Amman, July 14 (Petra)- The Anti-Vagrancy Department arrested 197 beggars during Eid al-Adha vacation, according to Assistant Secretary-General of the Ministry of Social Development, Mahmoud Jabour.
During the department’s campaigns, he said 46 male and 56 female beggars were arrested, in addition to 54 and 41 male and female juveniles, respectively.
In an interview to “Petra” on Thursday, he noted the ministry is “working hard” to reduce this phenomenon and has strengthened its effort by intensifying joint campaigns, in cooperation with Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) and the Public Security Directorate (PSD).
This effort is also supported by enhancing societal awareness on the phenomenon’s causes and effects, he pointed out.
Stiffening penalties for the begging crime, per the amended Article 389 of Penal Code No. 10 of 2022, will contribute to reducing the beggars’ numbers and mitigating phenomenon’s negative effects, as the article has been in force since the first of this July, he said.
In this regard, penalty was raised to a 1-year jail instead of 3- month term, while the forced labor sentence was raised to two years, while repeat offenders will now get an increased imprisonment for a period of no less than 6 months to a year, and discretionary mitigating reasons are excluded, he noted.
The citizen, he noted, is a partner to the concerned authorities in combating the phenomenon by raising the level of public awareness and reducing the begging rates at the society level.
Source: Jordan News Agency