Basically, to be a vagrant, is to be without visible means of support, or homeless, or idle. Because of the noble Constitutional fightback against these vagrancy laws, of which it was argued that these laws were primarily being utilized by the police as a “catch-all” offense, which in its effect, was purposely vague and discriminatory against those of the underclass and un-championed, it has subsequently been replaced for the most part by charges such as disorderly conduct, or other charges within this same general domain as the modern-day equivalency.
The reason why vagrancy laws are so unfair, is that it criminalizes those that are homeless, or jobless, or without apparent means of support, and presupposes that these people are a menace to society; as opposed to being seen as people that society has at least some sort of obligation to try to be of assistance to. Further to the point, vagrancy laws were abused, especially in the Southern States as a way to take those that were formerly enslaved and to work them as unpaid labor for either private enterprise or governmental jobs, so done, as a means to unfairly profit from that free labor and as a way to keep those of color, subservient to the favored class.
In general, it should never be a crime to be poor; yet, the laws often seemed to be structured in a manner in which those that are ill-educated, unfavored, discriminated against, the poor, and the disadvantaged, are deliberately targeted in a way in which they are treated as the refuse of their country; for no good purpose, other than to permit the policing state of the nation, to sing their own praises about how they are cleaning up and making safer the streets of America, thereby, making America great again; though, the streets that these policing authorities primarily concentrate upon, are not tread by anyone other than those that are downtrodden to begin with.
Somehow, this country is ashamed of its poor and wishes to the best of its ability, to shutter such away; as opposed to being proactive and actually doing something about the structural inequalities that this country represents the epitome of. Each child so born into this nation, has an inborn desire to be something of merit, of which, it is the structure of this nation, that steals the dreams of these innocent children, and thereby criminalizes them for being born poor into impoverished neighborhoods, with dilapidated infrastructure, no job opportunities, few mentors of worth, and schools that are a national disgrace.
This country doesn’t need vagrancy laws, rather it needs to have the courage to actually live up to its creed to be a land of meritocracy, of equality, and of justice for all. It is the construct of America as it currently is, that inexorably destroys bit by bit, the very people that need most the aid and succor of this the richest nation that the world has ever known. Most everyone at some stage in life has needed a helping hand; of which, regrettably in America too often when the poor and disadvantaged reach out for such, the response in return by state apparatus is to put the cuffs on them.