Rough sleeping to be decriminalised in England and Wales
Summary
The UK government plans to remove a 200-year-old law called the Vagrancy Act, which makes sleeping outdoors illegal in England and Wales. This change aims to stop criminalizing people for being homeless and replace the old law with new rules to handle issues like organized begging and trespassing.Key Facts
- The Vagrancy Act, from 1824, currently makes it illegal to sleep outdoors in England and Wales.
- The government will scrap this law next year and create new rules for related issues.
- The number of prosecutions under the Vagrancy Act has decreased in the past decade.
- In 2023, there were 79 prosecutions and 59 convictions related to the act.
- Removing the Vagrancy Act was first announced in 2022 by a previous government.
- The new measures will be added to the Crime and Policing Bill focusing on organized begging and criminal trespassing.
- Homeless charities have long pushed for the act's removal, considering it outdated.
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