2026-06-29 13:48 UTC
@codingotaku@tech.lgbt "I don't ever understand why they criminalized homelessness in the first place."
AFAIK it was because the Victorians considered poverty to be a moral failing, and therefore criminalised it.
Replies (1)
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@MatthewNewell@mastodon.social 2026-06-29 20:21
@kelpana@mastodon.ie @codingotaku@tech.lgbt The Victorians definitely had that idea - the deserving poor Vs the undeserving poor, the horrors of the workhouse, debtors prison etc. you can get a lot of it from Oliver Twist, Little Dorrit Vagrancy Act is a little pre-Victorian and lots of it is rooted in the Regency fear of revolution. The French revolution especially the Terror was within living memory and there was panic in Court. There's a brilliant poster here on who posts about London's Riotous History