Vagancia, the crime of non-work, had existed for centuries in the Spanish empire but was not generally enforced in Guatemala until after 1791, when a zealous police reform multiplied the number of magistrates by ten and divided the city into neighborhoods, each with an assigned police patrol. From 1791 onwards, the cases prosecuting “vagos” (men who would not work) climbed dramatically. From the perspective of Guatemalan officials, the crime of non-work was a blight upon the republic: according to the rhetoric, non-work both deprived the nation of productive work and paved the way to incessant vice. Magistrates arrested men found on the street during work hours and charged them with vagancia. In a city that was not majority mixed-race, 80% of the men arrested were mixed race, and many of these men–especially younger men–were sentenced to military service or public works.
In response, arrested men argued that illness, disability, and lack of demand were the salient conditions that limited their employment. Workplace injury sometimes resulted in disability, requiring a new line of work. Even where new employment could be found, it was not always consistent and epidemic disease–such as typhus–proved a vexing interruption.
A different use of “vagancia” emerged in cases of spousal abuse. While the Guatemalan court demonstrated a persistent lack of interest in cases of domestic violence, the crime of “vagancia” offered an opening for women. Adding “vagancia” to the charges of injury and abuse allowed them to argue that their spouses were, in fact, a blight on the republic. In some cases, this argumentation persuaded the court to change course and convict the accused.
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