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Should it be a criminal offense to be homeless?C

Should it be a criminal offense to be homeless?

  • Yes, prisoned as a felony

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, jailed as a misdemeanor

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, relocated to an Internment camp

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Maybe, depends if the make my city look bad

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, they should be banished from my city and put on a bus

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No

    Votes: 35 87.5%

  • IDK/Other

    Votes: 5 12.5%
  • Total voters
    40
J

joko104

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Should it be a criminal offense to be homeless?

I raise this question in light of the thread:
http://www.debatepolitics.com/law-a...homeless-s-not-conspiracy-theory-anymore.html

In which it was stated that it is a criminal offense to be homeless, and how a city gave homeless people the choice of going jail or a FEMA internment camp surrounded by barbed wire and to not be allowed to leave except on a special van.

I never heard anyone claim it is a criminal offense to be homeless.

Should it be?
 
Last edited:
joko104 said:
Should it be a criminal offense to be homeless?

I raise this question in light of the thread:
http://www.debatepolitics.com/law-a...homeless-s-not-conspiracy-theory-anymore.html

In which it was stated that it is a criminal offense to be homeless, and how a city gave homeless people the choice of going jail or a FEMA internment camp surrounded by barbed wire and to not be allowed to leave if allowed to on a special van

I never heard anyone claim it is a criminal offense to be homeless.

Should it be?
Click to expand...
I think that could become a slippery slope very quickly.
I would have to say no, because who would define homeless?
I don't like vagrants wondering around, but also worry about granting
that much authority, with grey boundary conditions.
 
No. It shouldn't be a criminal offense.
 
It is not a crime necessarily to be homeless, but it would be difficult to be homeless AND on the streets without committing a crime like loitering/trespassing/public urination/public drunkenness. Vagrancy laws target the no place to go homeless as opposed to the couch surfing or sheltered homeless.
 
joko104 said:
Should it be a criminal offense to be homeless?

I raise this question in light of the thread:
http://www.debatepolitics.com/law-a...homeless-s-not-conspiracy-theory-anymore.html

In which it was stated that it is a criminal offense to be homeless, and how a city gave homeless people the choice of going jail or a FEMA internment camp surrounded by barbed wire and to not be allowed to leave except on a special van.

I never heard anyone claim it is a criminal offense to be homeless.

Should it be?
Click to expand...

I followed the links and it was disgusting. Sort of like Nazi Germany or something. Sword of Damocles?
 
joko104 said:
Should it be a criminal offense to be homeless?

I raise this question in light of the thread:
http://www.debatepolitics.com/law-a...homeless-s-not-conspiracy-theory-anymore.html

In which it was stated that it is a criminal offense to be homeless, and how a city gave homeless people the choice of going jail or a FEMA internment camp surrounded by barbed wire and to not be allowed to leave except on a special van.

I never heard anyone claim it is a criminal offense to be homeless.

Should it be?
Click to expand...

I think that would be rather an odd offence. But I could easily imagine communities defining it thus. People do really silly things.
 
I voted "other".
We should have enough compassion and resources available not to have any homeless. Its a stain on our society, and esp our nation.
No human being is without value and talent. Everyone has something to offer, some purpose. Shame on us for letting another human being waste away in some tunnel, under some bridge or on some sidewalk.
 
Rome was burned to the ground by their great mass of homeless people.

All of the homeless people in the US, given the choice of jail or a FEMA internment camp, should choose jail. You'd be out by morning due to the overcrowding.

Then the authorities would take that choice away and you'd get hauled to the internment camp for loitering.

Then you take out the van driver and find enough matches for everyone because you have nothing left to lose.
 
Haha yeah right, why not just criminalize mental illness while you're at it? Oh wait, we've done that. Look, until you give away housing, there will be homelessness. Even aside from unfortunate circumstance, people have an inalienable right to do as they please with their lives.
 
Considering the setup for the other thread was a lie have to evaluate this as a stand alone question. No, don't think it should be criminal. However many of the activities engaged in by some of the homeless should continue to be against the law. But hey, at least in jail you get three hots and a cot, something lacking in the street.
 
joko104 said:
Should it be a criminal offense to be homeless?

I raise this question in light of the thread:
http://www.debatepolitics.com/law-a...homeless-s-not-conspiracy-theory-anymore.html

In which it was stated that it is a criminal offense to be homeless, and how a city gave homeless people the choice of going jail or a FEMA internment camp surrounded by barbed wire and to not be allowed to leave except on a special van.

I never heard anyone claim it is a criminal offense to be homeless.

Should it be?
Click to expand...

I do not think anyone has said being homeless is a crime.Nor has anyone suggested making it a crime. Wanting the facilities that cater to the homeless moved away from businesses and residential areas is not criminalizing homelessness. Nor is banning panhandling and public intoxication criminalizing homelessness. Not everyone who is homeless is some poor sap that fallen on hard times who is trying to get back on their feet. Many of those homeless people are alcoholics and drug addicts and many of them do not want to get back on their feet.
 
Why in the world should it be criminal? The ones homeless are either mentally disturbed, drug dependent or really unlucky in finances or family.
 
chromium said:
Haha yeah right, why not just criminalize mental illness while you're at it? Oh wait, we've done that. Look, until you give away housing, there will be homelessness. Even aside from unfortunate circumstance, people have an inalienable right to do as they please with their lives.
Click to expand...

apples and oranges, but you knew that
 
put me down for "other", in some cases I think it should be a crime, in others not
 
joko104 said:
Should it be a criminal offense to be homeless?

I raise this question in light of the thread:
http://www.debatepolitics.com/law-a...homeless-s-not-conspiracy-theory-anymore.html

In which it was stated that it is a criminal offense to be homeless, and how a city gave homeless people the choice of going jail or a FEMA internment camp surrounded by barbed wire and to not be allowed to leave except on a special van.

I never heard anyone claim it is a criminal offense to be homeless.

Should it be?
Click to expand...

Gotta keep those rents up.

What better way than to make not paying rent illegal.

Seriously though, most of the vagrancy laws began during the Depression, when wandering hordes of hungry unemployed folks were everywhere.

Now its about keeping rents up.

They just passed a law here in San Diego making it illegal to park RVs on the street.

Doesn't affect big trucks, Just RVs.

Obviously aimed at the "rubber tramps", whose numbers have increased substantially since the bubble popped. Can't have those folks sleeping and not paying.

It annoys those who are paying others' mortgages, and those who paid a lot to live in a "posh" zipcode even more.
 
jamesrage said:
I do not think anyone has said being homeless is a crime.Nor has anyone suggested making it a crime. Wanting the facilities that cater to the homeless moved away from businesses and residential areas is not criminalizing homelessness. Nor is banning panhandling and public intoxication criminalizing homelessness. Not everyone who is homeless is some poor sap that fallen on hard times who is trying to get back on their feet. Many of those homeless people are alcoholics and drug addicts and many of them do not want to get back on their feet.
Click to expand...

Doesn't change the simple fact it is illegal to sleep in America unless somebody pays.
 
Bodhisattva said:
Why in the world should it be criminal? The ones homeless are either mentally disturbed, drug dependent or really unlucky in finances or family.
Click to expand...

Add to that those displaced downward until they were out of work.completely.

There are skads of "slow *****cats" on the streets in San Diego now. Folks who had simple jobs and simple lives whose jobs were taken by more competent people as things tightened up. Not mentally ill, just not real sharp.

Its different than it was before the crash.
 
We don't need to do anything if we just follow the inherent rules of survival of the fittest.
What party supports survival of the fittest the best?
 
Another thought. Boy, wouldn't the homeless be the place to recruit an 'army' if you had some money. Gee, what would one have to do? We have many with more than enough money. Oh poo, they are all on the other side. I guess we need to have one of those Nuevo Riche to be an exception.
 
No, but I wouldn't mind if they were rounded up and escorted beyond city limits on frequent bases.
 
It's a crime that we have so many homeless in the richest country in the world.
 
Denying someone freedom is always a great lose, regardless of how nice the prison is. However it is a complex question.

There are people for various reasons who are - put simply - lazy ass. Maybe just lazy. Maybe alcoholic or drug addict. Maybe mental issues. And if you give them a place to sleep, food, and a TV that person will do nothing else. Without money they will steal. With money they will buy booze or drugs. And there are millions of people like that.

That is the challenge for both social programs ("welfare") and homeless shelters. Homeless shelters become bum-communities that NO ONE wants around them for good reason. Social programs (despite contrary ragings of "liberals") both gather and can create lazy ass bums. Why work a crappy job if you can live for free? Why put up with a boss when you can get drunk or high?

And there are the truly needy due to no fault of their own too.

There is no easy answer to any of this.
 
Just let the homeless be. There's no reason to put them in a circular trap. I don't understand why the homeless don't just rally together and make their own town and societies (sort of similar to great depression tent cities).
 
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