Vagrancy

History of Vagrancy Laws

Vagrancy became a social issue in England during the fourth century CE, when transition to a capitalist economy from a feudal, agrarian one resulted in dislocation, particularly of the poor, as people moved around in search of work or residential stability. By 1349, it had been criminalized through enactment of “poor laws.” By 1530, during the reign of Henry VIII, Parliament had made it a crime to be vagrant, meaning to be without visible means of support or domicile while able to work. This set the precedent that vagrancy was based on one's status; no specific action was required to be guilty of the crime. Revisions of the poor laws in 1572 resulted in a similar law being enacted in Scotland two years later. In 1824, Parliament set punishments for those defined as idle or disorderly.

The American colonies enacted similar laws, as did the states after independence from England. In the United States, such laws came to be known as “tramp acts.” In 1642, the Plymouth colony, followed by the other twelve colonies, attempted to discourage vagabondage through the passing of these acts. After independence, the first state to pass a tramp act was Virginia (1776), followed by North Carolina in 1784, South Carolina in 1787, Massachusetts in 1788, and Vermont in 1797. California, which became a state in 1850, passed its first vagrancy law in 1872; the law changed very little until it was declared unconstitutional more than one hundred years later in 1983 in Kolender v. Lawson.

These acts were attempts to deal with poverty in a way that offered relief to those deemed deserving who could not work (local residents, primarily disabled [Page 584]men, widows, and children) while denying it to the undeserving who would not work (vagrant strangers). The aid was provided by religious and civic groups rather than by the government, and the notion that it should go only to those who could not work had strong religious overtones. There were also financial considerations. Charitable groups were concerned that vagrants would gravitate to areas where aid was more easily obtained and where the amounts of charity were more generous. Providing relief for the indigent remained primarily the responsibility of private agencies until the 1930s. Only after the creation of social security and public assistance did aid to the aged and the indigent become the responsibility of various levels of government. Residency remained a valid restriction for public assistance until 1969, when the Supreme Court declared in Shapiro v. Thompson that the length-of-residence restrictions states and local communities ordinarily placed on eligibility were unconstitutional.

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