systems over the course of their lives-in being stopped, searched, arrested, fined, jailed or incarcerated for low level offenses. These stories unmask the cumulative impact that criminal justice involvement, coupled with economic and racial inequalities, has on the life trajectories, happiness, and quality of life of marginalized individuals, their families and communities. Through these stories, the static and ineffective roles of many system actors became clear. Our jails and prisons have become the sole response to a myriad of system failures, including miscarriages in mental health treatment, racial and economic inequality, education, child and family welfare support, community infrastructure, housing and employment opportunities. A complex web of interrelated social failures and ills cannot be effectively cured by simply increasing the reach of police, sanctions, criminal courts, jails, and prisons over the lives of American citizens. As inequalities in the justice system are invisible, cumulative, inter-generational, and deeply concentrated in a small fraction of the population, the experiences of this population are traditionally left out of public discourse on criminal justice. In order to foster more democratic communities by continually challenging dominant narratives, we present these lived experiences as a way to rethink our common histories and public policy in light of each other's stories. Details: Chicago: John Howard Association of Illinois, 2018. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 13, 2018 at: http://www.thejha.org/sites/default/files/JHA%20Report%20Punishment%20That%20Doesn%27t%20Fit%20the%20Crime%20Stories%20of%20People%20Living%20on%20the%20Margins%20Part%201.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: http://www.thejha.org/sites/default/files/JHA%20Report%20Punishment%20That%20Doesn%27t%20Fit%20the%20Crime%20Stories%20of%20People%20Living%20on%20the%20Margins%20Part%201.pdf Shelf Number: 151114 Keywords: Disadvantaged PersonsHomeless PersonsHomelessnessPovertyRacial DisparitiesVagrants |
Author: Harman, Jennifer J. Title: A Study of Homelessness in Seven Colorado Jails Summary: "A Study of Homelessness in Seven Colorado Jails" surveyed 507 inmates in jails in Arapahoe County, the City and County of Denver, El Paso County, Larimer County, Mesa County, and Pueblo County. The sites were chosen because they represent a good cross-section of jurisdictions in Colorado that experience the impacts of homeless populations. The Division of Criminal Justice commissioned Eris Enterprises to conduct the study to provide data that may help answer questions being raised by law enforcement, legislators and community members in relation to a reported increase in the homeless population in major Colorado jails and in Colorado in general. The study examined the prevalence of risk factors associated with homelessness, the types and number of crimes committed, home state origin, why non-native inmates moved to Colorado, and what services inmates need to transition out of jail. In particular, the study sought to provide insight on one frequently posed question: is Colorado seeing an increase in homeless people moving to Colorado for legal marijuana and then committing crimes? SUMMARY OF RESULTS The study found that the majority of homeless who ended up in Colorado jails moved here prior to legalization of marijuana, and most moved here to escape a problem or be with family. More than one third of the homeless who moved to Colorado after legalization in 2012 reported legal marijuana as a reason that drew them to Colorado. However, only two individuals selected legal marjiuana as the only factor that drew them to Colorado. The study also found that homeless inmates reported higher rates of mental illness and were charged with significantly fewer violent crimes but significantly more drug and trespassing crimes than non-homeless inmates. Details: Denver: ColoradoDivision of Criminal Justice, 2018. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 14, 2018 at:; https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/docs/reports/2018_Jail_Homelessness_Study.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/docs/reports/2018_Jail_Homelessness_Study.pdf Shelf Number: 151128 Keywords: Homeless PersonsHomelessnessHousingJail InmatesJailsLoiteringMentally Ill PersonsPanhandling Vagrants |