• TheScaryDoor@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    Rather, the USSR criminalized being homeless and not being engaged in socially-productive labor; people that were homeless ended up in prisons and were labelled as parasites.

    Swap USSR with USA and the statement remains true. Though Im sure the degree of severity was much greater in the USSR.

    • rchive@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      That’s kind of true in some parts of the US, indirectly. Some places criminalize not being homeless but all the things that are the result of being homeless like sleeping outside or in public places. But there are a lot of places in the US that do provide for the homeless. New York City has a right to housing provision, for example.

      • galloog1@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s the problem with generalizing the United States. Every state has a different approach to the problem.

        • And it fucking shouldnt be the case. Ensuring basic humanity and human dignity should be a key matter of the federal government and not delegated to the whimps of states opinions on waht constitutes human rights.

          • rchive@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            If we set a national policy today and didn’t allow local governments to set their own policies, I’m pretty sure we’d have a national policy of no help for the homeless at all. Be happy the places that do have support are allowed to because of states’ rights.

      • abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If homeless people go to prison in this country, why have I never seen one arrested?

        this is selection bias, obviously

      • Mango@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I was homeless and police literally made up a reason to put me in jail and label me as a felon to make me be cheap labor when I plead guilty just to get out. No fair and speedy trial during COVID. I live in the US.

        What the law tells you it’s doing and what they’re actually doing are very different. Don’t try to tell me different because I’m a first hand example. If you’re interested in the full story, let me know and I can do a Discord call or something.

      • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        Prison would be a step up for a lot of them. They receive other punishments, like having all their belongings confiscated wherever a cop or some bureaucrat decides they’re getting in the way too much.