At least one court in Italy has come to its senses:
Italy’s highest court has ruled that the theft of a sausage and piece of cheese by a homeless man in 2011 did not constitute a crime because he was in desperate need of nourishment.
The high court judges in the court of cassation found that Roman Ostriakov, a young homeless man who had bought a bag of breadsticks from a supermarket but had slipped a wurstel – a small sausage – and cheese into his pocket, had acted out of an immediate need by stealing a minimal amount of food, and therefore had not committed a crime.
You can read the rest @
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/03/theft-sausage-cheese-hungry-homeless-man-not-crime-italy
In most cities in the US, this man would be put in jail. If he had prior convictions, he might be imprisoned forever under the "three strikes" rule. If he resisted arrest, he might be killed by the police. Such a thing has happened, more than once.
So watch yourself, Jean Valjean. In the US you are a criminal, no matter how many starving people you are trying to feed.
No comments:
Post a Comment