- Click here for the article.
This is also an example of both agenda setting and interest groups - since it is based on a report by an advocacy group which is attempting to highlight the problems caused by cities banning food-sharing by private organizations for the homeless.
The report argues that such laws - as well as others - "criminalize" homelessness.
That said, this also illustrates the concept of an unintended consequence, as well as criminal justice policy. An increasing number of people are concerned about the tendency of government to deal with social problems by criminalizing them, making them a felony.
Are there more effective - and cheaper ways to deal; with these problems?
Here's a bit from the story:
The news: In case the United States' problem with homelessness wasn't bad enough, a forthcoming National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) report says that 33 U.S. cities now ban or are considering banning the practice of sharing food with homeless people. Four municipalities (Raleigh, N.C.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Daytona Beach, Fla.) have recently gone as far as to fine, remove or threaten to throw in jail private groups that work to serve food to the needy instead of letting government-run services do the job.
Why it's happening: The bans are officially instituted to prevent government-run anti-homelessness programs from being diluted. But in practice, many of the same places that are banning food-sharing are the same ones that have criminalized homelessness with harsh and punitive measures. Essentially, they're designed to make being homeless within city limits so unpleasant that the downtrodden have no choice but to leave. Tampa, for example,criminalizes sleeping or storing property in public. Columbia, South Carolina, passed a measure that essentially would have empowered police to ship all homeless people out of town. Detroit PD officers have been accused of illegally taking the homeless and driving them out of the city.
Houston's mayor is featured:
Some city officials, like Houston's Mayor Annise Parker, claim that "making it easier for someone to stay on the streets is not humane" and say that uncoordinated charity efforts "keep them on the street longer, which is what happens when you feed them."
