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Stealing Food Isn’t A Crime, Rules Italy — Country Upholds Right To Survival By Decriminalizing Theft To Fulfill Hunger

By Alap Naik Desai
Published on: 06:09 PST, May 9, 2016

Stealing small quantity of food to fight hunger and starvation is not a crime, ruled Italy’s Supreme Court of appeals. The country has decriminalized theft of food items under humanitarian considerations, asking the country’s citizens to ensure no fellow human being goes hungry for want of money.

Stealing food out of dire necessity should not be considered a crime and the perpetrator must not be treated as a criminal. Instead, the citizens should consider the person a victim of extreme hunger, and they should treat him or her as such.

The ruling was pertaining to a case involving a homeless man who had stolen a small quantity of food from a supermarket. He did so out of desperation and was not driven by criminal intent, noted the appeals court that was convened after the previous hearing had sentenced the man to six month’s imprisonment. Back in 2011, Roman Ostriakov a homeless refugee from Ukraine who walked into a Genoa supermarket and stole a few items of food.

Roman Ostriakov is said to have migrated from Ukraine to Italy, but life had been very difficult for him. He sleeps on the streets and begs for food, reported Anonymous.

While the store clerk’s attention was diverted, the homeless man stuffed two pieces of cheese and a packet of sausages in his pocket. He also picked up a few breadsticks and paid for them, but he hid the other stolen merchandise. However, unknown to Ostriakov, another customer was observing his moves and reported the theft to the store’s security official. Ostriakov was accosted while he attempted to leave the store. The store officials retrieved the stolen items and handed over the homeless man to the proper authorities. The case garnered a lot of publicity.

In 2015, Ostriakov was convicted of theft and sentenced to six months in jail, reported BBC News. The homeless man was also slapped with a fine of €100 ($114) for attempting to steal food worth €4.07 ($4.50).

When the news about the ruling reached the common public, outcry ensued. Many condemned the ruling, saying the court had purely considered the judicial aspects and completely neglected the humanitarian approach. People were of the strong opinion that Ostriakov need not be jailed since the stolen items were retrieved.

Many reasoned that since the stolen items were confiscated by officials of the supermarket, the homeless man shouldn’t need to spend time in a prison. Meanwhile, others urged the courts to consider the fact that the theft didn’t originate from criminal intent. Since the homeless man acted purely to stave off hunger, the incident shouldn’t be treated as a criminal act, but a desperate attempt to ward off starvation. The appeal also hinged on the legal fact that Ostriakov never left the premises of the shop with the stolen goods. Hence, he should have been charged with attempted theft, not theft, reported CNN.

On May 2, 2016, the Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that the theft of a small amount of food by the hungry and poor is not a crime in the country, reported the Independent.

While reading the ruling, the court noted, “The condition of the defendant, and the circumstances in which the seizure of merchandise took place, prove that he took possession of that small amount of food in the face of an immediate and essential need for nourishment, acting therefore in a state of necessity.”

It was a broad ruling that transcended the halls of law and thought about the poor and unfortunate, opined Italian newspaper La Stampa. Applauding the court’s ruling, the paper said that the court endorsed the view that the “right to survival prevails over property.”

[Photo by Katarzyna Bialasiewicz/Getty Images]

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