Increased Violence Against Homeless Populations

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   Homeless people are one of the most vulnerable populations in American society. They have no laws protecting their rights, which leads to an increased rate of violent attacks against those without housing. The rate of violence against homeless people has risen in recent years, which is most likely due to the lack of legal protection they have. This lack of legal protection shows America that the government does not care about the homeless. This leaves them open to violent attacks for multiple different reasons.



   Some people may commit violence against vulnerable populations because they see it as a form of justice. They see populations the government does not care about and does not want to deal with, so they decide to take it upon themselves and deal with these populations for the government. People may also commit violence against homeless people as a way of dealing with their frustrations toward other marginalized groups. Because homeless people have no legal protection, there is no risk of being charged with a hate crime for an attack like this. Attacks against the homeless may also occur because there are people who have violent tendencies or fantasies and decide to target homeless people to act these out. There are a lot of actions that could be taken to solve this problem, with most being government dependent.

   The government needs to take action to defend the legal status of homeless people if the number of violent attacks is to be reduced. As it stands now, violent attacks against homeless populations cannot be considered hate crimes. This is one change that could be made to further protection of the homeless. Training the police to better understand homeless people and their situations may also help reduce attacks because police may feel more inclined to take cases of violence more seriously. There are more solutions to this problem. The National Coalition for the Homeless has more solutions for this problem, alongside providing background and data about the increase in violence against homeless people.



-Brett Bates Winter 2023

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