Illustration by John Sadler www.johnsadlerillustration.com 

THE creeping criminalisation of the homeless often flies under the radar.

As the months roll by, more and more “antisocial behaviour” measures are being slapped on vulnerable people, often those who have no choice but to sleep on the streets or who have suffered traumatic experiences and may be using substances to null the pain.

Take the innocuous-sounding Community Protection Notice (CPN) for example. They are being routinely used, but rarely checked or challenged in the courts.

Police have the power to conjure up a list of conditions that people need to live by – and impose fines if they are not adhered to.

Without legal representation, vulnerable people living on the streets are unlikely to know these can be challenged on appeal, albeit within just 21 days.

Even if they do know this, they understandably might be more concerned with finding somewhere safe to sleep or something to eat, rather than finding a solicitor and legal aid.

Not everyone will be able to cope with multiple calls with lawyers, paperwork and providing witness statements if they have a lot going on.

When cases such as the rough sleeper who had his CPN thrown out at an appeal last week rise to the surface, it’s shocking to learn just how unfair the terms are.

It’s worrying to think about what else is going on without anyone knowing.

The terms on this CPN, as with some of the others we have seen over the years, are broad and vague.

One of the conditions states that he must not “position himself to beg” which includes “being static or mobile, approaching members of the public or vehicles and having articles used in the commission of begging (including but not limited to open containers/ cups or signs) in the London borough of Camden”.

Essentially, this person could be arrested for being seen with a cup of tea. Case law in the European Court of Human Rights makes it clear that you can’t have blanket bans on begging.

It’s also telling that most people haven’t heard of CPNs or been given one themselves. If these CPNs were being handed out to the middle classes, we’d know all about it. Their very nature seems designed to make it as difficult as possible to challenge.

Punitive measures like these have no place in a progressive society. It is the authorities who are behaving anti-socially.