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*Correction: the cities can ban camps. It would still be a violation to ban "homeless" camps, and the decision was very clear that homelessness is a protected
by legitster 2y ago
*Correction: the cities can ban camps.
It would still be a violation to ban "homeless" camps, and the decision was very clear that homelessness is a protected status, but just because you have a protected status does not mean you get to break laws that do not target you.
"Under the city’s laws, it makes no difference whether the charged defendant is homeless, a backpacker on vacation passing through town, or a student who abandons his dorm room to camp out in protest on the lawn of a municipal building."
- crooked-v 2y agoI really don't see the mens rea of someone sleeping outside because they have no where else to sleep instead.
- Ferret7446 2y agoThere is no mens rea needed. As it is said, "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread."
- Terr_ 2y agoIANAL but I think that's confusing mens rea with something else more like malice. If someone sees a sign says "Camping prohibited", and they decide to camp there anyway, that's mens rea. It doesn't depend on whether they had other options, or whether they desired to purposefully harm others, or whether they were very sure they'd be able to avoid harming the grass, etc.