Victory For Homeless Rights
The ACLU of Southern California secured a historic victory for homeless rights in April, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that arresting homeless people using public spaces when no shelter space is available was cruel and unusual punishment.
The decision in Jones v. City of Los Angeles marks the first time in a decade that a court has struck down an ordinance criminalizing the lack of shelter space in the city.
“Anyone who cares about homelessness and finding positive solutions to this serious issue in our community will be delighted and encouraged by this decision,” said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU/SC. “The ACLU has always maintained that police should target serious crime like rape and drug trafficking, and not criminalize people for sleeping on the street when there is nowhere else to go.”
There are at least 88,000 men, woman and children homeless in Los Angeles County, with 8,000 to 10,000 of them located in downtown. The county provides enough beds to serve less than half of the region’s homeless. In lieu of adequate comprehensive services, the county’s jails are routinely used to substitute for mental health facilities.
The 2-1 ruling by the circuit court nulled a city code that’s been used for more than 35 years by police to round up the homeless. The code forbids people from sitting, sleeping or lying on any street, sidewalk or public space. Violators could face a $1,000 fine or up to six months in jail. The appellate court ordered the District Court to create a narrow injunction designed to stop the city from enforcing the code at will.
“The Eighth Amendment prohibits the City from punishing involuntary sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter in the City of Los Angeles,” wrote Judge Kim M. Wardlaw for the majority opinion.
The ACLU/SC, acting in conjunction with the National Lawyers Guild, originally filed the suit in February, 2003 on behalf of six homeless persons. It was argued in December, 2005.
Mark Rosenbaum, ACLU/SC legal director, called the decision “brave.”
“This decision is the most significant judicial opinion involving homelessness in the history of the nation,” Rosenbaum said. “The decision means it is no longer a crime to be homeless in Los Angeles. For homeless in our community, 1/5 of whom are veterans and nearly a quarter are children, they can no longer be treated as criminals because of involuntary acts like sleeping and sitting where there are not available shelter beds to take them off the mean streets of the city. My hope is that the city will now treat homelessness as a social problem affecting all of us, not as a crime.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the City Attorney’s office stated its plans to appeal the decision to the full appellate court.
JULY 2006
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Lawsuits Challenge Domestic Spying
ACLU/SC Helps Man Win Fight to Become US Citizen
Working for Fairness in Immigration Rights
ACLU/SC Fights anti-Immigrant Effort in San Bernardino
Fullerton Schools Reach Compromise on Laptop Program
