It’s now legal again to give someone a ticket for sleeping or camping on public property. This comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Grants Pass v. Johnson case.
The city of Oregon wanted to fine people sleeping in public parks and possibly put them in jail if they refused to comply, and the court said that was not "cruel and unusual" punishment.
This case has its roots in Boise, under former Mayor Dave Bieter, in an older lawsuit when members of the homeless community fought back against the city’s policy of ticketing people sleeping on the street. That suit made it to the 9th Circuit Court, which said it did constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
Current mayor Lauren McLean came out against the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying criminalizing homelessness won’t solve the problem.
Jodi Peterson-Stigers, the executive director of Interfaith Sanctuary Community Housing, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the ramifications of the ruling on Boise’s homeless community.
