This Essay explores the ways in which the division of funding and responsibility for various social services across local, state, and federal governments disincentivizes sound approaches to societal problems—particularly when it comes to addressing the needs of the unhoused. Whereas local governments primarily are responsible for funding and directing the police, most other services, including housing, healthcare, and substance abuse treatment, are funded and overseen by other government units. This Essay demonstrates how this fragmentation of authority has contributed to society’s overreliance on policing and criminal punishment in addressing the problem of homelessness. First, because fiscal responsibility for various government services is distributed across the various levels of government, no one government unit may have the financial incentive to depart from the more punitive status quo. Second, fragmentation creates a familiar sort of collective action problem: Unless all of the municipalities in a particular region step up to do their part, the few who do may find themselves carrying the burden for the region as a whole. Finally, even if all of the actors at various lev-els of government were equally invested in pursuing a more humane and cost- effective approach, fragmentation makes it more difficult to mount a coordinated response to problems that invariably spill over across jurisdictions and policy domains. This Essay concludes by pointing out that fragmentation may, if any-thing, be of still greater concern when it comes to the broader project of reimagining public safety and redefining the role of the police.

中文翻译：

---

我们对公共安全的分散方法

这篇文章探讨了在地方、州和联邦政府之间对各种社会服务的资金和责任划分如何抑制社会问题的合理方法——特别是在解决无住房者的需求时。地方政府主要负责资助和指导警察，而大多数其他服务，包括住房、医疗保健和药物滥用治疗，则由其他政府部门资助和监督。这篇文章展示了这种权力分散如何导致社会在解决无家可归问题时过度依赖警察和刑事处罚。首先，由于各种政府服务的财政责任分布在各级政府，没有任何一个政府单位可能有经济动机来摆脱更具惩罚性的现状。其次，碎片化产生了一种熟悉的集体行动问题：除非特定地区的所有市政当局都站出来尽自己的一份力，否则少数人可能会发现自己承担了整个地区的负担。最后，即使各级政府的所有参与者都同样投入以寻求更人道和更具成本效益的方法，但碎片化使得对总是跨越司法管辖区和政策领域的问题做出协调一致的响应变得更加困难. 本文最后指出，当涉及到重新构想公共安全和重新定义警察角色的更广泛项目时，如果有的话，碎片化可能会引起更大的关注。