Criminalizing Homelessness: Circumstances Surrounding Criminal Trespassing and People Experiencing Homelessness

Criminal trespassing (CT) is an understudied misdemeanor offense often enforced to maintain control over contested spaces and, in practice, often disproportionately used against disenfranchised populations such as the homeless and mentally ill. This study uses the CT case files of a county criminal district attorney’s office to investigate how cases involving defendants experiencing homelessness are handled compared with other defendants. Results show that homeless defendants make up a substantial portion of all CT cases, are more likely to be repeat CT defendants, and account for most jail sentences. Whereas defendants with mental health issues were often deferred for services, this avenue was not similarly extended to homeless defendants. Qualitative analyses show varied circumstances related to CT arrest for homeless and non-homeless defendants. The findings suggest various policy implications to refocus police resources and promote interagency cooperation to address the underlying causes of CT involvement by people experiencing homelessness.

SOME ISSUES OF THE DEFINITION OF MISDEMEANOR OFFENSE AND ITS TYPES

On January 1, 2020, Law of Ukraine No. 2617-VIII «On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Simplification of Pre-Trial Investigation of Certain Criminal Offense Categories» dated November 22, 2018 comes into effect; this Law, inter alia, amends the Criminal Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – Ukraine’s CC) and introduces the institute of misdemeanor offenses in Ukraine. The relevance of this topic stems from the fact that today there is a need for a further research of the misdemeanor offense institute and its introduction into the practice of pre-trial investigation bodies. The purpose of this article is to analyze this Law as regards amendments to Ukraine’s CC, in particular, the amendments introducing the institute of misdemeanor offenses in Ukraine, types of misdemeanor offenses (by the target of misdemeanor), and legislative initiatives regarding the postponement of the date upon which this Law should become effective. The article presents the types of misdemeanor offenses (by the target of misdemeanor) according to the updated criminal legislation. In particular, misdemeanor offenses include such wide-spread crimes as referred to in Article 125 of Ukraine’s CC “Intentional light bodily injury”, part 1, Article 126 of Ukraine’s CC “Beatings and torture”, Article 164 of Ukraine’s CC “Evasion of alimony for maintenance of children”, part 1, Article 185 of Ukraine’s CC “Theft”, part 1, Article 190 of Ukraine’s CC “Fraud”, part 1, Article 248 of Ukraine’s CC “Illegal hunting”, part 1, Article 249 of Ukraine’s CC “Illegal engagement in fish, animal or other water extractive activity”, part 1, Article 309 of Ukraine’s CC “Illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation or mailing of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogs without the purpose of sale”. The article also notes that on 13.11.19, following the hearings titled: “Readiness to introduce the institute of misdemeanor offenses into the practice of pre-trial investigation bodies with effect from January 1, 2020”, the Committee for Law Enforcement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the decision to recommend to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine the Draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Section II “Transitional Provisions” of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Simplification of Pre-Trial Investigation of Certain Criminal Offense Categories” dated November 22, 2018. No. 2617-VIII” (regarding effective date postponement)”, No. 2155 based on results of consideration in the first reading to adopt as the basis and as it is as regards postponement of the effective date of the Law of Ukraine of November 22, 2018 No. 2617-VIII “On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Simplification of Pre-Trial Investigation of Certain Criminal Offense Categories”, having set the date on which it should become effective as July 01, 2020. Thus, it is necessary to understand the essence of the concept of misdemeanor offense and its typess according to the updated legislation, this being the result of this article.

Comparative Study of Property Destruction Crime Case Study: Iranian and British Law

Destruction of property means the deliberate destruction or incomplete destruction of material property belonging to others, which is punishable by law. In Islamic law, according to the rule of loss, the sentence is punishable by indemnity (civil liability), and the act of damaging another's punishment is punishable by damaging the property of another. In the criminal law of Iran, the crime in addition to the common elements of all crimes has its own specific elements, not only in the Islamic Penal Code, but also in the various laws and regulations that the legislator has prescribed to prevent the deliberate loss of some property. , There is . In British law, the Criminal Destruction Act of 1971 also includes one major offense, one misdemeanor offense, and two minor offenses. To another, without legal excuse. Conduct of destruction shall be subject to the above provisions if it is to occur in a material positive manner and shall be subject to criminal offenses such as property, documents, buildings and antiquities, including matters prohibited by law to the It explicitly provided that the said offense shall not only have the property not to be committed by the offender, but shall result in the loss or defective operation of the offense, causing the owner to have a material loss, otherwise due to the consequence of the offense, The offender's offenses do not have a criminal character, so as soon as the causal relationship between the offender and the outcome (loss) is realized, He is a convicted felon, no matter what the offender used, but the use of certain means intensifies his punishment. In British law, the possibility of a crime of destruction by the act of abandonment is accepted. In British law, like Iran, property must belong to another, but in one case, the destruction of one's own property is also considered a crime, and in the UK the use of some means of destruction will increase the punishment. The psychological element of the crime of property destruction is intentional, except in specific cases, and it is necessary that the specific, general nature of the offense and the dispossession of the property belong separately to the other. Finally, the commencement of the crime if it does not fall under the heading of other criminal offenses is not a crime and cannot be pursued. In the United Kingdom the psychological element of criminal damage in English law is direct or indirect or objective negligence defined by the House of Lords. The punishment for the offense also varies for each individual case.