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Italian court rules food theft 'not a crime' if hungry

bbc.com

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Re: Italian court rules food theft 'not a crime' if hungry

#71

Post by sageikosa »

School-Cotton wrote: post #59
garyrob wrote: post #30

It's a little hard to understand how this ruling won't cause a certain degree of chaos. Can any hungry, homeless person now steal food from any store in Italy without repercussion? Certainly as a matter of compassion, this ruling can be argued as being reasonable, but how can it work as a practical matter?

In practice I imagine it will result in homeless (or generally poor-looking) people being routinely banned from stores in Italy.

Then breaking and entering will be made legal, if its for the purpose of procuring badly needed nourishment.

Re: Italian court rules food theft 'not a crime' if hungry

#72

Post by distances »

School-Cotton wrote: post #59
garyrob wrote: post #30

It's a little hard to understand how this ruling won't cause a certain degree of chaos. Can any hungry, homeless person now steal food from any store in Italy without repercussion? Certainly as a matter of compassion, this ruling can be argued as being reasonable, but how can it work as a practical matter?

In practice I imagine it will result in homeless (or generally poor-looking) people being routinely banned from stores in Italy.

I don't think it's legal for stores to choose their customers.

Re: Italian court rules food theft 'not a crime' if hungry

#73

Post by Dotnaught »

But if the food is locked away, it's presumably still a crime to damage property and/or bypass a lock to obtain the food. So this interpretation of the law creates an incentive for grocers to keep food out of reach.

And thirst being even more basic than hunger, is it excusable to steal beer when desperately dehydrated or just bottled water?

If food is deemed an inalienable right, then a tax to feed the hungry seems like a better way to avoid legal inconsistency.

Re: Italian court rules food theft 'not a crime' if hungry

#76

Post by takno »

kh2ouija wrote: post #20

Reminds me of how trying to escape from prison is not illegal in certain countries.

Logically I can't see why trying to escape from prison would be an offence in itself anyway. If somebody successfully did it they wouldn't have undertaken the punishment for the original crime though, so you'd send them back to prison for that, and wouldn't give them any time off for good behaviour

Re: Italian court rules food theft 'not a crime' if hungry

#78

Post by rhino369 »

swayvil wrote: post #53
insulanian wrote: post #4

Is it possible to prove that one was hungry at the time of theft?

The assumption that people are lying unless proven otherwise is... well it just opens the door to a whole world of problems. It's also distasteful and ugly.

That's sort of how many affirmative defenses are treated in many legal systems. It's up to you to prove you have an excuse, so to say.

Re: Italian court rules food theft 'not a crime' if hungry

#79

Post by throwaway7767 »

lorenzhs wrote: post #66
emodendroket wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do not have a basic biological need for money, actually.

I don't think anyone is saying poor people should be allowed to rob banks or mug people. The article is about stealing small amounts of food to stave off hunger.

This site has a threaded discussion system, context matters. The post you are referring to was responding to someone who specifically made the point that this was analogous to allowing poor people to steal money, which is clearly not the case.

In this context, it's clear you are both in agreement.

Re: Italian court rules food theft 'not a crime' if hungry

#80

Post by adrianN »

distances wrote: post #72
School-Cotton wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In practice I imagine it will result in homeless (or generally poor-looking) people being routinely banned from stores in Italy.

I don't think it's legal for stores to choose their customers.

It's a private business, why shouldn't they be allowed to decide who to allow into their own store?
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