The Supreme Court has agreed to review lower-court rulings that make it harder for cities in the western United States to prevent people from sleeping on the streets when there aren’t enough beds in homeless shelters…
Full story: The Supreme Court will decide whether local anti-homeless laws are ‘cruel and unusual’
While reading this article I couldn’t help but to consider what the runoff of this decision would be. The issue that the Court is attempting to resolve the encampments of homeless people in our nation’s urban areas however, is this the biggest issue surrounding the homeless population that is constantly growing in our country. I can’t help but to consider this from a criminal justice point of view with my first thought being, if we criminalize homeless encampments, where will they go? Into our justice system? We just discussed that the reason these people are on the streets is due to insufficient resources in shelters. If they have nowhere else to go and it’s illegal to sleep on the street, what’s left? Prison? This gives way to an even more complicated topic. We want to decrease our prison population because the majority are overcrowded as it is and now we’re considering adding the homeless to that number due to a lack of beds in shelters. Is this really solving anything or just creating a domino effect?
Is punishing people without access to stable housing a reflection of the state of our country? This is important to consider because is it really fair to punish people who have no where to go? They have no choice but to sleep where they can, it wasn’t their decision to become homeless. A variety of factors could be responsible and the article makes note that Covid-19 had an impact. Another key point the article brings up is that the tent encampments are widespread across America, indicating that this issue is a reaction across our country. Furthermore is it cruel and unusual punishment to penalize people who don’t have anywhere to go? Is it fair to take away what little people already have?
You bring up some amazing points. I’d read something similar and asked the same question of how fair it was to punish someone who had nowhere to go. That brings me to when people make these homeless areas they feel as if they have privacy, privacy from the world. Taking away this privacy makes people feel enraged. Another point you could also make for the large amount of homelessness around the countries is the low amount of affordable housing. With the crisis of affordable housing, many people can’t afford to live without these homes causing many to become homeless. Furthermore, could you say that the country’s effort in not providing more affordable housing would cause more punishment for people who have nowhere to go?
Will the decision made by the Supreme Court lead governments to invest in affordable housing and support services for the homeless community? The lack of affordable housing is a major factor contributing to homelessness which is also experienced across the country in many regions of Appalachia, including Boone, North Carolina. All over the country, many places lack resources such as shelter, mental health services, and veteran support. According to Pine Street Inn, one-third of the homeless population are veterans(https://www.pinestreetinn.org/news_events/facts_about_homeless_veterans#:~:text=About%20one%2Dthird%20of%20the,in%20South%20America%2C%20and%20elsewhere. ). How can the government provide support and create effective solutions that do not result in incarceration?
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