Top Massachusetts court weighs whether homeless break law by fleeing cold

[Disir]

The question of whether a homeless person breaks the law by trespassing onto private property to escape dangerously cold temperatures is one best answered by a jury, not a judge, Massachusetts civil liberties advocates argued on Monday.

The state's top court on Monday heard arguments by lawyers for David Magadini, a 67-year-old homeless man, who was repeatedly arrested by police in Great Barrington, in the state's hilly west, for sleeping in a mixed-use commercial building during the winter of 2014.

The lawyers argued that the judge who heard Magadini's case erred by not instructing jurors that the man could make a "necessity" defense, which can excuse a person for a reasonable violation of a law to preserve his or her life.

"At the time of the offenses, Mr. Magadini had no effective legal alternatives," to seeking shelter in the Barrington House development, which houses restaurants, shops and offices, said Jessie Rossman, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who spoke on Magadini's behalf.
Top Massachusetts court weighs whether homeless break law by fleeing cold

And a bunch of red flags went up.

 

[waltky]

Growing numbers of homeless sleeping in airport terminals...

Homeless people not welcome in airports as officials tighten rules
Sunday 27th December, 2015 - As the homeless population has climbed in major metropolitan areas, anecdotal evidence suggests the number sleeping in airports has also grown

They’re warm. Safe. Open 24 hours. Accessible by public transportation. Uncrowded at night. And they don’t have limits on carrying your possessions with you. For years, many homeless people have spent the night in airports between when the last evening flight lands and the first morning flight departs. But in a number of cities across the country, officials are now cracking down on that unspoken arrangement. “To meet our public safety mandate, we will close the LaGuardia terminal to all but ticketed passengers during late night hours,” the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced on 18 December, promising to arrest violators. Similar announcements were made earlier this year, including at Washington DC’s Reagan national airport in October and at Honolulu international airport in March.

As the number of homeless people has climbed in major metropolitan areas like Washington DC and New York City, there’s anecdotal evidence that the ranks of people sleeping in airports has similarly grown. One individual, according to Bloomberg, has even lived in LaGuardia for 20 years. The increasing presence of homeless people in terminals has led to complaints from travelers and employees, as well as news coverage of the phenomenon from outlets like CBS New York and the New York Post that purported to expose the practice. In response, officials at LaGuardia in New York will, beginning 2 January, kick out anyone on the premises between 11pm and 4am who doesn’t have a ticket. At the national airport outside Washington DC, the closing hours for people without tickets are now between 11.30pm and 4.30am, while Honolulu airport authorities decided to close lobbies and baggage claim areas altogether between 10pm and 5am. “Sleeping at the airport was peaceful, quiet and heartwarming,” one homeless individual, who chose to remain anonymous, wrote in Washington DC’s biweekly street newspaper. “You didn’t have to worry about people stealing your stuff or robbing you.” The person said Reagan national airport “reminded me of being home and free. It was my second home.”

Other benefits people in the article pointed to included “hot and cold running water; access to food; free Wi-Fi, charging stations, even free blankets”. Homeless people finding shelter in airports isn’t a phenomenon confined to Hawaii and the north-east. In cities across the country, from Cleveland to Orlando to Atlanta, and even international cities like London and Frankfurt, homeless people have been enjoying overnight refuge in airports. Jesse Rabinowitz, an advocacy specialist at the homelessness activist organization Miriam’s Kitchen, called the airports crackdowns “a continuation of the criminalization of homelessness”. Rabinowitz, whose Washington-based non-profit works to end chronic homelessness, rattled off a few of the reasons why some people are eschewing shelters and staying in airports instead: “Violence, theft, curfews, bed bugs.” Many shelters, he noted bluntly, “aren’t safe”. Violence is commonplace at homeless shelters. In November, a homeless man was stabbed to death outside a Washington DC shelter. “You’re much safer here than in a shelter,” a homeless man in LaGuardia told CBS New York. He slept adjacent to a security camera.

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