Homeless People Should Not Be Criminalized For Camping In Public Places

827 Words2 Pages

Ashley Guillen
Professor S. Schulze
English 1301- Essay 4
November 29, 2015
Cities and homeless When thinking of big cities, what comes to mind? Most people probably imagine huge skyscrapers, beautiful skylines, lots of pedestrians, and cars trying to get from one place to another. However, campsites along some highways and certain areas in the city set up by homeless are commonly left out of this description. They aren't the best sight to see and may decrease tourism as well as big businesses from going to certain cities. To put an end to this, Justice Departments in some cities have issued bans on sleeping and camping in public places. Nevertheless, homeless individuals should not be criminalized for camping and sleeping in public. Most …show more content…

According to the Los Angeles Times, “In Los Angeles, there are enough shelter beds for less than one-third of homeless people, the lowest percentage of any large city in the country” (Blasi and Mangano 2015). Los Angeles is one of the many cities that don't have adequate room in shelters to accommodate those that need a place to stay. Some shelters may be located in different parts of the city and be too far away from the campsites where homeless citizens usually stay, if they have no possible way of making it to the shelters is it fair that they be …show more content…

In the Homeless Court Advantage, an article written by Violet Law she states,”Many criminal charges against the homeless stem from their homelessness: loitering, sleeping on the sidewalks, drinking or urinating in public. Once cited, they don't have a mailing address to receive summonses if they fail to pay the fine. That means a single infraction can often mushroom into multiple summonses, resulting in an inability to secure a job and housing.” (Law 2008). Simply put, all the fines may add up if the person is unable to pay. THEN having so many criminal citations only makes it harder to get hired if a company requires background

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