Homelessness is increasingly becoming a problem both in developing and developed countries alike. Presently, the number of homeless people in the United States exceeds 550,000. Out of this population, 35% are unsheltered and lived in unhabitable places ( Ortiz-Ospina and Roser, 2020 ). Additionally, in any single night, the number of homeless people is approximately 0.2%, which translates to 17 people out of every 10,000 people.
The aforementioned situation is becoming a concern for most environmental, urban planning, and law enforcement officers. In this regard, there have been stringent policies that have been implemented, which, when critically analyzed, is more of “criminalization of homelessness.” In this regard, the main challenge arises in striking a balance between policing and upholding the rights and freedoms of these vulnerable members of the society (Robinson, 2019). This literature review aims to establish the kind of interactions that exists between homeless people and the police and its implication in their quality of life.
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Literature Review
Policies Targeting Homeless People
Several anti-homeless policies are being formulated and implemented, and the proponent of such moves argue that it is one way to improve their quality of life. Some of the notable policies include “zero tolerance” in New York, the “Matrix” program in San Francisco, and “Safer City Initiatives” in Los Angeles. These are just but a few representative policies being implemented in most cities in the United States. The implication of such policies includes prohibiting sleeping in public spaces, sleeping in cars, loitering, etc. (McNamara et al. 2013).
However, some of these policies are discriminatory and subject the homeless people to unjustified fear. Over the years, scholars have viewed these policies as mechanisms to exert control over a perceived threat, which in this case, is the homeless people (Metraux et al., 2007; Zakrison et al., 2004). However, in the process of implementing such policies, the nature of contact involved between the homeless and police is not given due considerations, since it results in crime victimization which Nilsson et al. (2020) maintain that can result in the death of affected persons.
Policing by Age, Race, and Gender
Ivanich and Warner (2019) contend that homeless youths are more vulnerable to harassment by law enforcement officers, since most of them are unsheltered, and are therefore exposed to the aggressive policies strategies. Consistent with these findings, Nillison et al. (2020) also supported the fact that younger people were more vulnerable since they are likely to engage in criminal activities for survival. Consequently, they are at higher risk of being exposed to police contact as opposed to older homeless people.
However, there were interesting findings that contradict the conventional knowledge of race and police interaction. Whereas it is anecdotally expected that homeless people of color would be adversely affected by police contact as compared to whites, new evidence shows that youths were affected equally, irrespective of their races (Ivanich and Warner, 2019).
In terms of gender Nillisson et al. (2020) maintained that females were more prone to violent contact with the police. However, for the sheltered homeless individuals, males were more at risk of police violence. It is also noteworthy that individuals with mental health disorders are at a higher risk of victimization as compared to their healthy counterparts.
In view of the above, it is evident that the current policies against homeless people are key contributors to the violence they experience. Apart from that, different demographic representations are disproportionately affected by such police contact.
References
Ivanich, J. D., & Warner, T. D. (2019). Seen or unseen? The role of race in police contact among homeless youth. Justice Quarterly , 36 (5), 816-840.
McNamara, R. H., Crawford, C., & Burns, R. (2013). Policing the homeless: Policy, practice, and perceptions. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management .
Metraux, S., Roman, C. G., & Cho, R. S. (2007, September). Incarceration and homelessness. In National symposium on homelessness research . US Department of Housing and Urban Development Washington, DC.
Nilsson, S. F., Nordentoft, M., Fazel, S., & Laursen, T. M. (2020). Homelessness and police-recorded crime victimisation: a nationwide, register-based cohort study. The Lancet Public Health , 5 (6), e333-e341.
Ortiz-Ospina, E., & Roser, M. (2020). Homelessness. Retrieved 31 July 2020, from https://ourworldindata.org/homelessness
Robinson, T. (2019). No right to rest: Police enforcement patterns and quality of life consequences of the criminalization of homelessness. Urban affairs review , 55 (1), 41-73.
