National Coalition for the Homeless

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MODEL LEGISLATIVE/ORGANIZING/PUBLIC EDUCATION EFFORTS IN CALIFORNIA, FLORIDA AND MAINE:

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATION

Reports done by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the Department of Justice about hate crimes against homeless people prompted the California State Legislature to take action.

Senate Bill 1234, which was introduced in February of 2004 by State Senator Kuehl, became public law in September of the same year and went into effect in July of 2005. It is now California Penal Code 13519.64.

This law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards to develop a two-hour telecourse to be made available to all law enforcement agencies in California on crimes against homeless people and how to deal effectively and humanely with homeless people, including those with disabilities. The telecourse is to include information on multi-mission criminal extremism, which includes crimes committed in whole or in part because of the victims’ actual or perceived homelessness. In developing the telecourse, the commission is to consult subject-matter experts including, but not limited to, homeless and formerly homeless persons in California, service providers and advocates for homeless people in California, experts on the disabilities that homeless people commonly suffer, the California Council of Churches, the National Coalition for the Homeless, the Senate Office of Research, and the Criminal Justice Statistics Center of the Department of Justice.

FLORIDA LEGISLATION CREATES BILL TO PROTECT HOMELESS

Summary of Florida Bill HB 809- Assault or Battery on Homeless Persons

Introduction

In what one may assume is a positive response to the recent crimes against the homeless caught on surveillance tape in Florida, State Representatives Priscilla Taylor (D-Riviera Beach) and Ari Porth (D-Coral Springs) have proposed legislation that would make it a crime to commit assault or battery upon a homeless person.

Summary of Bill

If one commits aggravated battery or aggravated assault upon a homeless person, regardless of whether the perpetrator of the acts is aware of the housing status of the victim, (emphasis added by National Coalition for the Homeless) then they will face:

A minimum of three years in jail.
A maximum fine of $10,000
Restitution to the victim of the offense

This seems to be at the discretion of the judge, and allows the judge to give his/her subjective opinion as to the punishment of the perpetrator of the act.

Performance of up to 500 hours of community service.

Restitution to the victim and performance of 500 hours of community service may not serve as a substitute for a fine and time served in jail.
When a person commits assault or battery upon a homeless person, regardless of whether the perpetrator of the act is aware of the housing status of the victim, (emphasis added by National Coalition for the Homeless) then the charge of the crime will move up a “degree.” For instance

Aggravated battery, when committed upon a homeless person will change from a 2nd degree to a 1st degree felony.
Aggravated assault, when committed upon a homeless person will change from a 3rd degree felony to a 2nd degree felony.
Battery, when committed upon a homeless person will change from a 1st degree misdemeanor to a 3rd degree felony.
Assault, when committed upon a homeless person will change from a 2nd degree misdemeanor to a 1st degree misdemeanor.

The bill sponsor hopes that it will be enacted on October 1, 2006

HB 809 FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2006
A bill to be entitled

An act relating to assault or battery on homeless persons; creating s. 784.0815, F.S.; providing a definition; providing a minimum sentence for a person convicted of an aggravated assault or aggravated battery upon a homeless person; providing for reclassification of certain offenses when committed against homeless persons; providing that adjudication of guilt or imposition of sentence shall not be suspended, deferred, or withheld for such offenses; providing an effective date.

Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

Section 1. Section 784.0815, Florida Statutes, is created to read:

Assault or battery on homeless persons. –

For purposes of this section, the term “homeless” shall have the same meaning as provided in s. 420.621.
A person who is convicted of an aggravated assault or aggravated battery upon a homeless person shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of 3 years and fined not more than $10,000 and shall also be ordered by the sentencing judge to make restitution to the victim of the offense and to perform up to 500 hours of community service work. Restitution and community service work shall be in addition to any fine or sentence that may be imposed and shall not be in lieu thereof.
Whenever a person is charged with committing an assault or aggravated assault or battery or aggravated battery upon a homeless person, regardless of whether he or she knows or had reason to know the housing status of the victim, the offense for which the person is charged shall be reclassified as follows:

In the case of aggravated battery, from a felony of the second degree to a felony of the first degree.
In the case of aggravated assault, from a felony of the third degree to a felony of the second degree.
In the case of battery, from a misdemeanor of the first degree to a felony of the third degree.
In the case of assault, from a misdemeanor of the second degree to a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 948.01, adjudication of guilt or imposition of sentence shall not be suspended, deferred, or withheld.

Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2006.

MAINE: STATE TAKES ACTION AGAINST HATE CRIMES

As the result of a long-term organizing campaign by the Preble Street Consumer Advocacy Project (a Portland-based group led by formerly homeless people), the State of Maine is among the first in the U.S. to take decisive action in an attempt to end the growing trend of bias motivated crime against its homeless population. In the spring of 2005, the Maine Legislature passed, and Governor John Baldacci signed, “An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Crimes Against Homeless People.” The National Coalition for the Homeless recognizes this as an important step in the fight against hate crimes/violent crimes again homeless people. The following report contains reviews of the incidents of hate crimes that have occurred in Maine in 2004, as well as a summary of the new legislation.

Bias Motivated Crime in Maine

In 2005, the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence published a study, “Homeless and Hated: Bias Motivated Violence, Degradation and Discrimination Against Maine’s Homeless.” The study was based on interviews with 138 homeless and formerly homeless individuals. These interviewees described 60 crimes motivated by homeless bias that had occurred in recent years. In these cases, the attacker manifested bias either by using anti-homeless slurs or attacking someone who was identifiable as homeless (camping, panhandling, etc.).

Following are excerpts from several of those incidents.

A homeless man in Bangor saw four or five guys, one of whom was beating up a woman. He stepped in to protect the woman and they “turned on him,” beating him very badly. Once they knocked him down, they continued to kick him. While they were beating him up, they called him, “Hope House trash” (Hope House is one of the agencies that serve homeless people in the area). He was bleeding profusely after the attack and taken to the hospital, where his head injuries required staples.

A homeless man in Portland occasionally spent time with a group of local teens. One day they hit him in the head with an umbrella and split his head open. The man’s girlfriend (also homeless) asked the teens why they did it, and they said, “Because we can; because you’re homeless.” The man required a blood transfusion.

A homeless man was sleeping under the Casco Bay Bridge in Portland when two “skinheads” in their late teens approached him and asked him if he was a cop. He told them that of course he was not, and made some joking remark. They left and he lay down in his sleeping bag. The two men returned later and stabbed him twice in the shoulder blade and then left. He finally went to the emergency room after he was unable to stop the bleeding.

As a homeless woman left her camp in Portland, a teen ran up behind her and hit her in the head with a metal pipe.

A homeless man was walking at night in Bangor with a bag of cans over his shoulder. A van drove by and they shot him with a paintball gun.

The Legislation

An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Crimes Against People Who Are Homeless.
The bill made the following changes to the laws:

It required Maine's Attorney General to convene a task force to examine
the advisability of implementing aggravating sentencing factors for crimes
against people who are homeless. This group is currently (January 2006)
returning to the Maine Legislature with a recommendation to add a crime
victim's homelessness to the factors that a court may take into
consideration in sentencing.

It requires that the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy include in law enforcement training programs training aimed specifically at reducing barriers to reporting crimes against people who are homeless and dealing with the unique challenges posed by cases that involved victims or witnesses who are homeless.

It directs the Commissioner of Public Safety and the Attorney General to review the relationship between law enforcement agencies and people who are homeless and explore methods of improving that relationship.

Sources:

Preble Street Consumer Advocacy Project, P.O. Box 1459, Portland, ME 04104. Written and verbal correspondence. 2005-2006.

Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence. Homeless and Hated: Bias Motivated Violence, Degradation and Discrimination Against Maine’s Homeless. February 10, 2005.

121st Maine State Legislature. An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Crimes Against Homeless People. 2005.

CHAPTER 393

H.P. 1170 - L.D. 1659

An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Crimes against People
Who Are Homeless

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 25 MRSA §2804-C, sub-§2-B is enacted to read:

2-B. Training regarding people who are homeless. The board shall include in the basic law enforcement training program a block of instruction aimed specifically at reducing barriers to reporting crimes against people who are homeless and dealing with the unique challenges posed by cases that involve victims or witnesses who are homeless.

Sec. 2. Required recertification law enforcement training. The Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy shall include requirements in its next available schedule of recertification training for all law enforcement officers a block of instruction aimed specifically at reducing barriers to reporting crimes against people who are homeless and dealing with the unique challenges posed by cases that involve victims or witnesses who are homeless. The board shall thereafter determine quadrennially whether further training in the next available schedule of recertification training is necessary as a refresher or to incorporate improved procedures or practices demonstrated to reduce barriers to reporting crimes against people who are homeless and dealing with the unique challenges posed by cases that involve victims or witnesses who are homeless.

Sec. 3. Relationship between law enforcement agencies and homeless. The Commissioner of Public Safety and the Attorney General shall review the relationship between law enforcement agencies and people who are homeless and shall explore methods of encouraging law enforcement agencies in communities with significant homeless populations or that have homeless shelters within their areas of jurisdiction to take concrete and meaningful steps to improve relations with people who are homeless and their advocates. As part of their review, the commissioner and the Attorney General shall consider ways to encourage regular meetings between law enforcement officers and advocates, representatives of the homeless community and people who are homeless to discuss issues of concern to the homeless community, the status of pending cases when appropriate and issues raised by the law enforcement agency.

The commissioner and the Attorney General shall report back to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over judiciary matters during the First Regular Session of the 123rd Legislature on the results of their review and the status of the relationship between law enforcement agencies and people who are homeless.

Sec. 4. Working group regarding aggravating sentencing factors for crimes against persons who are homeless. The Office of the Attorney General shall convene a working group to examine the advisability of implementing aggravating sentencing factors for crimes against people who are homeless. The Office of the Attorney General shall invite members of the judicial branch, representatives from the Office of the Attorney General, representatives from at least 2 district attorneys' offices and any other parties the Office of the Attorney General considers appropriate to participate in the working group. No later than January 15, 2006, the working group shall report its findings and recommendations to the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety. Upon review of the findings, the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety may report out implementing legislation, if necessary.