Special Report to the Legislature on Senate Resolution 18

• NCJ Number: 198624
• Author(s): Pamela R. Mallory M.A.
• Editor(s): Tad Davis
• Date Published: October 2002
• Length: 8 pages
• Corporate Author: California Dept of Justice
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; California Dept of Justice
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded January 8, 2003

Annotation

This document discusses the extent of crimes committed against homeless persons and the development of prevention plans.

Abstract

Current estimates of homeless persons in California municipalities are approximately 100,000 on any given night. Larger cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles account for the largest portion of the homeless population. Homeless persons tend to be victimized more and have disproportionately higher incarceration rates than the general domiciled population. This may be a function of sociodemographic characteristics, or influential environmental factors of street life. Or it could be that an individual on one given occasion is a victim and on another given occasion is a perpetrator. The study consisted of a comprehensive literature review and interviews with 162 participants, including homeless persons, advocates of homeless persons, law enforcement officers, and prosecutors from seven Northern California cities. Participants were asked about the aspects of homeless victimization that were outlined in Senate Resolution 18 (SR 18) -– prevalence, prevention, reporting, apprehension, prosecution, and hate crime. The findings suggest that assault and robbery victimization were risk factors for subsequent assault and robbery victimization, respectively. Data indicated that 66 percent of homeless participants stated that they were victimized in 2001. Of these, 72 percent said they were victimized more than once and 31 percent said they were victimized more than five times. Prevention, reporting, apprehension, and prosecution strategies specific to the homeless community have not been investigated. There are no homeless programs that have crime prevention as an expressed goal. Information useful for developing prevention strategies must be identified, accumulated, and analyzed. The first step is to track the frequency and type of crimes that are committed against homeless persons. Accessibility to law enforcement to the homeless community should be increased, and procedures to change current perceptions of some homeless victims should be implemented. 8 figures, 22 tables, 3 footnotes, 7 appendices