Criminalizing the Homeless

A story caught some local London headlines last summer. Police in the city had increased the number of fines to panhandlers (up to 200 and something), and the Mayor Joe Fontana would like to make panhandling illegal in the city.

My first gut response to this is out right anger. There is little else I hate more than marginalizing the poor.

However, when I have gut reactions like this I try to work them out more "rationally"  (humans are incredible irrational) in order to see if my frustration has any merit.

My first question is: Why is this even an issue in the first place? Are there not more important things that our city could be focusing on? In a London Free Press article a Sergeant stated that "it's a public safety issue, and it's a nuisance issue too" This is a little strange to me because by law panhandling is not illegal unless it is done aggressively. In such a case I can understand the charge in the name of safety. BUT, I have never witnessed such an act, nor have I heard of any occurring in London.  I am assuming that if someone was abused by a panhandler it would likely be talked about.  In other words, there seems to be minimal (if not zero) public safety concern to worry about.

This means the vast majority of these charges (200) and concerns are based on the "nuisance" factor. In other words, some people get uncomfortable seeing a person struggling with poverty in the open . . . unavoidable. I think there is nothing wrong with this feeling, in fact I think it is a good thing. I should hope we never get comfortable seeing another human being suffering.

However, we should never criminalize this as a "nuisance." Not only do many of these people deal with rejection from much of society, but also they can't afford the charges, and many are on disability struggling with unimaginable mental, and/or emotional burdens. These "panhandlers" are simply another human being trying to make ends meet. To make panhandling illegal has almost nothing to do with the favourite catch phrase "getting tough on crime." We should ask why these people are in a position that requires them to panhandle, and what we can do as a community to change this.