{"id":9033,"date":"2023-05-31T10:15:37","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T17:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033"},"modified":"2023-05-31T10:15:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T17:15:37","slug":"homelessness-and-crime-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033","title":{"rendered":"Homelessness and Crime in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City Journal has a special issue titled Can California Be Golden Again?<\/a> The issue describes, as Michael Shellenberger puts it, how “ruinous policies have transformed California from a symbol of progress to a cautionary tale for the nation.”\u00a0 Stephen Eide has an article titled The Encampment State<\/a> on homelessness, a problem that is now far worse in California than in earlier times, bad as those were, and far worse than it is at present in other regions of the country with better functioning governments.<\/p>\n

The whole article is well worth reading. Here is the passage on homelessness and law enforcement:<\/p>\n

Finally, the criminal-justice system\u2019s role in homelessness policy needs to be reaffirmed. Questions about law enforcement and homelessness tend to focus narrowly on camping regulations, but a larger context exists. Over the past ten to 15 years, California has pursued an increasingly progressive agenda on criminal justice. Examples include the passage of Prop. 47 in 2014 and the ongoing push to close Men\u2019s Central Jail in Los Angeles, which would slash capacity in that county\u2019s jail system by about 25 percent. It cannot be a coincidence that California\u2019s criminal-justice-reform era has coincided with, per popular impression, the worsening of the homelessness crisis. More enforcement of all laws would help site new housing programs. A commitment to expanded, targeted enforcement around a new shelter or supportive housing facility would neutralize neighborhood concerns about disorder far more effectively than simply admonishing people to trust in social and health systems long notorious for their failures. Shutting down open-air drug markets in homelessness hot spots like the Tenderloin would improve conditions and may well make it easier to coax some tent-dwellers to accept services. This would require directing police to get more involved in social problems than many California Democrats now consider appropriate. But social work and police work should not be viewed as mutually exclusive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reducing jail capacity is 180 degrees backwards. We need more, not less. Before Proposition 47, the California Legislature moved to solve its prison overcrowding problem by dumping it on the counties, moving the lower tier of felons from state prison to county jail. With felons taking space meant for misdemeanants, it became much more difficult to impose meaningful consequences for misdemeanors.<\/p>\n

Homelessness is to a large extent the consequence of people living a drug-consuming lifestyle, supporting their habits via theft. Drug use may be voluntary or the product of addiction, but either way this pattern of behavior needs to be broken. Punishment for crime is an important tool in the toolbox. It can be an important motivator to get addicted users to enter and remain in treatment. For those who voluntarily choose a parasitic lifestyle, it can provide the incentive to make a different choice.<\/p>\n

As Eide notes, enforcement and assistance are not an either\/or choice. Both have their place in a coherent solution. What we have learned from experience, and what people of sense knew from the beginning, is that throwing government money at the problem and enabling dysfunctional lifestyles are not solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City Journal has a special issue titled Can California Be Golden Again? The issue describes, as Michael Shellenberger puts it, how “ruinous policies have transformed California from a symbol of progress to a cautionary tale for the nation.”\u00a0 Stephen Eide has an article titled The Encampment State on homelessness, a problem that is now far worse in California than in earlier times, bad as those were, and far worse than it is at present in other regions of the country with better functioning governments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-order"],"yoast_head":"\nHomelessness and Crime in California - Crime & Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homelessness and Crime in California - Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The City Journal has a special issue titled Can California Be Golden Again? The issue describes, as Michael Shellenberger puts it, how “ruinous policies have transformed California from a symbol of progress to a cautionary tale for the nation.”\u00a0 Stephen Eide has an article titled The Encampment State on homelessness, a problem that is now far worse in California than in earlier times, bad as those were, and far worse than it is at present in other regions of the country with better functioning governments.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CriminalJusticeLegalFoundation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-31T17:15:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FB_DefaultLJ.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kent Scheidegger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kent Scheidegger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033\",\"name\":\"Homelessness and Crime in California - Crime & Consequences\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-31T17:15:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1ab62da9ed4ddd3a58d70c77eef37356\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Homelessness and Crime in California\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/\",\"name\":\"Crime & Consequences\",\"description\":\"Crime and criminal law\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1ab62da9ed4ddd3a58d70c77eef37356\",\"name\":\"Kent Scheidegger\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.cjlf.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Homelessness and Crime in California - Crime & Consequences","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Homelessness and Crime in California - Crime & Consequences","og_description":"The City Journal has a special issue titled Can California Be Golden Again? The issue describes, as Michael Shellenberger puts it, how “ruinous policies have transformed California from a symbol of progress to a cautionary tale for the nation.”\u00a0 Stephen Eide has an article titled The Encampment State on homelessness, a problem that is now far worse in California than in earlier times, bad as those were, and far worse than it is at present in other regions of the country with better functioning governments.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033","og_site_name":"Crime & Consequences","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CriminalJusticeLegalFoundation\/","article_published_time":"2023-05-31T17:15:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FB_DefaultLJ.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kent Scheidegger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kent Scheidegger","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033","url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033","name":"Homelessness and Crime in California - Crime & Consequences","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-05-31T17:15:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1ab62da9ed4ddd3a58d70c77eef37356"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9033#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Homelessness and Crime in California"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/","name":"Crime & Consequences","description":"Crime and criminal law","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1ab62da9ed4ddd3a58d70c77eef37356","name":"Kent Scheidegger","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cjlf.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9034,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9033\/revisions\/9034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}