1. Theft, physical and sexual violence Young homeless people are very often the victims of various criminal activities. Many of them have been attacked, beaten up or mugged on the street. They are aware that others around them have the same experience and it is clear to them that this kind of thing is commonplace on the street. They realise that they are more vulnerable than people leading a standard lifestyle and usually accept this fact as a given, something they must take into account. Homeless people who have been attacked and mugged view such experiences as inevitable, despite the trauma and humiliation. “They really worked me over. I was eighteen when it happened and it was mental. Two Ukrainians came up to me and one pointed a gun at me and told me to give them everything I had on me. I told them I didn’t have anything. They said I was lying and then pistol whipped me. I fell to the ground and when I woke up there were policemen and ambulance personnel standing over me. I reckon that it could happen to anyone here in Prague.” (MH, male) “It’s mainly at night, because that’s when the criminals travel around, hordes of them. They’re even willing to steal from the homeless. They don’t give a damn what they take. I once saw four of them go up to one guy, kick him, rob him, piss on him and then run off.” (AM, male) People who live on the street are well aware that life is not safe. However, over the course of time they get used to this risk and learn to avoid threatening situations to the best of their abilities. The thief is not always someone from outside the homeless community. Often it is someone with whom the victim lives on the street and knows, sometimes even their partner or friend. Homeless people often steal from each other, and this usually happens in the place where they sleep. “They steal your things in a squat. Maybe you leave some clean clothes out and when you return they’re no longer there. They steal your bedclothes and suddenly you’ve nothing to sleep in. Someone who lives on the street and steals from someone else who’s also on the street, that’s got to be base. Instead of supporting each other they steal from each other.”(MB, female) “I fell asleep in L. and they stole all my stuff. The fact is that if you have some personal belongings you have to make sure you hang out with people who aren’t going to steal them.” (KM, female) VL (female) fell prey to her partner, a drug addict. “My boyfriend stole everything from me. I was incredibly hurt. We’re still looking for him. But he’s the kind who has stolen from loads of people.” It is clear from these stories that it makes no sense to believe in anyone on the street and that anyone is potentially a thief. Someone living on the streets is most at threat at night. “Here the nighttimes are the worst. In these squats it’s a question of survival. Someone arrives, or maybe a group, or they get into your building, and immediately there’s a fight. Anything can happen. Or for instance Wenceslas Square at night.” (MŽ, male) “Say I’m sleeping here at Central Station, I’m really worried that someone could kill me. I don’t know if it’s true, but apparently dead bodies have been found here.” (MO, male) – 98 –
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For JP (male), who knows life on the street very well, the biggest risk at night comes from strange, unpredictable people. “The habits of these people, and fear. At night you’re on the street alone and you’re among these people, so what do you think? Shit, there’s a junky over there shooting up. What if his hand slips and he sticks the syringe in me. That aggressive idiot, the one who’s completely drunk, he’ll throw a brick in your face and that’s that. And often there are former convicts here who were in prison with junkies. You never know what they’re going to do next, you’re always at threat from them.” Life on the street is simply not safe. JŠ (male) has been attacked and beaten up: “Take a look... scars here and here... I found myself among some of our darker friends and they used me to see how sharp their knife was. One of them came up to me wanting a cigarette. I said I didn’t have any, so he asked if I had any money. Again I said no. So he left and returned with another five of them. I gave them what they wanted and a fat lot of good it did me.” JS (male) was also beaten up by a gang of Roma. “They kicked me in the head. I suffered bruised ribs and a broken arm. That’s what they did to me. I think that’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. I reckon I was in trauma from it. When six or seven of them go for you, what can you do?” LC (male) was attacked by a group at the other end of the spectrum: skinheads. “They kicked me and left me there. Nothing was broken, but my face was a complete mess and I suffered bruised ribs.” Homeless people are very often attacked and mugged when drunk or under the influence of drugs and when they cannot defend themselves or do not even know what is going on. “Usually when you’re drunk you lose all your documents. It’s happened to me twice. I was boozing and had my documents stolen.” (JS, male) With JP (male) it was drugs. “They beat me up and mugged me, yeah. They punched me in the face a few times. I said to myself, ok, in a way it’s your fault.” The knowledge that he himself was responsible for a state in which he was more vulnerable than usual did not unfortunately encourage the client to think about changing his lifestyle. Most homeless people regard the occasional mugging or beating as part and parcel of life on the street. They defend themselves mainly by remaining in groups, even though this is no guarantee of safety. As we have already pointed out, the perpetrator is often a member of the same community. From the life stories recounted by young homeless people it is clear that the experiences acquired sleeping rough differ from those of mainstream society. Someone who lives for a while on the street begins to view things differently. Many homeless people gradually found themselves in both roles: they were both the victims and perpetrators of various criminal activities. “Skinheads beat me up and stole my documents. I was beaten up many times, punched in the face frequently. I was often the victim and often the attacker. I tried both roles.” (TK, male) “They stole my documents, my wallet, they did this to me, an old timer. I was totally pissed off. I mean, I’m the biggest con man in T. and they steal from me. Yeah, of course I steal too. But I don’t steal from people. I couldn’t go up to someone, snatch their handbag and then make a dash for it, I simply couldn’t do that.”(MM, male) This client is a criminal recidivist. – 99 –
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Homeless women often have to deal with the trauma caused by rape or attempted rape. This trauma can often be severe. This happened to only one man from our group, who occasionally makes a living as a homosexual prostitute. Homeless women are usually the victims of sexual assault by an unknown perpetrator who does not have to belong to the socially excluded community but simply exploits its vulnerability (Čírtková, 2009). Homeless women are aware of the risk of sexual violence and when something like this happens they do not go to the police because they do not believe that they would receive any assistance. They are aware that in their own way they are outside the law and that either they attend to their own safety or reconcile themselves to being victims of violence. They usually resolve their situation by joining a group or finding a partner. However, this is no guarantee of safety, something the homeless community is unable to provide. It includes people who do not correspond to the norm and cannot for various reasons be relied upon (drug addicts, criminal recidivists, people with personality disorders, etc.) Reid et al. (2005) discovered that woman who have been attacked are frightened of the same thing happening to them again and do not believe that they can defend themselves effectively against this threat. This in turn leads to a feeling of helplessness that they cannot rid themselves of. This in turn unfortunately increases the risk of their being victims of further violence. The strategies they use to deal at least partially with this fact can seem strange to say the least to an independent observer. For instance, they passively accept violent behaviour and do nothing to prevent it because they regard it to be a natural part of their lives and simply wait for it to end. TŽ (female) was raped by a group of people she knew. “They made sure I was heavily drugged and then raped me.” “My drug dealer raped me, beat me up and broke my nose. I’ve got a scar here and I had bruised ribs. Plus I had my teeth knocked out by guys. That happened when I was walking along the street at night. Suddenly a guy leapt out at me. I reckon that screaming for help just excites these perverts even more to be honest. So I looked at him and said, ‘ok, help yourself’. Two gave up, one didn’t, unfortunately. If you look at it logically, this kind of twat likes it if you scream, he gets excited that he can hit you.” (MB, female) Sexually motivated violence became part of this client’s life. This is a woman who has lived for five years on the street, is a drug addict, makes a living through prostitution, and who appears to have adapted to the circumstances she finds herself in. Another victim of violence is PČ (female). “I’ve met a lot of people in my life, but I’ve never met such an ice-cold psychopath. It didn’t matter how I acted, I tried all possible reactions, I smiled and cried, but nothing worked with this cunt. The bastard took a long metal pole, about one metre twenty, caressed me and told that if I didn’t listen... I was convinced this was the last day of my life and that he was going to rape me. I didn’t go to the police about it because nobody would have wanted to talk about it, they would simply have said that I’m a junky so what did I expect. I didn’t think I’d ever get over it psychologically. For a year and a half I couldn’t look at a guy.” – 100 –
Ukázka elektronické knihy, UID: KOS200912