By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The City of New York was held in contempt of court on Monday, when a federal judge found that the NYPD continued to enforce loitering laws despite three separate rulings that had declared them unconstitutional.
A series of decisions beginning in 1983 held that sections of the state's anti-loitering laws violated the U.S. Constitution, yet the NYPD continued to unjustly punish tens of thousands of loiterers for nearly three decades, according to the ruling, handed down by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, of the United States District Court.
While Scheindlin acknowledged that the city had implemented measures to stop officers from enforcing the laws, she claimed that the city had "done little on its own initiative or with reasonable conviction and speed to end the illegal enforcement," which, she said, targeted the poor and homosexual men disproportionately.
In order to encourage compliance in the future, Scheindlin instituted a $500 fine for all future incidents in which the law is wrongly applied. The fine will increase by an additional $500 every three months, with a maximum fine of $5,000 per incident.
