The City of Bakersfield recently announced a plan to criminalize those experiencing homelessness
The City of Bakersfield recently announced that it will begin arresting homeless people on small, nonviolent drug charges as well as trespassing charges. The decision comes in contrast to most California laws and procedures which have aimed at keeping such offenders out of prison, and which aim at long term reform, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Although the plan is in its early stages of development, it sets a precedent which California has tried to stay away from for some time: The idea that the best way to fix homelessness is to incarcerate the homeless.
According to local news outlet Bakersfield Now, Kern County has witnessed a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of homeless people since last year. Out of the 1,330 homeless people in the county currently, 56 percent are reported to go without shelter. Eighty percent are located in Metro Bakersfield while 20 percent live just outside rural cities.
Bakersfield is also known for having a long history of drug problems, with methamphetamines being among the worst of Kern County’s issues.
If put into practice, the plan to arrest the homeless on minor, nonviolent drug charges and trespassing will see a surplus of homeless people thrown into prison without a form of bail and no way to get out. While the plan promises to clean up the city’s streets and promote a healthier community for some, it will leave the poor, the homeless and the needy in dire states.
With all of this said, the question must be asked: Does it matter? The city has a homeless problem, and many of the homeless populous have drug addiction issues. Even if they are only petty criminals, why should they be allowed to stay in the city, or even the county, under such circumstances? Would it not be better for everyone if the police department, city council and everyone else involved collectively got rid of the homeless problem?
Bakersfield is acting as an extreme example for which other cities like Azusa, which is rising in homelessness and drug problems, may follow. The stakes are high. Either Kern County will succeed in this endeavor and may inspire LA County to do the same, or it will fail, and the homeless will have suffered more for no reason.
The problem with this plan is not whether it will work. The problem with this plan is that it makes the most needy and desperate in a city be sacrificed for the potential benefit of others.
This plan, if put into place, will criminalize the homeless for trespassing in areas around stores, under bridges, along the metro, and in front of bus stops — so much so that a person sleeping on the cement will have committed a crime due to their lack of a home.
Whether they are homeless due to their own actions or for circumstances outside their control, this plan promises them no mercy, no justice and no reform. The only thing it promises them is that the cement they sleep on next will not be that of a sidewalk, but that of a prison bunker.
The people of Azusa, and neighboring cities, need to be aware of plans such as this not because it is local, nor because it’s happening to them, but because it is happening. A plan like this sets into motion issues that will follow people for years. It sets a precedent that it is okay to criminalize the homeless — that it is better to have homeless people, especially those with addictions, locked up, rather than waste valuable resources helping them. A plan like this, by the very nature of its conception, gives up on those people most who need mercy most, but don’t get it.
Bakersfield may succeed with this plan. Their streets might clear up; their homeless population might decrease; those more fortunate people in the city may wind up happier in the long run. But if this so-called “success” happens, it will be off the backs of the hungry, homeless and deprived — and that is the farthest thing from success the city will have ever accomplished. Other cities must take note of this disaster which hinders every aspect of potential help and growth. We must recognize it and reject it.
We can never allow ourselves, nor our neighbors, to stoop so low as to harm those we have promised to help.