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Supreme Court to consider whether local governments can make it a crime to sleep outside if no inside space is available

https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-to-consider-whether-local-governments-can-make-it-a-crime-to-sleep-outside-if-no-inside-space-is-available-221703

Legal precedents hold that criminalizing someone for their status, such as being homeless, is cruel and unusual punishment. But what if that status leads to actions like sleeping in public spaces?

Supreme Court to consider whether local governments can make it a crime to sleep outside if no inside space is available

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BabyYodel

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The whole system is fucked. Wage stagnation, increasing cost of living, lack of affordable housing, dynastical wealth concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer elite citizens and oligarchies.

Before these issues are improved upon dramatically, there’s simply going to be a growing number of homeless people.

If the solution is to throw homeless individuals in jail, then what? Jails are still funded by tax dollars, so why not be proactive and invest that money in getting people housed by building more affordable housing, providing more jobs with things like infrastructure improvements that are badly needed throughout the country, rather than taking punitive measures? I think this needs to happen at the federal level because it is indeed a broken system of the entire country.

ElmerFudd

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For-profit prisons are definitely taking advantage of subsidies, but that doesn't matter, because only poors pay taxes, and for-profit prisons are for profit... Profit for rich people who do not pay taxes. The solution is revolutionary action. The only peaceful way is through massive labour pushback, but that can't happen in a nation of docile workers, who are too afraid of becoming the next homeless person themselves, to risk being courageous. This will end with even more suppression of the lower classes followed by an inevitable implosion, because neither of the many forces at play are willing, nor are they even able to throw the brakes at this point. The only way this changes is if human nature suddenly shuts off, and rich people's hearts grow two sizes, or we stop taking their bullshit and do something about it.

BabyYodel

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Excellent points. How could I overlook the dystopian nightmare which is the for profit prison system? In the era of nuclear arms, are pitchforks enough?

ElmerFudd

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Farmers with AK-47s and punji pits beat our army. Not to mention our military members mostly prefer not killing us for oligarchs. But yeah, let's pretend I didn't preface that with the suggestion of utilizing labour movements.

MyOneEyedWilly

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Unfortunately the people who run the private prison systems have lobbyists that try to ensure the system is constantly fed prisoners, so they can make even more profit. If the quarterly earnings aren’t constantly increasing, the board of investors won’t be happy.

Sure, the entire system will crash like every other system that expects infinite growth, like the housing market bubble, but we have to think of the investors! /s

treefrog

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Helping people get on their feet only makes sense if your goal isn't oppression.