The ACLU of Colorado has sent a letter to 34 Colorado municipalities demanding that they immediately repeal ordinances that criminalize begging, calling the laws “legally indefensible.”
Specifically, the targeted ordinances make it a crime to “loiter for the purpose of begging” and are broader prohibitions than even some laws that restrict the times and places of such activity. The ACLU challenged the latter type in federal court last year and won.
Concerned by an increase in enforcement in recent years, the ACLU sent its letter via e-mail to the Colorado municipalities.
“Not only do these anti-begging ordinances violate the constitutional rights of people experiencing homelessness, but they are costly to enforce and serve to exacerbate problems associated with extreme poverty,” said the letter, signed by legal director Mark Silverstein and staff attorney Rebecca Wallace.
