Homelessness and the use of music in crime prevention

State authorities and private entities increasingly use music to prevent crime and antisocial behavior by excluding people from designated public spaces. This chapter addresses how the use of music to exclude individuals from spending time in particular places may have an impact on their lives. This method of crime prevention seems a permissible alternative to the use of the Mosquito, which is a device that emits a high-frequency sound causing pain to people under a certain age, or area bans, which subject people to a formal sanction if they fail to comply. However, I argue that using music to exclude individuals from spending time in particular places can have a significant effect on individual’s lives, particularly if they are homeless and have no other place to go to. Whereas physical perimeters, such as walls and fences, may exclude people by not letting them enter a particular area, music may prevent people from spending time in a particular place. This strategy causes a special problem for those without a home, posing an ethical question: Does this measure justifiably exclude the homeless?