Scoping review uncovers high rates of hostile police contact among unhoused individuals, highlighting adverse legal and health outcomes that perpetuate homelessness.
Considering instances of police brutality against people experiencing homelessness (PEH) and subsequent calls for changes to policing, it is important to understand how police and PEH interact. However, this literature in the US context has not been synthesized. This review aims to summarize: (a) the extent to which PEH have contact with police; and the (b) nature and (c) outcomes of these interactions. A PRISMA-aligned scoping review identified relevant scholarly articles on empirical studies published in a recent 20-year period in the United States. After screening, 26 relevant articles were analyzed utilizing thematic analysis. Rates of contact were disproportionately high among PEH. Contact was often the result of code enforcement, racial profiling, or notification by housed people, and consisted of harassment and abuse towards PEH. Finally, proximal (i.e., move-along orders, citation, arrest) and distal (i.e., perpetuating homelessness, lack of service provision, conflict, distrust and avoidance of police, and stress) outcomes emerged.
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Barry et al. (2025) studied this question.
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