Today the LA Times published an article on the increasing number of arrests in the homeless community of LA over the past 5 years. While overall LAPD arrests decreased by 15% between 2011 and 2016, arrests of homeless people have jumped by 31% in the same time period. LA has more than a dozen “quality of life” laws, and the overwhelming majority of these arrests have been for minor offenses under within the purview of such laws, such as sleeping on the sidewalk, living in a car, and the like. To be arrested, fined, and otherwise penalized for simply existing is horribly dehumanizing and illustrates a city attempting to balance the limits of “humane” treatment and the desires of wealthy residents and business owners who overwhelmingly support such measures. City officials have said they “have to balance the rights of homeless people against the quality of life and safety of the whole community.” These laws are essentially pointless, and are constructed specifically to target and marginalize homeless people.
The fact remains that the criminalization of homelessness is a lucrative endeavor, and the city is well aware of that fact. When it’s all said and done tickets can charge up to $200 or even $300, and tickets pile up. If anyone fails to show up to their court date there’s an automatic warrant issued by the LA superior Court, “a decade ago LA Superior Court computers were spitting out 8,000 bench warrants a week for failure-to-appear charges.” In 2014 a court ruling reported that California receives an annual revenue exceeding $75 million. Large institutions are designed to make bank by taking advantage of the vulnerable homeless population who have little to no representation in government.