Begging to Differ: The First Amendment and the Right to Beg

Hershkoff, Helen; Cohen, Adam S.

doi:10.2307/1341508

Cited by 23 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The issue of begging is related to but slightly different than some of the other actions by homeless people. Since begging has a more clear speech-content than does, say, peeing in public, anti-panhandling laws around the country have been challenged on constitutional grounds (Rose, 1989, Hershkoff andCohen, 1991). 5.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Annihilation of Space by Law: The Roots and Implications of Anti‐Homeless Laws in the United States

1997

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There is a link between changes in the contemporary political economy and the criminalization of homelessness. Anti‐homeless legislation can be understood as an attempt to annihilate the spaces in which homeless people must live, and perform everyday functions. This annihilation is a response to the economic uncertainty produced by the current political economy. The process of criminalizing homelessness 1) destroys the very right of homeless people to be; and 2) reinforces particularly brutal notions of citizenship within the public sphere. Such laws are made possible when urban government and surrounding communities and elites seek to promote the urban landscape at the expense of urban public space. This usurpation of public space will have profound impact not only on homeless people but also on how the housed interact with each other.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Annihilation of Space by Law: The Roots and Implications of Anti‐Homeless Laws in the United States

1997

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“…Furthermore, as noted by Baker (2009, p. 232), 'The right not to be arbitrarily criminalized or subjected to disproportionate punishment also contains a general right not to be criminalized'. These rights are different from specific constitutional rights because they protect the autonomy of the individuals generally (Hershkoff & Cohen, 1991).…”

Section: The Beggar As a Political Symbolmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Beggar as a Political Symbol: An Interactionist Reading of the Endurance of Anti-Begging Laws in India

Rahman

2021

Social Change

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In 2018, the Delhi High Court held that certain provisions of the state’s anti-begging law were unconstitutional. Nevertheless, such laws continue to operate in at least 20 other Indian states and union territories even today. Begging as a social phenomenon remains an under-researched subject within the social sciences, especially in India where the rare mention that the subject finds often gets subsumed within larger debates on chronic poverty or organised crime. This article begins by tracing the history of regulations around begging, followed by a discussion on the persistence of both begging and anti-begging laws prevalent today. By examining the justification underlying the criminalisation of begging, it contends that such an approach fails to provide insight into the lived experiences of individuals engaged in this activity. It therefore proposes that the analyses of begging in the Indian context adopt symbolic interactionism that lends its rich theoretical framework to enable an interpretation of the act as one that of agency; a survival strategy among those living on the margins of the neoliberal urban experience. In doing so, it posits a view of the beggar as a powerful political symbol with the potential to subvert and interrogate the rules of the game in a globalised world.

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“…These emotions can be unpleasant to experience, so measures that offer to remove such emotional triggers can have populist appeal. For the street poor, not only must they suffer but also they must ‘be punished for making direct requests for help’ (Hershkoff and Cohen, 1991: 897).…”

Section: Evidence Of the Exclusion Of Public Displays Of Povertymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Banishment of the Poor From Public Space: Promoting and Contesting Neo-Liberalisation at the Municipal Level

Brown

2019

Social & Legal Studies

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With growing levels of homelessness, many municipalities in western jurisdictions are increasing social control of public displays of poverty through criminalisation, marginalisation and banishment. This has recently been apparent in England with the introduction of public spaces protection orders. Based on notions of localism, these grant local government significantly enhanced powers to regulate public space. This article uses the English example to provide a critical, empirically informed, exploration of how populist neo-liberal rationalisations about the street poor are finding increasing favour among local authorities. It charts how in a period of austerity, with municipalities struggling to fulfil welfare obligations to the homeless and other poor, banishment provides a cheaper solution to citizens’ concerns about visible displays of poverty in public space. The article investigates the troubling ways in which municipalities endorse a neo-liberal authoritarian approach to public consultations to claim legitimacy for introducing measures that target vulnerable minorities. It also examines how opponents, with limited success, have challenged such measures and the predominant neo-liberal–populist narrative associated with them.

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Begging to Differ: The First Amendment and the Right to Beg

Cited by 23 publications

References 0 publications

The Annihilation of Space by Law: The Roots and Implications of Anti‐Homeless Laws in the United States

The Annihilation of Space by Law: The Roots and Implications of Anti‐Homeless Laws in the United States

The Beggar as a Political Symbol: An Interactionist Reading of the Endurance of Anti-Begging Laws in India

The Banishment of the Poor From Public Space: Promoting and Contesting Neo-Liberalisation at the Municipal Level

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