California's New Vagrancy Laws: The Growing Enactment and Enforcement of Anti-Homeless Laws in the Golden State (2016 Update)

Abstract

This report updates our 2015 study on the enactment and enforcement of anti-homeless laws in California (http://ssrn.com/abstract=2558944) with new ordinance data from cities and updated arrest data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. We find that California cities are enacting and enforcing anti-homeless laws in record numbers. In contrast with historical post-recession trends, arrests of people who are homeless continue to rise in spite of an improving economy. Further, cities appear to be arresting people increasingly based on their homeless status as opposed to any concrete unlawful behavior.

Keywords: homeless, criminalization, vagrancy, Jim Crow, anti-Okie, ugly laws, black codes