Cruel and Unusual Punishment Condoned by the US Supreme Court
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
On June 28th, the Supreme Court ruled that local governments can impose bans on sleeping outdoors irrespective of whether the homeless have no access to safe or secure accommodation. In an unprecedented decision by 6 to 3, the U.S. Supreme Court judges established that in the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon, vs. Johnson, officials can make sleeping a criminal offence especially if a homeless person resides in a tent or encampment in the park.
This will embolden the police to further arrest, detain, fine, and jail any homeless person found sleeping on the streets. Such a sweeping judgment overturns a past ruling by the San Francisco 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in 2018 which found that bans on outdoor sleeping violated the 8th amendment of the Constitution--forbidding cruel and unusual punishment.
Of course, it is important to acknowledge that before this ruling, homelessness was still being criminalized by some laws linked to trespassing, obstruction, and suspicion of criminal intent…however this new ruling strongly strengthens the drive to criminalizing the homeless. So it is still an unprecedented measure.
A strong anti-homeless lobby welcomed this matter. They claimed that they were not criminalizing homelessness but just trying to save the parks. They claim they are seeking to give back the parks to the people. For instance, Gavin Newsom (D), Governor of California, claims this decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years. He argues that such a ruling is necessary to clear unsafe encampments from the streets. In this respect, he views the homeless as some kind of threat to not only the wider public but to themselves.
In reality, such a ruling further undermines the physical and mental health of the homeless…
How is the health of the homeless going to improve when the police trash their few most treasured possessions, and impose fines which prevent them from purchasing basic items of hygiene as well as food? How can your health improve in jail?
If a homeless person does agree to reluctantly enter a state shelter, he often risks his security and safety because those places are often stalked by criminal elements. Ask any homeless person why he or she does not enter a shelter and you'll be told it is viewed as a dangerous option. Such a negative view of homeless shelters is not just confined to America. It also applies to Moscow and London.
Now the homeless will hear more of “Don't stand there!” and “Don't sit down here!'” and “Don't you dare fall asleep!”
Even a biological necessity like falling asleep is deemed a crime! So much for 'the Land of the Free ' you see emblazoned on tee shirts worn by some people walking around. Those tee shirts tend to have an eagle flying on them. That might actually turn out to be appropriate. Perhaps eagles are the only creatures to be granted the right to freely move around in America. It reminds me of a poem by the Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov where he wished he was an eagle who could fly off to a freer country.
And the situation for the homeless could get far worse. The future perspectives are grim. Trump and his supporters support more draconian measures such as rounding up the homeless and keeping them in special encampments or detention centers far away from the city. In fact, you already have some encampments built on the edge of rubbish dumps and in the desert of all places.
Such a scenario of extreme measures being taken by the Supreme Court was anticipated by acute observers such as Noam Chomsky. He warned, “And we are almost assured that the Supreme Court will be in the hands of reactionaries for many years, with predictable consequences” {page 266 , “Who Rules the World?” 2016. New York: Penguin Books}.
The number of homeless in the United States has reached the staggering figure of 653,000. Last year it rose by an estimated 12 % alone! The level of homelessness has rocketed due to the much more expensive cost of housing, soaring rent, widening social inequality, and the declining value of real wages. The lack of a safety net to prevent people falling through the cracks makes homelessness inevitable.
Note that federal statistics suggest nearly half of the homeless sleep outside.
Naturally, homeless advocates are affronted by this Supreme Court decision. One justice remarked that “Sleep is a biological necessity not a crime.” But Supreme Court judges don't sleep! Or they sleep in more appropriate places like the court instead of the park.
“Unfathomably cruel and billionaire backed justices rule in favor of criminalizing homelessness” is how some critics view the recent ruling.
So what is the way forward against this backlash against the homeless? How might we better legally defend them? Is citing the 8th Amendment of the Constitution forbidding cruel and unjust punishment in vain? Sara Rankin, Seattle University Professor of Law—and a homeless advocate—argues there are still a lot of legal options available to defend the rights of homeless people. For instance, she states that under the 14th Amendment the homeless are still entitled to 'due process,' and that the 4th Amendment forbids 'unreasonable searches and seizures.' The trashing and destruction of the possessions of the homeless people following police raids is highly questionable.
Wantonly destroying a person's possessions would seem to represent vandalism whether it is done by a police officer or not. The police are not above the law or should at least not be seen as being above the law.
Sara Rankin further states, “You can use the American Disabilities Act. Chronically homeless people would qualify as someone with a disability who has protection from state sanctioned abuse.”
Although this new ruling represents a major blow to the rights of the homeless, let us not lose sight of the legal resources and options still available. It is almost as if we are conducting a positive and peaceful civil rights campaign without the use of dangerous weapons.
Let us hope the options may be inexhaustible !