Why do you make excuses for poverty being a reason to break society's rules? You suggest people who are poor get a more permissive set of rules? How about rich people?
Your individual inclination of being charitable isn't a policy for regulating or governing a society successfully.
I remember a Facebook acquaintance who decried someone charged with fare evasion on the subway, "because we're criminalizing being poor". What about the poor people who are paying their fare, obeying the law? Why are you forgiving the law breaker, and doing nothing for the law abider? Or actively showing them why following the rules is pointless?
Consistently enforcing rules benefits the least advantaged people in society the most.
And I agree with the commenter below that the reasoning on display in the court's opinion is really shady. You can be exempt from obeying law because of your circumstances or status? That's really workable? Who decides? What level of criminal act is justifiable for homeless people then? How about using the street as a public toilet? Are they exempt from that too because it's a biological imperative?
Your individual inclination of being charitable isn't a policy for regulating or governing a society successfully.
I remember a Facebook acquaintance who decried someone charged with fare evasion on the subway, "because we're criminalizing being poor". What about the poor people who are paying their fare, obeying the law? Why are you forgiving the law breaker, and doing nothing for the law abider? Or actively showing them why following the rules is pointless?
Consistently enforcing rules benefits the least advantaged people in society the most.
And I agree with the commenter below that the reasoning on display in the court's opinion is really shady. You can be exempt from obeying law because of your circumstances or status? That's really workable? Who decides? What level of criminal act is justifiable for homeless people then? How about using the street as a public toilet? Are they exempt from that too because it's a biological imperative?
This is full of holes.