The Unconstitutionality of "Antihomeless" Laws: Ordinances Prohibiting Sleeping in Outdoor Public Areas as a Violation of the Right to Travel
Year: 1989
Type: article
Abstract: Ijust spent sixty days in the jailhouseFor the crime of having no dough.Now here I am, back on the streets again, For the crime of having nowhere to go.The Band' On June 4, 1987, in response to repeated complaints from neighborhood businesses and residents, forty Los Angeles police officers swept through the city's skid row areas to remove homeless individuals from the streets. 2 Hundreds of homeless people were forced to abandon their makeshift shelters because they were violating a previously unenforced ordinance prohibiting sleeping on a street, sidewalk, or other public way.'The police tossed personal possessions into the street and threatened to arrest those homeless people who refused to move or accept housing vouchers. 4 Many cities have ordinances that similarly prohibit sleeping in certain public areas. 5Indeed, many municipalities, including Dallas,
Source: California Law Review
DOI: 10.2307/3480563
Author: Paul Ades
Institutions: Williams College, University of California, Berkeley
Language: English
Topic: Law, Rights, and Freedoms
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4236438329