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Miami: Les sans-logis remportent une victoire
Date: 13 Feb 1998
From: martin@laurentides.net
To: reseau@lists.nothingness.org
 
D'abord un avertissement à l'effet que plusieurs villes nord-américaines
mandatent de plus en plus leurs policiers à s'en prendre aux sans-logis, aux
"squeegee kids" et à d'autres exclus.
Mais ensuite, une excellente nouvelle. Les sans-logis de Miami viennent de
gagner une longue lutte contre l'administration municipale: de telles
mesures leur nient leurs droits constitutionnels et le maire a casqué.
Un pas en direction d'une reconnaissance de droits fondamentaux aux
dépossédés?

martin

_____________
repiqué de la liste Citizens for Local Democracy
____________
>There has been considerable media attention on the so-called "international
>conference on crime control", which is pushing the notion that police
>departments should crackdown on homeless people, squeegee kids and others
>as a way of reducing the community's crime rate. This offensive attack on
>the poor has been done in a number of U.S. cities, such as New York,
>Boston, and Atlanta; and the pressure is building on Toronto police to
>bring in the same program here.
>
>It is interesting to note that the "broken window" campaign was vigourously
>resisted in Miami and, at the end of last year, the Mayor of that city was
>forced to sign a settlement in a legal action launched on behalf of 5,000
>homeless people. The settlement, among other things, calls on the police to
>change their tactics in dealing with the homeless.
>
>Details are contained in the following press release from the American
>Civil Liberties Union, which carried the case forward.
>
>---------------------- 
>
>Miami Settles Homeless Lawsuit
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>Thursday, December 18, 1997
>
>MIAMI -- Mayor Xavier Suarez today signed a resolution approving a
>settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida to end a
>nine-year lawsuit filed on behalf of a class of 5,000 homeless persons who
>charged that their civil rights were violated because of their homeless
>status.
>
>The Settlement Agreement is the result of the collective efforts of ACLU
>attorneys on behalf of the homeless plaintiffs, the City Attorneys' Office,
>and numerous other community leaders, homeless activists and homeless
>persons over the last two years. The
>Agreement provides for:
>
>        * Police training regarding the circumstances and rights of
>          homeless people.
>        * A protocol for law enforcement contracts with homeless
>          persons that ensures that people without shelter cannot be
>          arrested for merely living in public.
>        * The creation and maintenance of records regarding police
>          contacts with homeless persons.
>        * An advisory committee to monitor compliance with the
>          Agreement.
>        * A $600,000 compensation fund for homeless persons who were
>          injured by the unconstitutional conduct that was condemned
>          by the federal courts.
>        * Attorney fees for the plaintiffs' lawyers.
>
>The Agreement must still be approved by U.S. District Court Judge C. Clyde
>Atkins after all affected plaintiffs have an opportunity to be heard.
>
>"This is a landmark settlement recognizing that homeless persons cannot be
>denied fundamental constitutional rights simply because they are homeless,"
>said cooperating ACLU attorney Benjamin S. Waxman, who has worked on the
>case for the past nine years.
>
>"The settlement reached today shows the best of what can be accomplished
>when two sides of a dispute work together to find common ground to
>accomplish a mutual goal, and may serve as a model for how other cities
>treat the homeless," Waxman added.
>
>The lawsuit -- Pottinger v. City of Miami -- charged that the City's policy
>was to arrest and harass involuntarily homeless residents of Miami, based
>on little more than their public presence, for the purpose of driving them
>out of the city or otherwise rendering them invisible.
>
>The case was tried in 1992 before the Honorable Federal District Judge C.
>Clyde Atkins who found that the City of Miami's mistreatment of homeless
>persons violated various provisions of  the Bill of Rights and ordered that
>the city establish two "safe zones" where homeless persons could congregate
>and conduct essential, life-sustaining activities (sleeping, sitting,
>standing, eating, etc.) without fear of arrest or police harassment.
>
>The City appealed the ruling to the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
>in Atlanta that sent the case back to Judge Atkins for a determination
>whether, based on projects undertaken by the newly formed Dade County
>Community Homeless Trust to assist homeless persons, circumstances had
>changed to render the court's injunction unnecessary.
>
>Following another extensive hearing in 1994, Judge Atkins concluded that,
>while the Homeless Trust's programs had certainly improved conditions for
>homeless persons in Dade County, there were still involuntarily homeless
>persons living on the streets who were being arrested based on nothing more
>than their homeless status.
>
>The city appealed this ruling. This time the court referred the case to the
>Eleventh Circuit Mediator and directed the parties attempt to negotiate a
>settlement.
>
>© 1997, The American Civil Liberties Union
>
>Michael Shapcott
>Toronto, Ontario, Canada
>Tel. - 416-367-5402
>Fax. - 416-366-3876
>
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