Vagrancy

Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, garbage scraping, petty theft, temporary work, or welfare (where available). Historically, vagrancy in Western societies was associated with petty crime, begging and lawlessness, and punishable by law by forced labor, forced military service, imprisonment, or confinement to dedicated labor houses. A person who experiences this condition may be referred to as a vagrant, vagabond, rogue, tramp or drifter. Both vagrant and vagabond ultimately derive from the Latin word vagari, meaning 'wander'. The term vagabond is derived from Latin vagabundus. In Middle English, vagabond originally denoted a criminal. In modern societies, anti-homelessness legislation aims to both help and re-house homeless people on one side, and criminalize homelessness and begging on the other. Vagrants have been historically characterised as outsiders in settled, ordered communities: embodiments of otherness, objects of scorn or mistrust, or worthy recipients of help and charity.