Violence Against

People Experiencing
Homelessness

Corey Yarbrough, Civil Rights Fellow - NCH

Michael Stoops, Acting Executive Director - NCH
Tulin Ozdeger, Civil Rights Program Director - NLCHP

National Coalition for the Homeless

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
NCH & NLCHP Platforms
This session will …
 Reveal data from past and present hate
crime reports.
 Explain why violence against people
experiencing homelessness is occurring.
 Pinpoint the key players involved.
 Introduce solutions and recommendations.
Hate Crimes in America ???
Hate Crimes Against Homeless
Individuals ???
 Crime Homicides Fatal Attacks on
Classified as a Hate Homeless
YEAR
Crime* Individuals

Comparisons 1999 17 48
2000 19 42
2001 10 17
Comparison of Hate Crime 2002 11 14
Homicides with Lethal Attacks on the
Homeless 1999-2007. 2003 14 8
2004 5 25
 Classified Hate Crimes include 2005
attacks influenced by race, religion, 6 13
gender, ethnicity, and sexual 2006 3 20
orientation
2007 N/A 28
 If these numbers represented any 9 Yr Total 85+ 215
other group would it capture our
attention quicker? * Data from the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism
(California State University, San Bernardino): Analysis of Data
from the F.B.I. and the National Coalition for the Homeless.
NCH’s Annual Hate Crimes Report
 1999: No More Homeless Deaths! Hate Crimes: A Report
Documenting Violence Against Men and Women Homeless in the U.S.
 2000: A Report of Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Who Are
Homeless in the United States in 2000
 2001: Hate. A Compilation of Violent Crimes Committed Against
Homeless People in the U.S. in 2001
 2002: Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on
Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing
Homelessness in 1999-2002
 2003: Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on
Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness
in 2003
 2004: Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on
Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness
2004
 2005: Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on
Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing
Homelessness in 2005
 2006: Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on
Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness
2006
 2007: Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on
Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness
2007
 A Timeline of Hate…
Hate Crimes and Violence Against Persons
Experiencing Homelessness

140
Number of Incidents

120
100
80 Deaths
60 Non-lethal
40
20
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Year
Breakdown of Incidents
Summary of Hate Crimes and Violence Against
Homeless Individuals 2002-2006

4.5%
5.5% 17.6%
Deaths
3.6% Rapes
5.2% Set on Fire
Beating
Police
Threats
63.6%
The Trend Continues…
Where is it Occurring?
1999-2007 Crime Locations

Location of hate crimes from 1999-2007

2007 Crime Locations
The Accusers…
The Victims…
2007 Accuser/Victim Comparison
 Criminalization of the Homeless
 A strong correlation between
regions with criminalization
laws and violence.

 Florida as a case study.

 Message sent to the general

public: “homeless people do
not matter and are not
worthy of living in our city.”

Number of hate crimes in each state,

2007.
Bumfights: Entertainment or
Dehumanization?
Ed Bradley and 60 Minutes’ “Bum Hunting”

October 1, 2006
 Faces of Homelessness: Speakers’
Bureau
 Brings people together
to identify issues to be
tackled in the
movement to end
homelessness.

 Empowers people who

have experienced
homelessness.

 Host your own panel

with NCH’s help!
 Police Trainings
 Trains law enforcement agencies on how to
deal with homelessness.

 Provides different approaches to

confronting violence against the homeless

 Educates to prevents the criminalization of

the homeless
 HOMELESS EDUCATION
CURRICULUM
 Pre-K and Kindergarten:
Lesson Plan: An Understanding of Homelessness
To give children an understanding of the needs that we all
have to be comfortable and comforted.
 Grades 1-3:
Lesson Plan: An Understanding of Homelessness
Encourage predictions and assumptions from children about
why people carry bags and suitcases.
 Grades 4-5:
Lesson Plan: A Car for a Home/Shelter in a Box
Encourage predictions and assumptions from children
about why people sleep in boxes or on the street. Provide
students with an understanding of the extent of the problem of
homelessness.
 Adopted Legislation
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as
follows:

Sec. 1. 17-A MRSA §1151, sub-§8, ¶B, as enacted by PL

1995, c. 149, §1, is amended to read:

B. The selection by the defendant of the person against whom

the crime was committed or of the property that was
damaged or otherwise affected by the crime because of the
race, color, religion, sex, ancestry, national origin, physical or
mental disability, sexual orientation or homelessness of that
person or of the owner or occupant of that property.
 Adopted Legislation
 California Penal Code 13519.64 :
(a) The Legislature finds and declares that research, including "Special Report to the Legislature
on Senate Resolution 18: Crimes Committed Against Homeless Persons" by the Department of
Justice and "Hate, Violence, and Death: A Report on Hate Crimes Against People Experiencing
Homelessness from 1999-2002" by the National Coalition for the Homeless demonstrate that
California has had serious and unaddressed problems of crime against homeless persons,
including homeless persons with disabilities.

(b) (1) By July 1, 2005, the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, using
available funding, shall develop a two-hour telecourse to be made available to all law
enforcement agencies in California on crimes against homeless persons and on how to deal
effectively and humanely with homeless persons, including homeless persons with disabilities.
The telecourse shall include information on multimission criminal extremism, as defined in
Section 13519.6. In developing the telecourse, the commission shall consult subject-matter
experts including, but not limited to, homeless and formerly homeless persons in California,
service providers and advocates for homeless persons in California, experts on the disabilities
that homeless persons commonly suffer, the California Council of Churches, the National
Coalition for the Homeless, the Senate Office of Research, and the Criminal Justice Statistics
Center of the Department of Justice.

(2) Every state law enforcement agency, and every local law enforcement agency, to the extent
that this requirement does not create a state-mandated local program cost, shall provide the
telecourse to its peace officers.
 Pending Legislation
 Federal
 H.R. 2216

Introduced by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas on May 8, 2007

Purpose: To amend the Hate Crime Statistics Act to include crimes against
the homeless

Status: Referred to House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and

Homeland Security
 Pending Legislation
 Federal

H.R. 2217

Introduced by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas on May 8, 2007

Purpose: To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement

Act of 1994 to include homeless status in the definition of “hate
crime” for the purposes Federal sentencing provisions

Status: Referred to House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and

Homeland Security
 Legislation Introduced
Within The Last Year
 States
 Maryland
 Ohio
 Alaska
 Florida
 Massachusetts
 Debate: Should Such Violence Be A
Hate Crime?

Who Supports? Who Opposes?