Vagrancy

The term vagrant has been used for centuries to describe any individual who is deemed undesirable and likely to engage in criminal behavior. The term has included vagabonds, beggars, tramps, hoboes, jugglers, gypsies, prostitutes, runaways, the unemployed, and any idle strangers unable to explain their presence in a particular place. The term carries the presumption that criminal conduct could be anticipated from such persons and that by identifying and controlling them, charity workers could prevent misuse of public welfare funds, and law enforcement authorities could prevent criminal behavior.

Laws in Great Britain, from which laws in the United States developed, continue to refer to “vagrants,” but terminology has been more fluid in the United States. By the 1870s, vagrancy laws were often called “tramp acts” and were aimed at those who used the railroads to cross the country without paying for their rides. Between the 1940s and the 1970s, the same laws generally referred to “loitering” and tended to be enforced primarily against those found publicly intoxicated or against local idlers, often with racial overtones in the South. By the 1970s, when the Supreme Court began to overturn these laws, the concept of vagrancy underwent a radical shift. It began to include a larger number of those addicted to drugs, the emotionally unstable, and far more women, some with small children. As reflected in these changing definitions, these individuals are less likely to wander, usually remaining in the same city, often in shelters or in urban transportation facilities. They are frequently described as “homeless” rather than in the pejorative terms used earlier.