Italy's top court acquits homeless man who snuck into house to sleep

[Deleted]

I mean when one thinks about it, jail time would likely be less of a punishment than being thrown back onto the streets.

[Zython]

Italy's top court has ruled that a homeless man should not be punished for spending the night in a private residence.

An appeals court in Brescia, northern Italy, had sentenced the man to three months and ten days in jail after he allegedly snuck into a private home in a Lombard town.

The man had entered a house in Desenzano del Garda on the shores of Lake Garda in late November the previous year.

Initially, he had been accused of burglary, however the charge was downgraded to trespassing (violazione di domicilio) by the appeals court in 2015.

But in the ruling published on Thursday, supreme court judges quashed the ruling, saying the man should not be punished due to his "particular circumstances of poverty and exclusion".

https://www.thelocal.it/20170908/ita...ivate-property

How ridiculous! Do people not have a right to control who gets to be on their property any longer if the offender is poor?!

So what you're saying is that the government should give them houses? Sounds good to me.

[Serpha]

Didn't Italy legalized theft of small amounts of food?

[Sykol]

A hefty fine seems appropriate.

Can't believe how many fish you caught with such little bait.

[therealstegblob]

how do you suppose a poor, homeless, jobless man will end up paying this hefty fine? cant tell if serious.

He's being sarcastic, primarily drawing a comparison towards people who will want anyone who violates any laws under any circumstances to be punished severely (something you see unfortunately often around this forum).

[Deleted]

Didn't Italy legalized theft of small amounts of food?

They won't pursue lawsuits for food items stolen, by a person with no means to pay for said food item (under like 2 or 3 euros). They will however pay out the stolen items cost to the victim, if it is incapable of being given back (consumed).

You are however fully legally allowed to yourself reprehend the criminal that is stealing; so essentially hold them back and have them give back the item that they stole.

[S7orm]

I've been to Italy this summer for 2 weeks. Never seen so many poor and homeless people walking/lying around in cities. Even worse than Paris

Homelessness rate in Italy is one of the lowest in Europe. There are lots of immigrants and Romani begging for money in touristic locations, but to qualify as homeless you need to be home-less.

Poor people can apply for government housing and plenty of nonprofit organization offer free food for people in need every day. Drug addiction is the main reason few people sleep in the streets instead of looking for help.

[Mihalik]

Isn't this the case across all major European cities?

No. Not really. Tho there will always be specific hotspots of poverty. Combination of factors like high population density and high cost of living usually leads to such situations.

Not any different than the situation in places like D.C, San Francisco or NY. The only thing is that Europe has a larger number of such spots due to simply having more cities with large populations and high costs of living.

[Acidz]

Can't believe how many fish you caught with such little bait.

Surprised me as well