Post by Logan on Apr 6, 2016 4:27:38 GMT -6
HONOLULU - Gov. David Ige's administration wants to make it a crime to trespass on all state lands, but homeless advocates worry that could give homeless people a criminal record by expanding the areas that are off-limits to set up camp.
A bill in the Legislature would apply criminal trespassing laws evenly across state lands, said Josh Wisch, spokesman for Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin, who's pushing the bill.
Honolulu already has a law banning sitting and lying down on sidewalks, and critics see the bill as a way to expand that type of law to state properties.
"There is a trend across the country to criminalize homelessness," said Maria Foscarinis, founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. "It's part of a very misguided and harmful effort to respond to visible poverty, through criminalization."
Read more: www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/608716/Bill-would-make-trespassing-on-state-lands-a-crime.html?nav=5031
A bill in the Legislature would apply criminal trespassing laws evenly across state lands, said Josh Wisch, spokesman for Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin, who's pushing the bill.
Honolulu already has a law banning sitting and lying down on sidewalks, and critics see the bill as a way to expand that type of law to state properties.
"There is a trend across the country to criminalize homelessness," said Maria Foscarinis, founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. "It's part of a very misguided and harmful effort to respond to visible poverty, through criminalization."
Read more: www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/608716/Bill-would-make-trespassing-on-state-lands-a-crime.html?nav=5031