Trendsetting Maine Wants To Protect Homeless People

The first of its kind in the country, a new law was passed to increase penalties for those who attack homeless people.

This is something we should do in Los Angeles… particularly Central City East (“Skid Row”).

Here is the article:

The governor of Maine signed legislation Thursday to stiffen the penalty for those convicted of attacking homeless people.

The measure, said to be the first law of its kind in the country, gives judges the flexibility to add additional incarceration time in such crimes. It comes amid a recent nationwide spike in violence against the homeless.

Michael Stoops, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, called the legislation “an important and symbolic statement” — adding that similar efforts are pending in Massachusetts and Florida. A comparable bill in Maryland recently failed to pass by a single vote, he said.

Violent attacks captured on videotape in Florida and San Francisco in recent weeks have added to the impetus to provide protection for the homeless, Stoops said.