View source for Vagrancy

{{Short description|Condition of homelessness without regular employment or income}}
{{globalize|article|Europe and the United States|date=November 2022}}
{{Redirect-multi|2|Vagrant|Vagabond|vagrant organisms|Vagrancy (biology)|other uses|Vagrant (disambiguation)|and|Vagabond (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
[[File:John Everett Millais - The Blind Girl, 1854-56.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.20|[[John Everett Millais]]' ''[[The Blind Girl]]'', depicting vagrant musicians]]
{{wikt | vagrancy | vagabond}}
{{Feudal status}}
'''Vagrancy''' is the condition of wandering [[homelessness]] without regular employment or income. Vagrants{{efn|Also known as '''bums''', '''vagabonds''', '''rogues''', '''[[tramp]]s''', or '''drifters'''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vagrant – Definition of vagrant in English by Oxford Dictionaries |url= https://www.lexico.com/definition/vagrant |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200301193006/https://www.lexico.com/definition/vagrant |archive-date= 1 March 2020 |url-status= live |website= Oxford Dictionaries – English}}</ref>}} usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in [[begging]], [[waste picker| scavenging]], or [[petty theft]]. In Western countries, vagrancy was historically a crime punishable with forced labor, military service, imprisonment, or confinement to dedicated [[labor house]]s.
Both ''vagrant'' and ''vagabond'' ultimately derive from the Latin word [[Wikt:vagari| ''vagari'']], meaning "to wander". The term ''vagabond'' and its archaic equivalent ''{{linktext | vagabone}}'' come from Latin ''vagabundus'' ("strolling about"). In [[Middle English]], ''vagabond'' originally denoted a person without a home or employment.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200929194241/https://www.lexico.com/definition/vagabond Definition of vagabond] from Oxford Dictionaries Online</ref>
==Historical views==
Vagrants have been historically characterised as outsiders in settled, ordered communities: embodiments of [[Other (philosophy)|other]]ness, objects of scorn or mistrust, or worthy recipients of help and charity.
Some ancient sources show vagrants as passive objects of pity, who deserve generosity and the gift of alms. Others show them as subversives, or outlaws, who make a parasitical living through theft, fear and threat.
[[Gyrovague]]s were itinerant monks of the early [[Middle Ages]].
Some [[fairy tale]]s of [[medieval Europe]] have beggars cast curses on anyone who was insulting or stingy toward them. In [[Tudor England]], some of those who begged door-to-door for "milk, yeast, drink, [[pottage]]" were thought to be witches.<ref>''[[Discoverie of Witchcraft|The Discovery of Witchcraft]]'' (London, 1584) by [[Reginald Scot]] [[iarchive:discoverieofwitc00scot/page/6/mode/2up|p. 6]]</ref>
Many world religions, both in history and today, have vagrant traditions or make reference to vagrants. In Christianity, Jesus is shown in the Bible as having compassion for beggars, prostitutes, and the disenfranchised. The Catholic Church also teaches compassion for people living in vagrancy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html |title=Evangelii Gaudium : Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today's World |date=24 November 2013 |author=Pope Francis |website=w2.vatican.va}}</ref> Vagrant lifestyles are seen in Christian movements, such as in the [[mendicant orders]]. Many still exist in places like Europe, Africa, and the Near East, as preserved by [[Gnosticism]], [[Hesychasm]], and various [[esoteric Christianity|esoteric]] practices.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
In some [[East Asian]] and South Asian countries, the condition of vagrancy has long been historically associated with the religious life, as described in the religious literature of [[Hinduism|Hindu]], [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], [[Jainism|Jain]], and [[Muslim]] [[Sufi]] traditions. Examples include [[sadhu]]s, [[dervish]]es, [[bhikkhu]]s, and the [[sramana|sramanic]] traditions generally.
== In law ==
=== Belgium ===
The [[Belgian Criminal Law]] had defined vagrants as lacking a stable residence, the necessary means to survive, and employment.<ref name=":2">Kimber, Julie (August 2013). [http://proxy.library.umkc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=30h&AN=89703811&site=ehost-live&scope=site "Poor Laws: A Historiography of Vagrancy in Australia"]. ''[[History Compass]]''. '''11''' (8): 537–550 – via EBSCO.</ref> The Belgian Criminal Law  of 1867 had high levels of recidivism, leading to questions concerning it's effectiveness in combating vagrancy<ref name=":2" /> From 27 November 1891, a vagabond could be jailed. Vagabonds, beggars and procurers were imprisoned in vagrancy prisons: [[Hoogstraten]]; [[Merksplas]]; and [[Wortel, Belgium|Wortel]] ([[Flanders]]). There, the prisoners had to work for their living by working on the land or in the prison. If the prisoners had earned enough money, then they could leave the "colony" (as it was called). On 12 January 1993, the [[Vagrancy Act (Belgium)|Belgian vagrancy law]] was repealed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kolonienvanweldadigheid.eu/sites/default/files/CofB_NominationFile_2020_scherm_lowres-compressed.pdf|title=Colonies of Benevolence|publisher=Colonies of Benevolence|language=English|accessdate=20 November 2022}}</ref> At that time, 260 vagabonds still lived in the Wortel colony.
=== Denmark ===
In medieval times, vagabonds were controlled by an official called the ''[[Stodderkonge]]'' who was responsible for a town or district and expelled those without a permit. Their role eventually transferred to the police.
=== Finland and Sweden ===
[[File:Vagrant being punished in the streets (Tudor England).jpg|thumb|A woodcut from {{Circa|1536}} depicting a vagrant being punished in the streets in Tudor England]]
In premodern [[Finland]] and [[Sweden]], vagrancy was a crime, which could result in a sentence of [[forced labour]] or forced [[military service]]. There was a "legal protection" (Finnish: ''laillinen suojelu'') obligation: those not part of the [[estates of the realm]] (nobility, clergy, burghers or land-owners) were obliged to be employed, or otherwise, they could be charged with vagrancy. Legal protection was mandatory already in medieval Swedish law, but [[Gustav I of Sweden]] began strictly enforcing this provision, applying it even when work was potentially available. In Finland, the legal protection provision was repealed in 1883; however, vagrancy still remained illegal, if connected with "immoral" or "indecent" behavior.<ref>Original definition: "se, joka ilman elatusta omista varoistaan tahi toisen huolenpidon kautta työttömänä kuljeksii harjoittaen siveetöntä ja säädytöntä elämää..."</ref> In 1936, a new law moved the emphasis from criminalization into social assistance. Forced labor sentences were abolished in 1971 and anti-vagrancy laws were repealed in 1987.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://portti.kansallisarkisto.fi/fi/aineisto-oppaat/irtolaisuus |title=Teema: Irtolaisuus – Portti |website=wiki.narc.fi}}</ref>
===Germany===
In Germany, according to the 1871 Penal Code (§ 361 des Strafgesetzbuches von 1871), vagabondage was among the grounds to confine a person to a [[labor house]].<ref>[http://www.chgs.umn.edu/histories/documentary/hadamar/asocials.html The unsettled, "asocials"] University of Minnesota</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Wolfgang |last=Ayaß |title=Das Arbeitshaus Breitenau. Bettler, Landstreicher, Prostituierte, Zuhälter und Fürsorgeempfänger in der Korrektions- und Landarmenanstalt Breitenau (1874–1949) |location=Kassel |year=1992 |isbn=978-3881226707}}</ref>
In the [[Weimar Republic]], the law against vagrancy was relaxed, but it became much more stringent in [[Nazi Germany]], where vagrancy, together with begging, prostitution, and "work-shyness" (''arbeitsscheu''), was classified as "[[anti-social behavior]]" (''Asoziale'') and punishable by confinement to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]].
=== Romania ===
Until July 2006, vagrancy was punishable with imprisonment between one month to 3 years, according to the article 327 on the Penal Code.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Systems |first=Indaco |title=Art 327 Vagabondajul {{!}} Codul Penal |url=https://lege5.ro/Gratuit/heydinrt/art-327-vagabondajul-codul-penal |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=Lege5 |language=Romanian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=LEGE 278 04/07/2006 - Portal Legislativ |url=https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocumentAfis/73399 |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=legislatie.just.ro}}</ref>
=== Russia ===
==== Russian Empire ====
In the [[Russian Empire]], the legal term "vagrancy" ({{langx|ru|link=no|бродяжничество}}, ''brodyazhnichestvo'') was defined in a different way than in Western Europe (''[[:fr:vagabondage|vagabondage]]'' in France, ''[[:de:Landstreicherei|Landstreicherei]]'' in Germany). Russian law recognized one as a vagrant if he could not prove his own standing (title), or if he changed residence without a permission from authorities, rather than punishing loitering or absence of livelihood. Foreigners who had been twice expatriated with prohibition of return to the Russian Empire and were arrested in Russia again were also recognized as vagrants. Punishments were harsh: according to ''[[Sobornoye Ulozheniye|Ulozhenie]]'', the legal code, a vagrant who could not elaborate on his kinship, standing, or permanent residence, or gave false evidence, was sentenced to a 4-year imprisonment and a subsequent exile to [[Siberia]] or another far-off province.
==== Soviet Union ====
In the {{interlanguage link|Criminal Code of the RSFSR (1960)|ru|Уголовный кодекс РСФСР 1960 года}}, which came into force on 1 January 1961, systematic vagrancy (that which was identified more than once) was punishable by up to two years' imprisonment (section 209).<ref>[[:s:ru:Закон об утверждении Уголовного кодекса РСФСР 1960 года|Закон РСФСР от 27 October 1960 «Об утверждении Уголовного кодекса РСФСР» (вместе с «Уголовным кодексом РСФСР»)]] // Свод законов РСФСР. – т. 8, – с. 497, 1988 // Ведомости ВС РСФСР. – 1960. – № 40. – ст. 591</ref>
This continued until 5 December 1991, when Section 209 was repealed and vagrancy ceased to be a criminal offense.<ref>[[:s:ru:Закон о внесении изменений и дополнений в УК, УПК и КОАП РСФСР 5 December 1991|Закон «О внесении изменений и дополнений в Уголовный кодекс РСФСР, Уголовно-процессуальный кодекс РСФСР и кодекс РСФСР об административных правонарушениях» jn 5 December 1991 № 1982-I]] // Ведомости Съезда НД РФ и ВС РФ, N 52, 26.12.91, ст. 1867</ref>
==== Russian Federation ====
At present, vagrancy is not a criminal offence in Russia, but it is an offence for someone over 18 to induce a juvenile (one who has not reached that age) to vagrancy, according to [[:s:ru:Уголовный кодекс Российской Федерации/Глава 20#Статья 151. Вовлечение несовершеннолетнего в совершение антиобщественных действий|Chapter 20, Section 151]] of the [[Criminal Code of Russia|Criminal Code of the Russian Federation]]. The note, introduced by the Federal Law No. 162 of 8 December 2003, provides that the section does not apply, if such act is performed by a parent of the juvenile under harsh life circumstances due to the loss of livelihood or the absence of living place.
=== Mexico ===
In the early 1800's Mexico's political leaders had to put together a "Vagrant Tribunal", defining vagrants as young men who were robust and able to work despite panhandling. These tribunals had become a necessity after President [[Vicente Guerrero]] abolished slavery in 1829, leaving Mexico without a constant supply of labor. Those who were punished under this system were either put in local jails for a short time or sent to armed forces. This system was abolished during the [[Mexican–American War]] to increase [[Conscription|conscripts]].<ref>Sanchez-Lopez, Luis (July 2023). [http://proxy.library.umkc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=170723728&site=ehost-live&scope=site "Policing the Pueblo: Vagrancy and Indigenous Citizenship in Oaxaca, 1848-1876"]. ''[[Ethnohistory]]''. '''70''' (3): 385–404 – via EBSCO.</ref>
=== United Kingdom ===
[[File:Microcosm of London Plate 012 - Pass Room, Bridewell (alt).jpg|thumb|250px|''The Pass Room'' at [[Bridewell]], c. 1808. At this time paupers from outside London apprehended by the authorities could be imprisoned for seven days before being sent back to their own parish.]]
The [[Ordinance of Labourers 1349]] was the first major vagrancy law in England and Wales. The [[local ordinance|ordinance]] sought to increase the available workforce following the [[Black Death in England]] by making ''idleness'' (unemployment) an offence. A vagrant was a person who could work but chose not to, and having no fixed abode or lawful occupation, begged. Vagrancy was punishable by [[human branding]] or whipping. Vagrants were distinguished from the [[impotent poor]], who were unable to support themselves because of advanced age or sickness. In the [[Vagabonds Act 1530]], [[Henry VIII]] decreed that "beggars who are old and incapable of working receive a beggar's licence. On the other hand, [there should be] whipping and imprisonment for sturdy vagabonds. They are to be tied to the cart-tail and whipped until the blood streams from their bodies, then they are to swear on oath to go back to their birthplace or to serve where they have lived the last three years and to 'put themselves to labour'. For the second arrest for vagabondage the whipping is to be repeated and half the ear sliced off; but for the third relapse the offender is to be executed as a hardened criminal and enemy of the common weal."<ref>{{cite book |title=Capital Volume I |last=Marx |first=Karl |publisher=Pelican Books |year=1976 |isbn=978-0140445688 |location=England |pages=896 |others=Ernest Mandel, Ben Fowkes}}</ref>
In the [[Vagabonds Act 1547]], [[Edward VI]] ordained that "if anyone refuses to work, he shall be condemned as a slave to the person who has denounced him as an idler. The master has the right to force him to do any work, no matter how vile, with whip and chains. If the slave is absent for a fortnight, he is condemned to slavery for life and is to be branded on forehead or back with the letter S; if he runs away three times, he is to be executed as a felon... If it happens that a vagabond has been idling about for three days, he is to be taken to his birthplace, branded with a red hot iron with the letter V on his breast, and set to work, in chains, on the roads or at some other labour... Every master may put an iron ring round the neck, arms or legs of his slave, by which to know him more easily."<ref>An Act for the Punishing of Vagabonds ([[1 Edw. 6]]. c. 3)</ref>
[[File:Tramp smoking cigar with cane over arm - restoration.jpg|left|upright=.75|thumb|Caricature of a [[tramp]]]]
In England, the [[Vagabonds Act 1572]] passed under [[Elizabeth I]], defined a ''rogue'' as a person who had no land, no master, and no legitimate trade or source of income; it included rogues in the class of vagrants or vagabonds. If a person were apprehended as a rogue, he would be stripped to the waist, whipped until bleeding, and a hole, about the compass of an inch about, would be burned through the cartilage of his right ear with a hot iron.<ref>1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, ''Theatre''</ref> A rogue who was charged with a second offence, unless taken in by someone who would give him work for one year, could face execution as a [[felony]]. A rogue charged with a third offence would only escape death if someone hired him for two years.
The [[Vagabonds Act 1572]] decreed that "unlicensed beggars above fourteen years of age are to be severely flogged and branded on the left ear unless someone will take them into service for two years; in case of a repetition of the offence, if they are over eighteen, they are to be executed, unless someone will take them into service for two years; but for the third offence they are to be executed without mercy as felons." The same act laid the legal groundwork for the enforced exile ([[penal transportation]]) of "obdurate idlers" to "such parts beyond the seas as shall be […] assigned by the [[Privy Council]]".<ref>An Act for the Punishment of Vagabonds ([[14 Eliz. 1]]. c. 4)</ref> At the time, this meant exile for a fixed term to the [[Virginia Company]]'s plantations in America. Those who returned unlawfully from their place of exile faced death by hanging.
The [[Vagabonds Act 1597]] banished and transplanted "incorrigible and dangerous rogues" overseas.
In ''[[Das Kapital]]'' (''Capital Volume One, Chapter Twenty-Eight: Bloody Legislation Against the Expropriated, from the End of the 15th Century. Forcing Down of Wages by Acts of Parliament''), [[Karl Marx]] wrote:
{{blockquote|James 1: Any one wandering about and begging is declared a rogue and a vagabond. Justices of the peace in petty sessions are authorised to have them publicly whipped and for the first offence to imprison them for 6 months, for the second for 2 years. Whilst in prison they are to be whipped as much and as often as the justices of the peace think fit …
Incorrigible and dangerous rogues are to be branded with an R on the left shoulder and set to hard labour, and if they are caught begging again, to be executed without mercy. These statutes, legally binding until the beginning of the 18th century, were only repealed by 12 Anne, c. 23.<ref>{{cite book |title=Capital Volume I |last=Marx |first=Karl |publisher=Pelican Books |year=1976 |isbn=978-0140445688 |location=England |pages=898–899}}</ref>}}
In late-eighteenth-century [[Middlesex]], those suspected of vagrancy could be detained by the constable or watchman and brought before a magistrate who had the legal right to interview them to determine their status.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |title=Loose, idle and disorderly: vagrant removal in late eighteenth-century Middlesex |journal=Social History |date=13 December 2014 |pages=509–527 |volume=39 |issue=4 |doi=10.1080/03071022.2014.975943 |first1=Tim |last1=Hitchcock |first2=Adam |last2=Crymble |first3=Louise |last3=Falcini |hdl=2299/15233 |s2cid=143937248 |url=http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/51704/1/RSHI_A_9759431.pdf}}</ref> If declared vagrant, they were to be arrested, whipped, and physically expelled from the county by a vagrant contractor, whose job it was to take them to the edge of the county and pass them to the contractor for the next county on the journey.<ref name="auto"/> This process would continue until the person reached his or her place of legal settlement, which was often but not always their place of birth.
In 1795, the [[Speenhamland system]] (also known as the ''Berkshire Bread Act'')<ref>{{cite book |last=Hammond |first=J. L. |author-link1=John Lawrence Hammond |author2=Barbara Hammond |author-link2=Barbara Hammond |title=The Village Labourer 1760–1832 |publisher=Longman Green & Co |location=London |year=1912 |page=19}}</ref> tried to address some of the problems that underlay vagrancy. The Speenhamland system was a form of [[outdoor relief]] intended to mitigate [[rural poverty]] in England and [[Wales]] at the end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century. The law was an amendment to the [[Elizabethan Poor Law]]. It was created as an indirect result of Britain's involvements in the [[French Revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]] (1793–1815).<ref>Polanyi, Karl, and Robert Morrison MacIver. The great transformation. Vol. 5. Boston: Beacon Press, 1957. p.168</ref>
In 1821, the existing vagrancy law was reviewed by a House of Commons select committee, resulting in the publication of the, ''<nowiki/>'Report from the Select Committee on The Existing Laws Relating to Vagrants'.''<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers/result/pqpresultpage.gispdfhitspanel.pdflink/$2fapp-bin$2fparliamentary-paper$2f9$2fb$2fc$2f5$2f1821-006917_01-112.pdf/$27Report+from+the+Select+Committee+on+The+Existing+Laws+Relating+to+Vagrants$40$2fapp-gis$2fparliamentary-paper$2f1821-006917$40Parliamentary+Paper$40null$40January+01,+1821?pgId=fec46faf-3e22-44a1-a301-3eebf2d0e160&rsId=16292669EC2 |title=Report from the Select Committee on The Existing Laws Relating to Vagrant |date=1821 |website=U.K Parliamentary Papers |access-date=4 May 2018}}</ref> After hearing the views of many witnesses appearing before it the select committee made several recommendations. The select committee found that the existing vagrancy laws had become over-complicated and that they should be amended and consolidated into a single act of Parliament. The payment of fixed rewards for the apprehension and taking vagrants before [[magistrate]]s had led to abuses of the system. Due to the [[English Poor Laws|Poor Laws]], vagrants to receive poverty relief had to seek it from the parish where they were last legally settled, often the parish where they were born. This led to a system of convicted vagrants being 'passed' from parish to parish from where they had been convicted and punished to their own parish. The 'pass' system led to them being transported by vagrancy contractors, a system found to be open to abuses and fraud. It also found that in many instances the punishment for vagrancy offences were insufficient and certain types of vagrants should be given longer prison sentences and made to complete hard labour during it.<ref name=":0" />
Based on the findings and recommendations from the 1821 House of Commons Select on Vagrancy,<ref name=":0" /> a new [[Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom|Act of Parliament]] was introduced, 'An Act for the Punishment of Idle and Disorderly Persons, and Rogues and Vagabonds, in that Part of Great Britain called England', commonly known as the [[Vagrancy Act 1824]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1824/83/pdfs/ukpga_18240083_en.pdf |title=The Vagrancy Act 1824 (as originally enacted) |website=Legislation.Gov.UK |access-date=4 May 2018}}</ref> The Vagrancy Act 1824 consolidated the previous vagrancy laws and addressed many of the frauds and abuses identified during the select committee hearings. Much reformed since 1824, some of the offences included in it are still enforceable.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo4/5/83/section/4 |title=The Vagrancy Act 1824 (current version) |website=legislation.gov.uk |access-date=6 May 2018}}</ref>
=== United States ===
[[File:2108-young-arrestthisman.jpg|alt=|thumb|Political cartoon by [[Art Young]], ''[[The Masses]]'', 1917]]
==== Colonial Era ====
Colonists imported British vagrancy laws when they settled in North America. Throughout the colonial and early national periods, vagrancy laws were used to police the mobility and economic activities of the poor. People experiencing homelessness and ethnic minorities were especially vulnerable to arrest as a vagrant. Thousands of inhabitants of colonial and early national America were incarcerated for vagrancy, usually for terms of 30 to 60 days, but occasionally longer.<ref>{{cite book |last=O'Brassill-Kulfan |first=Kristin |title=Vagrants and Vagabonds: Poverty and Mobility in the Early American Republic |publisher=NYU Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1479845255}}</ref>
==== Post-Civil War ====
After the [[American Civil War]], some [[Southern United States|Southern]] states passed [[Black Codes (United States)|Black Codes]], laws that tried to control the hundreds of thousands of [[freedman|freed slaves]]. In 1866, the state of [[Virginia]], fearing that it would be "overrun with dissolute and abandoned characters", passed an ''Act Providing for the Punishment of Vagrants''. Homeless or unemployed persons could be forced into labour on public or private works, for very low pay, for a statutory maximum of three months; if fugitive and recaptured, they must serve the rest of their term at minimum subsistence, wearing ball and chain. In effect, though not in declared intent, the Act criminalized attempts by impoverished freed people to seek out their own families and rebuild their lives. The commanding general in Virginia, [[Alfred H. Terry]], condemned the Act as a form of entrapment, the attempted reinstitution of "slavery in all but its name". He forbade its enforcement. It is not known how often it was applied, or what was done to prevent its implementation, but it remained statute in Virginia until 1904.<ref>Tarter, B. Vagrancy Act of 1866, 2015, 25 August, ''in'' Encyclopedia Virginia [https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/vagrancy-act-of-1866/] retrieved 30 March 2018</ref> Other Southern states enacted similar laws to funnel blacks into their system of [[convict leasing]].
Since at least as early as the 1930s, a vagrancy law in America typically has rendered "no visible means of support" a [[misdemeanor]], yet it has commonly been used as a pretext to take one into custody for such things as [[loitering]], prostitution, [[drunkenness]], or [[conspiracy (criminal)|criminal association]]. {{citation needed|date=April 2016}} <!-- this, too, is an undocumented statement: "Under the vagrancy laws, police arrested people who were suspected of crime, but who had not committed a crime. Eventually, punishments were changed to . . . " --> Prior to 2020, the criminal statutes of law in Louisiana specifically criminalized vagrancy as associating with prostitutes, being a professional gambler, being a habitual drunk, or living on the social welfare benefits or pensions of others.<ref>LA Rev Stat § 14:107, http://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=78260</ref> This law established as vagrants all those healthy adults who are not engaged in gainful employment.
Vagrancy laws proven unacceptably broad and vague may have been found to violate the [[due process]] clause of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]]. <ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Rosenthal |first=Howard L. |date=Fall 1972 |title=Constitutional Law: Vagrancy Laws- A Fourteenth Amendment Violation |url=https://contentdm.washburnlaw.edu/digital/collection/wlj/id/2903/rec/13 |journal=[[Washburn Law Journal]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=82-86 |via=Washburn Law Digital Collections}}</ref><!-- "Police had too much power in deciding whether or not to arrest someone" :: This particular condition does not apply uniquely to vagrancy laws in America, and any elimination of laws against demonstrating "no visible means of support" (as defined at least as early as the 1930s throughout western America or more) did nothing to prevent any police officer from coughing up some pretext for taking anyone into custody at will, which renders that statement irrelevant to this article. --> Such laws could no longer be used to obstruct the "[[freedom of speech]]" of a [[demonstration (protest)|political demonstrator]] or an unpopular group. Ambiguous vagrancy laws became more narrowly and clearly defined.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}
In ''[[Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville]],'' 405 U.S. 156 (1972), the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] ruled that a Florida vagrancy law was unconstitutional because it was too vague to be understood.<ref>*{{Caselaw source |case=''Papachristou v. Jacksonville'', {{ussc|405|156|1972|el=no}} |courtlistener=https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/108472/papachristou-v-jacksonville/ |findlaw=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/405/156.html |googlescholar=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15009844350298299825 |justia=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/405/156/case.html |loc=http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep405/usrep405156/usrep405156.pdf |openjurist=https://openjurist.org/405/us/156 |oyez=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-5030}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
Nevertheless, new local laws in the U.S. have been passed to criminalize [[aggressive panhandling]].<ref>[http://www.nashville.gov/law/docs/opinions/2008-01.pdf Legal Opinion 2008-1 (On Aggressive Panhandling)] Nashville, 20 February 2008</ref><ref>[http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/police/crime-reporting/AggressivePanhandling.asp Aggressive Panhandling & Solicitation – It's a Crime and You Can Help!] City of Minneapolis</ref> <!-- {this very last line and its reference are rendered out of place in this article entirely by the truth of the paragraph that follows it}: In recent years,{{vague|date=August 2013}} there has been an increase in laws [[criminalization of homelessness in the United States|criminalizing homelessness in the United States]],<ref>[http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport/crimreport_2009.pdf Homes Not Handcuffs]</ref> some under the rubric of [[sit-lie ordinance]]s. -->
==See also==
* [[Anti-homelessness legislation]]
* [[Gutter punk]]
* [[Hobo]], an impoverished, migrant worker
* [[Mopery]], a catchall criminal charge for minor offenses such as loitering
* [[Nomad]], someone with no established residence who frequently moves to and from the same areas
* [[Parasitism (social offense)]], a label for those deemed to contribute insufficiently to society
* [[Simple living]], the voluntary practice of doing without many possessions
* [[Squatting]], the action of occupying an abandoned area or structure
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Beier |editor1-first=A.L. |editor2-last=Ocobock |editor2-first=Paul |title=Cast Out: Vagrancy and Homelessness in Global and Historical Perspective |date=2008 |publisher=Ohio University Press |location=Athens |isbn=978-0896802629 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ovNHBAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Fumerton |first=Patricia |title=Unsettled: The Culture of Mobility and the Working Poor in Early Modern England |date=2006 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0226269559 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GkYox64WDwcC}}
* {{cite book |last=O'Brassill-Kulfan |first=Kristin |title=Vagrants and Vagabonds: Poverty and Mobility in the Early American Republic |date=2019 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York|isbn=978-1479845255 |url=https://nyupress.org/9781479845255/}}
==External links==
{{commons category|Vagrancy}}
* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/vagrancy Encyclopædia Britannica Article on Vagrancy]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Vagrancy| ]]
[[Category:Homelessness]]
[[Category:Itinerant living]]