An opinion column from the Wall Street Journal looks at the subject of vagrancy or, if you prefer, homelessness. Author Devon Kurtz - director of public safety policy at the Cicero Institute - makes some good points on this subject currently in the news.
According to a Cicero Institute poll late last year, 72% of Americans from both parties said it is more compassionate to move homeless people into shelters than to allow them to camp wherever they choose.
Advocates for the homeless assume that homelessness is primarily due to the unaffordability of housing, rather than drug use, antisocial behavior, criminal activity or mental illness.
This assumption is wrong.
Data from the San Diego District Attorney’s office revealed that homeless people were about a dozen times as likely as average Americans to be victims of serious crimes, but they were hundreds of times as likely to be perpetrators.
A recent Cicero Institute report found that in as many as eight states, more than half the people living on the street are registered sex offenders; nationally, the median is 1 in 5.
Maybe we can finally begin to do something about getting squatters off the streets and into shelters where drug abuse and criminal behavior isn't tolerated. Ken Kesey cannot be forgiven for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
