What can be done about panhandling?

Public education to discourage donations, and providing adequate access and availability of social services – especially treatment for drug or alcohol abuse – are more effective tactics in a comprehensive community response to panhandling.

Why is panhandling illegal?

Panhandling is a form of solicitation or begging derived from the impression created by someone holding out his hand to beg or using a container to collect money. When municipalities regulate panhandling — a form of speech — First Amendment rights become an issue.

What is considered aggressive panhandling?

Description. In general, aggressive panhandling is a solicitation made in person for immediate donation of money or other gratuity.

Is panhandling protected by law in Connecticut?

Shaun McDonough gave one of the better answers here referring back to a state law in Connecticut (CT) that protects homeless people rights (passed in 2013), including panhandling. Panhandling is protected under the First Amendment (in the Bill of Rights) as a form of free speech.

Do panhandling laws violate free speech?

Laws prohibiting panhandling violate freedom of speech. Panhandling ordinances prohibit people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty from asking people for money or food. Such bans effectively punish speech in violation of protections under both domestic and international law. The constitutionality of all panhandling laws is now suspect.

Do laws against panhandling and loitering help or harm the homeless?

On the surface, laws against panhandling and loitering help reduce blight, but ordinances do precisely nothing to counter homelessness, and a new Yale study says they can send people who are homeless even deeper into abject poverty. Fines and imprisonment can mean loss of a space at a shelter, and loss of employment.