Dallas Is Holding Panhandlers' Criminal Trials in the Streets, Literally
Dallas has been wrestling with the best way to deal with panhandling, but the solutions just keep falling short. Now, the city is holding court on the street, literally.
In 2018, Dallas police said they would stop enforcing a city ordinance banning people from asking for money on the streets. The decision came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that asking others for cash in public was a form of constitutionally protected free speech.
In October 2020, Dallas City Council members proposed a new system for confronting panhandling. The panhandling deflection program aims to help some panhandlers meet their basic needs by connecting them with social service organizations, mental health crisis interventions and rapid rehousing initiatives, Office of Homeless Solutions director Christine Crossley explained.
Others who come into contact with the deflection program will be directed into the criminal justice system: those whom city marshals determine are not homeless, who have been picked up several times for panhandling, or who decline to engage with social services through Dallas Community Courts, could face misdemeanor charges.
Read more: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/were-bringing-them-out-to-adjudicate-on-the-street-13166151