Panhandlers Given New Way To Cash In
A Manhattan federal court judge ruled today in favor of six city panhandlers, giving them the right to bring a [class action lawsuit against state] and local law-enforcement agencies for continuing to arrest peaceful beggars under a law that is no longer on the books. Lawyers for the panhandlers estimate that up to 4,000 beggars in the city and 10,000 statewide have been illegally arrested over the past 15 years for breaking a law against anyone who loiters, remains or wanders about in a public place for the purpose of begging, which was declared unconstitutional in 1992.
Lawyers representing the city had tried to argue that the six panhandlers who won today were unfit to serve as representatives in such a large case due to problems of mental illness and drug addiction. However, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin (related to Judge Judy?) argued that a class action suit was the only effective way of ensuring representation and [stopping the laws enforcement] across the entire state once and for all: As a consequence of being poor and homeless, most absent plaintiffs are uninformed, disenfranchised and without the means to bring individual actions in the hope of having their convictions overturned or their extant warrants vacated, she wrote.
Photo courtesy of [Gúnna on Flickr]