Begging

"Beggar" redirects here. Distinguish from Begga and Bega.

File:Samarkand-beggars-1905.jpg

Beggars in Samarkand, 1905

Begging is the practice whereby a person obtains money, food, shelter or other things from people they encounter by request. It is also referred to as sponging, spanging (short for "spare-changing") or (in American English) panhandling.

In larger cities, it is common to see beggars asking for money, food, or other items. Typically, beggars often beg for spare change equipped with coffee cups, mugs, small boxes, hats, or other items into which monies can be placed and sometimes display signs with messages such as "Help me. I'm homeless." Another popular form of begging is to imply, that by giving money you help an entire cause, or humanity.

Forms of begging

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, "Beggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melon", (Alte Pinakothek).

Beggars will often share successful approaches or '"spange lines" which seem to attract more attention or to entice or entertain passersby. Examples include:

• Long stories of the mendicant's plight or some task they are trying to accomplish, such as obtaining money "for the bus," traveling cross-country, being stranded with an empty automobile fuel tank and needing to return home, etc.
• Approaching automobile fuel station customers with an empty, 15L or 20L portable fuel can and asking them to fill it or part of it. The gas is then converted to cash by being resold at a discount below the fuel pump price. In many cases, despite the appearance suggested by the fuel container, the beggar in this situation doesn't actually own or have use of an automobile by which she or he would consume the fuel.
• A direct request for money for alcohol or drugs, in the hopes that honesty will gain sympathy.
• Colorful approaches such as "I'll bet you a dollar I have your name tattooed on my ass" (where the beggar has the actual words "Your Name" tattooed), or lines like "Do you have change for a dollar?" (since people are more likely to trade change than give it away) followed by "Can I have it?" when the solicited shows he or she does in fact have change.
• Humorous requests for something other than expected, such as "Can you spare a kidney?"
• Stationing oneself either in or near vehicle traffic in order to peddle goods or solicit donations, for example walking between lanes at a red light; when this is done with a sign, it is often referred to as "flying". In these cases, beggars run the risk of being struck by passing vehicles.
• Requests or behaviors deemed as ostentatious or audacious, such as "I'll lick my tit for a dollar."
• Some beggars will pose as someone famous to beg. For instance, some innovative beggars in India paint themselves as Mahatma Gandhi in tableaux color.
• Speaking very softly so that the solicited needs to stop to listen to what the beggar has to say.
• Beggars can build a relationship with those they solicit by remembering their faces and greeting them when they pass. Ostensibly, this makes it harder for the solicited to walk away without giving anything.
• Setting up a "Free Information" booth or sign with tip jar, and then answering questions to the best of one's ability regarding information nearby, such as directions, amenities, etc.
• To maintain cover and inconspicuousness, the beggar remains in an area for hours at a time selling newspaper subscriptions, or other such items, to sidewalk passerby, when offer is refused the beggar then asks: "Then how about a donation instead."
• Psychological manipulation: when a request for money is refused by passerby, the beggar makes a strong statement intended to induce shame and reproach in the passerby, and a possible future donation, such as "Thanks a lot."
• Subliminal psychological interrogatories such as "do you have any change." While the beggar may in fact be asking if the passerby has "any change" for him, the beggar may also be challenging the passerby to confirm or deny that he has any change in pocket. Many passersby are morally resistant to lying about coins in pocket, or resistant to stating "not for you," then decide to give their money to the beggar.
• Stationing oneself outside of a cash intensive retail market and using an entry/exit strategy: the passerby stating "I have no change" is then suggested by the beggar that the passerby might have change and give money "maybe on the way out" of the store.
• Youthful appearing or child beggars or their parents produce and print legitimate looking materials or posters related to a "little league" or youth sports program and ask for money "to buy equipment." The money, often from an entire family of children, is then funneled to a parent or other family member and not to the youth organization.
• Fraudulent adult beggars produce similar materials for a legitimate religious or charitable organization or program and solicit money for such an organization on the spot. Subsequent investigations in telephone directories, internet searches, revenue authority records, and other public records of charitable organizations reveal the organization is non-existent or disbanded. The beggar then moves on to another area of the city or region, only to return with the same operation months or years later.

Aggressive panhandling

Aggressive panhandling involves the solicitation of donations in an inappropriate and intimidating manner. This is not mugging, but rather a "borderline" activity which is often prohibited by law. Examples include:

• Soliciting near ATM banking machines.
• Soliciting from customers inside a store or restaurant.
• Soliciting near or at religious or holy sites (such as in the Old City of Jerusalem or the Vatican City).
• Extending a hand, or even the head and both arms, into a car window to solicit.
• Soliciting after dark, in a secluded area.
• Approaching individuals from behind, as they are exiting their vehicles, to solicit.
• Soliciting in a loud voice, often accompanied with wild gesticulations.
• The use of insults, profanity, or veiled threats.
• Refusing to take "No" for an answer, and following an individual.
• Demanding more money after a donation has been given.
• Invasion of personal space, cornering, blocking, or inappropriate touching.
• A "team" of several beggars approaching an individual at once, often surrounding the person.
• "Camping out" in a spot where begging negatively influences some other business (such as in front of a store or restaurant) in the hope that the business owner will give money to make the beggar go away.
• There have been reports of beggars who will attempt to have their limbs amputated in the hope that they can solicit more out of sympathy.

Restriction of beggars

Canada

The province of Ontario introduced its Safe Streets Act in 1999 to restrict specific kinds of begging, particularly certain narrowly-defined cases of "aggressive" or abusive panhandling. In 2001 this law survived a court challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The law was further upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal in January 2007.

British Columbia enacted its own Safe Streets Act in 2004 which resembles the Ontario law. There are also critics in that province who oppose such laws.

United States

Beggar in Minneapolis, Minnesota

In many larger cities, such as Chicago, Illinois, peddling has been banned. In Chicago, there are a number of signs at regular intervals reminding people that peddling is banned. This rarely dissuades the beggar, and the constitutionality of such bans is questionable. In 2004, the city of Orlando, Florida passed an ordinance (Orlando Municipal Code section 43.86) requiring panhandlers to obtain a permit from the municipal police department. The ordinance further makes it a crime to panhandle in the commercial core of downtown Orlando, as well as within 50 feet of any bank or automated teller machine. It is also considered a crime in Orlando for panhandlers to make false or untrue statements, or to disguise themselves, to solicit money, and to use money obtained for a claim of a specific purpose (e.g. food) to be spent on anything else (e.g. drugs). The potential for these latter restrictions to be enforced is minimal.

In Santa Cruz, CA, there are regulations for panhandlers on where they can and cannot "Spange". For example, they must be a certain distance away from the door of any business.

The Atlanta, Georgia, city council approved a ban on panhandling on August 16, 2005, and Mayor Shirley Franklin is expected to sign the ban into law.

In most, if not all, US jurisdictions, beggars can be arrested and jailed under the vagrancy laws.

United Kingdom

Begging is also banned in the London Underground System, although there are designated "busking spots" that can be hired in some stations that allow musicians to entertain travellers.

Begging in various nations

Child beggars on Tonlé Sap in Cambodia, Feb., 2007

Beggar in Pune India , May 2003

Beggar in Pune, India, May 2003

In some countries begging is much more tolerated and in certain cases encouraged. For instance in India it is considered dharma to give alms to a beggar and many sadhus also beg strictly for food as their traditional way of life limits any income. Even Shiva, the Hindu god is believed to have run his household by begging among rishis and sadhus. Some are even beggars for generations and continue their family tradition of panhandling. Many beggars in the subcontinent even have sizable wealth which they accumulate by "employing" other smaller and newer beggars. They can claim to have territories and then may engage in verbal and physical abuse of encroaching beggars.

In Europe, women from the poorer countries of the continent (e.g. Bulgaria) are sent by organized gangs to beg in cities in Western Europe such as Barcelona, the proceeds being collected by the gangs.

In Malta, there is no noticeable incidence of begging.

Use of funds

A common criticism of beggars is that they spend money received on irresponsible or unnecessary items, particularly on drugs, alcohol or tobacco. This is often stated as a reason for not giving money to panhandlers. Also, in many communities in developed countries, various state and private charitable social services may be available such as welfare, soup kitchens and homeless shelters that may reduce any survival need for begging.

A 2002 study of 54 panhandlers in Toronto reported that of a median monthly income of $638 CAD, those interviewed spent a median of $200 CAD on food and $192 CAD on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, according to Income and spending patterns among panhandlers, by Rohit Bose and Stephen W. Hwang. The Fraser Institute criticized this study citing problems with potential exclusion of lucrative forms of begging and the unreliability of reports from the panhandlers who were polled in the Bose/Hwang study.

In North America, panhandling money is widely reported to support substance abuse and other addictions. For example, outreach workers in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, surveyed that city's panhandling community and determined that approximately three-quarters use donated money to buy tobacco products while two-thirds buy solvents or alcohol. In New York, similar workers report that substance abuse accounts for 90 percent of panhandling funds.

Because of this, some advise those wishing to give to beggars to give gift cards or vouchers for food or services, and not cash. Some shelters also offer business cards with information on the shelter's location and services, which can be given in lieu of cash.

Begging on the Internet

Main article: Internet begging

Begging like other activities has also adapted to the net taking on an "e-panhandling" role. Instead of begging on the streets, cyber panhandlers set up a website where they "beg" for money. Later variants tried to request money for their personal needs that were beyond their financial ability with some success. Begging has also become commonplace in the chatrooms of various gambling and poker websites. In poker sites, one will frequently see someone claiming that they are so good at the game that if someone lends them 10 dollars, that they'll have it back to the lender with interest in a very short period of time. These may be desperate gaming addicts who have run dry, or they may not gamble at all and simply withdraw the money for their own use. Players of online games may beg for in-game currency, such as Gold in MMOs or Lindens in second life, which can be converted to real world currency.

History of Begging

There are few, if any, current techniques for begging which have not been used for hundreds of years, or are not based on older techniques, adapted to modern technology. Beggars rarely recorded their techniques, and often used Thieves' cant to disguise their own communication. What is known of them is largely from records of law enforcement, penitential or rogue literature. From early modern England the best examples are Thomas Harman, and Robert Greene in his coney-catching pamphlets. There is no reason to suppose that what he recorded was new. There are similar writers for many European countries in the early modern period.

Notable beggars

• Bampfylde Moore Carew self styled King of the Beggars
• Nicholas Jennings in Thomas Harman's "Caveat for Common Cursitors"
• Ryan Larkin
• Lazarus
• Omar

Further material

• Born Losers: A History of Failure in America, by Scott A. Sandage (Harvard University Press, 2005).

See also

• Bumvertising
• Fundraising
• Homelessness
• Internet begging
• Poor law
• Vagrancy
• Mendicant Orders