National Coalition for the Homeless

The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States
U.S. Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548

We are writing to request that the Government Accountability Office investigate the nature and scope of violent crimes directed against people experiencing homelessness. This investigation would assist Congress and the advocacy community in creating a much-needed benchmark for determining the extent of violent acts and potential legislative solutions for addressing crimes against people experiencing homelessness. Moreover, such an investigation may also help federal, state, and local officials identify actions that could be taken to prevent and reduce such crimes.

The June 2001 killing of Hector Robles in Paterson, NJ, by a mob of high school boys saturated the press with a story both horrible in its brutality and inexplicability of motivation. Hidden from most Americans, however, is the number of shocking crimes committed nationwide against people experiencing homelessness each year. For the last seven years, the National Coalition for the Homeless has tracked a disturbing increase in crimes targeting homeless people. Since 1999, 169 people have died in hate attacks, with hundreds more injured in other violent assaults.

Homeless men, women, and children around the nation are particularly vulnerable to crimes against them because they represent an easy, visible target and often lack a place to retreat for safety and protection. Across the nation, people experiencing homelessness, advocates, and service providers report an alarming epidemic of hate crimes and violent acts against people who lack permanent housing. These accounts include beatings, murders, arson, harassment, and damage of personal property. Most recently, on January 12, one homeless man was murdered in a series of overnight attacks in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Thrill seekers, primarily in their teens, are the most common perpetrators of the violence. For example, the May 28, 2005, murder of Michael Roberts in Holly Hill, FL was perpetrated by a group of teenagers who admitted to beating the man just to have something to do. The autopsy report indicates that Roberts died of blunt-force trauma to the head and body, his ribs were broken, his skull was fractured, and his legs were badly injured. This trend has been exacerbated by the proliferation of “Bum Videos,” in which homeless people are coerced to perform degrading and dangerous stunts for drugs, money, alcohol or food.

A study by the GAO would aid in protecting one of the most vulnerable populations in our society. We are concerned about the fact there seems to be insufficient data to develop community-based programs or legislation to address this pattern of violence. For these reasons, we request that the GAO examine and report on the following:

(1) The extent, level, and nature of violent crime directed against homeless people;

(2) The extent to which violent crimes directed against homeless persons are sentenced with the same severity as those in the general public or whether these crimes are carry enhanced penalties;

(3) The number of jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies that currently collect data or implement programs designed to address crimes directed at individuals on the basis of their housing or economic status; and

(4) Demographic data on the characteristics of victims, perpetrators and jurisdictions where there have been clusters of crimes directed at individuals on the basis of their housing or economic status.

A GAO investigation of this matter is vitally important to protect the safety and constitutional rights of all Americans. We thank you for your immediate attention to this matter and look forward to meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss our proposal. Please contact Keenan Keller with the Democratic staff of the Committee on the Judiciary at 202-225-6906 with any inquiries concerning this request.

Very truly yours,

John Conyers, Jr.
Howard L. Berman
Zoe Lofgren
Maxine Waters
William Delahunt
Robert Wexler
Anthony Weiner
James McDermott
Lynn Woolsey
Jan Schakowsky
Donald Payne
Rick Larsen
Dennis Kucinich
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Xavier Becerra
Steve King
Hilda Solis
Charles Rangel
Major Owens
Adam Schiff
Rosa DeLauro
Earl Blumenauer
William Lacy Clay
Elijah Cummings
Sander Levin