vagrancy laws
Criminalizing being homeless
Vagrancy laws criminalize being homeless, idle, or without visible means of support.
Historically used to control movement of the poor, formerly enslaved people, and other marginalized groups, these laws gave police broad authority to arrest anyone who couldn't demonstrate employment or a fixed residence.
Most have been struck down or reformed, though related ordinances against loitering or camping persist: The city's vagrancy laws were challenged as unconstitutional.
- begAsk with desperation
- ordinancesLocal government rules
- police powersGovernment's inherent enforcement capacity
- penal codesStatutes defining crimes, punishments
- systemic biasPrejudice embedded in institutions
quality of life crimes · statutes · chain gangs · civil liberties · public nuisance · shelter · social control · unemployment · decriminalization · marginalization · human dignity · judicial rulings · hobo · equity · labor exploitation · trespassing · poverty · homelessness
- criminal lawcrime, felony, misdemeanor, murder, robbery
- discriminationracism, systemic discrimination, sexism, racial harassment, prejudice
- historical lawattainder, Justinian Code, Roman law, curtesy, Napoleonic Code
- homelessnesshomeless, homeless shelters, unhoused, homeless veterans, houseless
- Jim Crowseparate but equal, Plessy v. Ferguson, whites only, whites only signs, poll tax
- public orderriot, public order, breach of peace, disorderly conduct, unlawful assembly
vagrancy lawsright to travel
Liberty to go places
anti-discrimination laws · civil rights legislation · habeas corpus · Bill of Rights
vagrancy lawssocial welfare programs
Government aid for disadvantaged
universal basic income · social safety net · welfare state · harm reduction · mutual aid