Those who are found in court to be guilty of this offence — whether by a judge or by pleading guilty themselves — will have a criminal record as a result, potentially impacting their employment prospects, among other things, for the rest of their lives.
"Unfortunately, some people, when they're self represented, end up pleading guilty at an early time and end up with a record when they don't have to," he said on Thursday, noting that many"The courts are backlogged, and they prioritise cases, and there relaly are a lot of important cases in the system," said Alfano."Someone stealing a carton of eggs... they're doing it out of necessity. They don't deserve a record.
With help from someone like Alfonso or a member of his team, the shoplifter may be offered options that don't involve walking away with a record, such as participating in volunteer work, undergoing therapy, donating to charity or writing a letter of apology.
supporting criminal behavior is a crime in itself
Ridiculous!! This is why crime in Toronto is not going to end, thanks to ridiculous liberal policies! In a country with so many opportunities, the only option must be to working not stealing! Toronto Topoli cdnpoli
Very stupid precedent to set
Eat the rich. All day. Every day.
People stealing food do so out of desperation, you need it to survive. With the insane food prices some people really don't have a choice. Big grocery stores are making record profits and they can afford to lower their prices, but they'll do anything for profits at your expense.
Based
Anarchy
You shouldn’t be going to jail for stealing food if you are in dire need however there would have to be alternative methods of punishment.
What? 😡
With all the food banks being abused I wouldn’t be surprised if group stealing became a thing - people need to eat.
It's not like there's food banks and kitchens available for the needs of those who may not be able to afford to pay for groceries. Encourage criminal behavior...yeah, that's the ticket
NBXRSH great initiative
Yes great, let's encourage criminal behavior