Don't Let Violence Against the Homeless Go Unpunished

by Becky Blanton · 2010-11-20 08:09:00 UTC
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Despite its economic troubles, Detroit is not known for being kind to the homeless. That's too bad, since there are nearly 10,000 homeless people living there.

In October, police say that Steven James Diponio, 54, became so enraged at Charles Duncan, 42, who was homeless and sleeping behind a school near Diponio's house, that the older man beat Duncan with a baseball bat, tied him to his car bumper and dragged him down the street until neighbors stopped him. Duncan was left bleeding and battered on the sidewalk until someone called for help.

Is that what Duncan deserved for sleeping near Diponio's home? The fact is that he had little choice. There are fewer than 2,000 shelter beds for 9,500 homeless people in Detroit.

Detroit Chief Judge Pro Tem Kenneth J. King didn't consider Diponio a threat, however. He set bail at $80,000, allowing Diponio to post 10 percent of that and walk out of jail until his trial. If convicted, Diponio could get 10 years in prison, where he would probably experience being beaten senseless himself. But chances are that he won't serve that kind of time since apparently Detroit doesn't take violence against the homeless very seriously.

It's time to send the Detroit court the message that violence against the homeless calls for harsher punishment!

Florida and California lead the nation in the number of homeless homicides, but Detroit is making the news for the sheer brutality of this most recent assault on Charles Duncan. Detroit's courts need to start taking crimes against the homeless seriously with the goal of ending them.

Photo credit: jkt_de

Becky Blanton has 22 years of experience as a journalist and photojournalist. She spoke at TEDGlobal 2009 in Oxford, England about being one of the "working homeless."
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