Criminal
Apr. 16, 2024
Criminal law and the unhoused
The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case that addresses the issue of whether cities can make it a crime to be homeless. The Ninth Circuit has previously ruled that it violates the Eighth Amendment to criminalize homelessness, especially when individuals have nowhere else to sleep.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
The criminal law is not the solution to the problem of homelessness. Every major city in California has a large unhoused population. The causes of homelessness are complex: a lack of sufficient, affordable housing, and a paucity of social service programs are key contributors. Solutions are elusive, even with large amounts of money being spent. The answer ultimately will come from more shelters, more affordable housing, more social services. But the answer is not goin...