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The number of homeless people on our streets should shame us all
The harsh winter months might finally be over but life doesn’t get much easier for the homeless population of our town, especially with a new Criminal Justice Bill on the horizon that will criminalise sleeping rough even more.
By Jamie Hill
Here’s a question for you - what do you do about the rising homeless population on our streets?
If you’re The Government there’s an easy answer. Criminalise them.
At the moment a new Criminal Justice Bill is passing through Parliament. It’s already had two readings and after a third reading will then be going through The House of Lords before it can finally be ratified.
The passage of a Bill through Parliament is a pretty damn complicated and long drawn out affair, which is a good thing really as changes to our laws and how our society operates should never be carried out on a whim.
But there is one part of this particular Bill that is definitely not good news for the homeless community of Swindon.
And quite rightly The Government is currently facing criticism over this part of the Bill, which will replace the Georgian-era Vagrancy Act, as it will allow police to fine "nuisance" rough sleepers.
So here’s the answer to the above question. To curtail rough sleeping, we, as a society, will now fine the rough sleepers.
Let that sink in a second.
We will be fining a portion of our society who have had no choice but to sleep on our streets. A portion of society who have fallen through the cracks - for whatever reason.
A portion of society who by their very nature don’t exactly have money in their back pocket to pay a fine. Who in fact might actually be on the street in a lot of cases because of that lack of money.
And just because they’re a ‘nuisance’.
We already know that some members of The Government have already claimed that being homeless is a ‘lifestyle’ choice. So we already know the depths of their stupidity, dangerously combined with their lack of compassion.
As answers to problems go, this is up there with that time someone said ‘I wonder what that button does?’ in Chernobyl back in 1986.
Homeless charity Crisis believes people living on the streets need compassion and support rather than being cast into the criminal justice system.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice show there were six prosecutions for begging in Wiltshire under the Vagrancy Act in the five years to June 2023.
The act also criminalises "sleeping out", although there were no prosecutions in the area for this offence.
Under the 1824 law, anyone prosecuted faces a fine of up to £1,000 and a criminal record.
But under the new act this is likely to change with the likelihood of being arrested and fined becoming a real issue.
Matt Downie, Crisis chief executive, said: "Not only are people forced to live in fear, suffering regular violence and abuse, but they must also contend with the threat of being arrested. No-one should be criminalised for being homeless.