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Government alone cannot solve the problems we deal with in our correctional facilities,

treatment centers, homeless shelters and crisis centers-we need our faith-based and community

partners(Kempthorne). This situation illustrates the point that homelessness is bigger than just

the government trying to solve it we also need help from the communities as well. Even though

people think homelessness is a crime some aspects of homelessness should not be

criminalized such as panhandling, trespassing and theft.

Homelessness has been around for ages and certain laws was put in place for homeless

people. In 1729, Philadelphia passes a law allowing local authorities to deport poor immigrants

who cannot

support themselves(ProQuest Staff). This was america's first attempt to criminalize homeless

people or seeing this a way to deal with homelessness. 272 years later in 2001 The American

Civil Liberties Union reaches an agreement with the Los Angeles Police Department over the

department's treatment of the homeless. Police agree not to stop homeless people without

probable cause, or to force them to move when they are merely standing on the

sidewalk(ProQuest Staff). Before homeless people were harassed but police are trying to fall

back from interfering with the homeless people if they are not causing any trouble.Moving

forward to a more current time in July 2014, A report released by the National Law Center on

Homelessness & Poverty says people are being criminalized just for being homeless as more

cities pass laws that target them for sleeping in cars and engaging in other activities associated

with homelessness(ProQuest Staff).

In the information it shows how much we started progress to only to start moving

backwards.Just stop and think should we really criminalize people for being homeless or not

having what other people have.

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Sometimes you can't control what happens to you, but should you be judged as a

criminal because you have to beg to survive or do things just to eat .

Sometimes homelessness is not a direct result of a person's actions A study by the

Institute for Children and Poverty finds that 37% of homeless families had their welfare benefits

reduced in the last year. Of those, 20% became homeless as a direct result of the cuts(ProQuest

Staff). This means if these families have kids the kids are affected to.In 2002 Studies show that

children and families are the largest growing segment of the homeless in America(ProQuest

Staff).

The number of homeless children in public schools has doubled since before the

recession, reaching a record national total of 1.36 million in the 2013-2014 school year,

according to new federal data(Layton and Brown). This is a cycle that keeps repeating itself it

is more than likely those 1.36 million kids that grow up homeless might be homeless as adults or

grow up with challenges that they would need help .This is where we need to come together and

try to help and not put homeless people into a deeper hole They shouldn't be criminalized the

should be uplifted and encouraged to become a better person

Unemployment plays a big role in homelessness according to (Thinkprogress.org) in a

survey of 146 homeless people 60 %Make up to 25 dollar a day.What's the issue with asking for

help?

As shown in the graph is is showing different percentage of different kinds of people that

are homeless like the percentage of homeless children ,the percentage of veterans .and the

amount of homeless kids there are in school .

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It is not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.(Ock tv)

One of my main arguments is that panhandling should not be a crime against homeless people.

Panhandling is a means of obtaining needs and daily goods without panhandling homeless

people would probably turn to something worse to get what they need.People might ask what

exactly is panhandling, panhandling is just simply begging in the streets.According to

(thinkprogress.org) In San Franciscos Union Square, the typical panhandler is a disabled

middle-aged single male who is a racial minority and makes less than $25 per day despite
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panhandling seven days a week for more than five years. Though Stossel was insistent that

panhandlers just use the money for beer and pot, the majority of those surveyed did not.

In fact, 94 percent used the meager funds they raised for food.It's shocking to also know

that out of all the homeless people it's the 3 % that is making it harder for other homeless

people.The 3% of the homeless people are the ones who do the drugs and use the money that

they get for other things.

There will always be people who try to take advantage of others and panhandling is no

different. The problem is that an uncaring attitude toward all panhandlers because of the actions

of a few creates future problems that will ultimately create even more panhandlers. When more

than 60% of panhandlers make less than $25 per day and when more than 60% of them are

disabled in some way, that is not a life that anyone would wish on their greatest enemy yet

there is an expectation that panhandlers should crawl up out of the mess unassisted and

contribute to society because a few take advantage of others(Brandon Gaile).

Hidden Homelessness, a survey of more than 400 rough sleepers by Sheffield Hallam

University, reveals the desperate steps taken by the homeless to find shelter. When you think of

rough sleepers what do you think of? What comes to mind? Rough sleepers are women who take

an unwanted sex partner to spend the night in jail, basically they prostitute themselves to have a

warm place to sleep. .A fifth of homeless people have committed "imprisonable offences" to

spend a night incells and more than a quarter of women rough sleepers took an "unwanted

sexual partner" to escape their plight, new research out today shows(Ramesh).

Although some people believe that a crime is a crime, it is true that a crime is a crime,

but when you have a family to feed and look after you would do any and everything to take care

of your family. Instead of calling that a crime you can call it crisis mode. Still, if homeless
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people are not held responsible for the crimes they commit then everyone might start committing

crimes and claim that they are homeless. Not punishing homeless people would leave the door

open for other groups of people to bend the idea of what is illegal and what is legal.

In conclusion some aspects of homelessness should not be criminalized such as

panhandling, trespassing and theft or prostitution. Most homeless people do not choose to be

homeless .Most homeless people are just down and in need of some help ,but no one wants to

help so they turn to doing things we know they are not proud of. Should we criminalize them?

It is sad when you have a homeless person helping another homeless person because if they ask

a person for spare change they will go to jail. If you wait until you can do everything for

everybody instead of something for somebody you'll end up doing nothing.(ock tv)

Works Cited

ProQuest Staff. "Homelessness Timeline." <I>Leading Issues Timelines</I>. 2016:

n.p. <I>SIRS Issues Researcher.</I> Web. 07 Dec. 2016.

http://brandongaille.com/21-amazing-panhandling-statistics/

"Dirk Kempthorne Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.

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ThinkProgress. "Everything You Think You Know About Panhandlers Is Wrong."

ThinkProgress. N.p., 08 Aug. 2016. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.

Ramesh, Randeep. "A Fifth of All Homeless People Have Committed a Crime to Get off the

Streets." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 22 Dec. 2010. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.