From 1999 to 2005, the number of deadly violent attacks on homeless people has gone down, from 48 in 1999 and 42 in 2000 to 13 in 2005. However, the number of nonlethal attacks on homeless people has increased more than six times, from 12 in 1999 to 80 in 2004 and 73 in 2005, according to a report released in mid-February by the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Since 1999, this nonprofit homeless advocacy group has been publishing annual reports documenting hate crimes against homeless people. The report is usually released in the late spring, but because of the brutal beating of three homeless men caught on video surveillance in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Jan. 12, the coalition moved up the date of publication of this year's report, "Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA."
"What happened in Fort Lauderdale can occur in any city. As long as homeless individuals are forced to live outside, they are vulnerable to these attacks," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of NCH.
Perhaps most disturbing is who the perpetrators of these violent acts are. In 2005, the majority of those accused or convicted of attacking a homeless person were between 12 and 19 years old. In Berkeley, Calif., Jarell Maurice Johnson and Derell Morgan were charged with kicking to death a 100-pound homeless woman, Maria Catherine King, who was lying in an alley. Johnson has been quoted as saying, "I really kicked her ass."
In Holly Hill, Fla., five teen-age boys were charged in the beating death of Michael Roberts, a 53-year-old homeless man. Two of the boys, Christopher Scamahorm, 14, and Jeffery Spurgeon, 15, were quoted as saying they killed Roberts "for fun [because they] needed something to do." The boys reportedly told a friend, "It doesn't matter, they're just bums."
Another large majority of attacks on homeless people are perpetrated by the very people who are supposed to be there to protect them—officers of the law. In Detroit, state trooper Jay Morningstar was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Eric Williams, who was homeless. Two other Michigan state troopers have been charged with assaulting Roosevelt Dean, Jr., another homeless man, with chemical spray.
In Duluth, Miss., eight police officers have been placed on administrative leave following the beating death of David Croud, a homeless man.
The report also documents a link between violent acts against homeless people and the increased criminalization of homelessness. In it, advocates from around the country affirm a relationship between municipal actions restricting the visibility of homeless people and violence against homeless people.
"It seems that disturbed violent people take a cue from their cities' response to homelessness and become emboldened…if the city has portrayed homeless people as the cause of unemployment, decreasing property values, or vacant storefronts," Stoops said.
In an earlier report by NCH, Florida and California were named as the two states in which it is most difficult to be homeless, with the most laws in their books that specifically target homeless people. The greatest number of violent attacks against homeless people in 2005 occurred in Florida and California.
Cities in California like Healdsburg, Palo Alto, Sacramento, Santa Cruz and Ukiah have proposed or passed legislation making it illegal to sleep or camp in public. Sixteen homeless people were attacked in California, and as a result, one person died.
Some Florida cities, such as Gainesville, Miami and Fort Myers, have or are proposing legislation that prohibits serving homeless people food on public property. In Sarasota, Fla., which the NCH also determined to be the most difficult city in the country for homeless people, being homeless or "having no other place to live" is in itself grounds for arrest. Thirty-two attacks occurred in Florida, and these also resulted in one death.