337. The Vagrancy

Britain repealed the Vagrancy Act of 1824 this week.

The Vagrancy Act of 1824 made it a criminal offense to sleep outside without money, or to wander without a fixed address, or to do several other things that primarily affected people who were already having a difficult time. Parliament passed it during the reign of King George IV, who had a number of residences and was personally not at risk of being charged. The law was written during a period of significant post-war poverty and was intended, the historical record suggests, to address the problem of people who were visibly poor in public places by making them additionally criminal.

For 202 years, the Vagrancy Act remained in effect.

During those 202 years, Britain continued to have people sleeping outside. The Act was available to authorities during all of this time. It was used. The people continued to sleep outside. This was noted by various commissions and working groups at various points during the 202 years, and the general conclusion reached, repeatedly, was that something was not working as intended, though the specific thing was not always agreed upon.

Keir Starmer's government has now repealed the Act. The government said the law was outdated and that treating homelessness as a crime had not been an effective approach to homelessness. This is 202 years of data, which is a substantial sample size. The conclusion reached was that the experiment could be considered complete.

New legislation is expected. It will focus on support and services. Whether this produces different results than the previous 202 years is an open question. The question has been opened.

The Act is gone. The data is available. Researchers may wish to study it.