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Victim of crime

Many homeless people (women, men and young people) have been victims of crime. A lack of secure housing means that many homeless people are vulnerable to acts of violence while homeless. In the Law and Justice Foundation’s Legal Needs Survey 2003, preliminary analyses of the data suggest that a higher percentage of homeless respondents said they had been a victim of assault in the previous year compared with other respondents.⁴⁸ In a 1998 study of homeless people living in inner-city Sydney, 58% of the 157 respondents had been seriously physically attacked or assaulted, 46% had been threatened with a weapon, held captive or kidnapped, and 55% had witnessed a serious crime while homeless. Among the 38 women who were surveyed, two thirds had been indecently assaulted and half had been raped while homeless.⁴⁹

Twenty of the 30 homeless people interviewed in the current study reported that they had experienced crimes such as assault, stalking and sexual assault, being ‘conned’, being mugged and having their property stolen while homeless.

A manager in a SAAP service for men referred to the dangers of living on the streets for homeless people and the threats to safety that they face. He said that many of their clients come in during the day to sleep, having kept ‘one eye open’ to ensure their safety while sleeping rough during the night.⁵⁰ One participant stated:

When you’re living out on the street, you’ve gotta be careful and you’ve gotta watch where you go down, where you go to sleep, because you don’t know whose gonna come up after you. And if they find out that you’ve been paid, then they’re a threat. They want to come up and rob you, because they know you’ve got a pension.⁵¹

Another participant reported having been the victim of crime on three separate occasions:

I got threatened by a guy with a syringe. That was in Redfern … I also got hit on the head with a big heavy frypan and got concussion. I was also robbed at knifepoint at the Cross but that was a few years ago. I reported it as I was a bit scared and really pissed off. He took me gear and me money.⁵²

A few of the homeless participants in this study also reported being the victim of a crime while they were staying at a boarding house or refuge.

I was in a very unfortunate situation where I was socially and in company with some people and this gentleman stalked me and he came into the place where I was staying (a boarding house in inner-city Sydney) and he accused me of stealing a laptop computer and he went to the police and told them that I stole the laptop computer, and of course I had no knowledge and it transpired that he was a con artist and as a result I had to leave my hotel where I was staying.⁵³

I won three meat trays. I had them all in the fridge frozen and put them into small sections … I came home that night and found they had just got a knife and had cut the bags open.⁵⁴

Consistent with experiences cited in the literature,⁵⁵ women living on the street reported being vulnerable to assault, including sexual assault.

I’ve been homeless for about six weeks and for the first four weeks I stayed at a place a friend was staying and they were all alcoholics and it got to the stage where the men expected sex from me to stay there. So I said no and I left and I fell asleep in the park, and I was almost raped.⁵⁶

Other groups such as gay and lesbian and transgender people who are homeless are also at great risk of violence on the streets. A social worker from the Gender Centre stated that there are many examples of homeless transgender people suffering violent assault, abuse and murder.⁵⁷ One young transgender woman working as a prostitute reported:

I’ve been raped and bashed. And the guy got off with a fucking speed charge, because I was a sex worker and it’s what you should expect.⁵⁸

Consultations with stakeholders and participants in the current and other studies suggest that many homeless people were victims of crime as children.⁵⁹ One caseworker commented:

A lot of our clients present with a past history of having been say in institutional care in their younger years and you know there’s allegations of physical sexual abuse and so on that have contributed to their psychological damage and some of these people want to pursue civil action to recover compensation.⁶⁰

One participant stated:

I was sexually abused by my father as a child. There was one stage about four years ago when I thought I should do something about it. I went to the police and they said it is a long time ago and you would have a hard time proving it … and don’t waste our time basically. And so that was pretty hard.⁶¹

People who have been the victim of a violent crime current and past and suffered an injury as a result can apply to the Victim’s Compensation Tribunal under the Victims Support and Rehabilitation Act 1996 (NSW).⁶² A number of the legal clinics that provide services to homeless people in Sydney assist clients to complete applications for victim’s compensation.⁶³ Applications to the Victim’s Compensation Tribunal will be discussed in further detail in Chapter 8.