Does an ordinance that criminalizes involuntary status as an involuntary status violate the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Tobe v. City of Santa Ana, 22 Cal.App.4th 228, 27 Cal.Rptr.2d 386 (Cal. App. 1994):

The ordinance also violates the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because it criminalizes involuntary status, that of being homeless. Such laws are constitutionally impermissible. (Pottinger v. City of Miami, supra, 810 F.Supp. at p. 1565.)

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