Homeless man jailed for a week for begging in Belfast

Homeless man jailed for a week for begging in Belfast

www.bbc.co.uk

Piotr Dabrowski, 58, could not pay the £80 imposed for the offence when he appeared at the city's Magistrates Court.

The district judge refused to give him a conditional discharge saying he had two other begging convictions and that it was clear they had not deterred him.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Here we go at second attempt in posting the article.

Obviously all those years at college and university paid off, i guess his fellow judges are definitely proud.

Strike one for the cerebral abuse of the common man. Simply furious and as some members seen my initial post i had obviously gone against the T&C so the post was removed so no harm was done. I guess at times the human aspect of me tends to flow into the post section (a rare thing), but getting back on track, i wonder what the oxygen count within his red blood cells was when he handed down the sentence.

Has humanity all but disappeared from thought or have i simply witnessed another poor judgment by judge. To think people assume that all gov operatives are on a power trip..!

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Glad to say, this particular link has found its way through the net to the so called and i use the term very loosely judge who has acted upon this homeless gentleman. Obviously you will be reading this part, so if you feel you would like to expand our conversation as to your wrongful call and obvious abuse of how you persevere things and how this particular "gentleman" who the news choose to brand as homeless rather than a "gentleman" i have left my office number to your appropriate people or you could perhaps interact within here, Either way, i dedicate this song and its lyrics to you.

Well hes no longer homeless and will get 3 meals a day and a warm bed.

Those judges must have been REPTILIANS, as this is not how we treat our fellow humans.

Shameful.

Originally posted by illuminnaughty
Well hes no longer homeless and will get 3 meals a day and a warm bed.

So i guess the solution is to jail as many as possible rather than trying to incorporate them back into society. Sorry that does not fit in my line of work or assessment of a threat to society. Perhaps if i dig a little deeper i may well find some dirt on that particular judge that should send him to the ideal place for 3 square meals amongst all those other gentleman and it wont be the fist time a judge has been found guilty on various counts.

A Dream Denied:The Criminalization of Homelessness in US Cities
www.nlchp.org...

Homes Not Handcuffs: A Report on the Criminalization of Homelessness in US Cities
www.nationalhomeless.org...

I kinda irks me that Americans tend only to talk about how badly other countries treat their homeless population and then more often than not turn around and justify abuse heaped on the homeless here in the States. The United States treats its homeless worse than almost any other country in the world and with the most widespread support from the lower middle classes and working classes (Those closest to homelessness themselves).

Nothing is more expensive than the cost of being homeless. Many, many many folks who are not homeless get a gut reaction of homeless are inhuman dogs. Trust me I was homeless, no one treated me differently until at some point homelessness came up and I admitted I was. watch people turn on you like you are a leper. especially when trying to get work.

reply to post by matthewgraybeal



Not to worry there are people out there like myself who regardless of what our 24/7 occupation is, we tend to look after those gentleman.

Originally posted by tristar

Originally posted by illuminnaughty
Well hes no longer homeless and will get 3 meals a day and a warm bed.

So i guess the solution is to jail as many as possible rather than trying to incorporate them back into society. Sorry that does not fit in my line of work or assessment of a threat to society. Perhaps if i dig a little deeper i may well find some dirt on that particular judge that should send him to the ideal place for 3 square meals amongst all those other gentleman and it wont be the fist time a judge has been found guilty on various counts.

So essentially in your mind, the man starving to death or freezing to death instead of three hots and a cot is the better alternative? Putting all rhetoric aside on the street this guy is going to die a whole hell of a lot faster than he would in a controlled environment. A controlled environment where he can do things like eat, sleep, shower, wear clean clothes, get a chance to talk to someone from a rehabilitative service, get a chance to possibly seek help for any kind of addiction he may have. It is quite possible that these things right here are why he was sentenced, assume that the judge was "omg evil overlord" about the ordeal does not suit progressive thinking.

Originally posted by Awolscout

Originally posted by tristar

Originally posted by illuminnaughty
Well hes no longer homeless and will get 3 meals a day and a warm bed.

So i guess the solution is to jail as many as possible rather than trying to incorporate them back into society. Sorry that does not fit in my line of work or assessment of a threat to society. Perhaps if i dig a little deeper i may well find some dirt on that particular judge that should send him to the ideal place for 3 square meals amongst all those other gentleman and it wont be the fist time a judge has been found guilty on various counts.

So essentially in your mind, the man starving to death or freezing to death instead of three hots and a cot is the better alternative? Putting all rhetoric aside on the street this guy is going to die a whole hell of a lot faster than he would in a controlled environment. A controlled environment where he can do things like eat, sleep, shower, wear clean clothes, get a chance to talk to someone from a rehabilitative service, get a chance to possibly seek help for any kind of addiction he may have. It is quite possible that these things right here are why he was sentenced, assume that the judge was "omg evil overlord" about the ordeal does not suit progressive thinking.

What evil overlord are you talking about. The so called Judge should have placed him into a work program and not thrown him in jail for 3 square meals and a hot shower. Is that your solution to the homeless ? . In my books, ALL THEY NEED IS AN OPPORTUNITY AND JAILS DO NOT OFFER THAT..!

excuse the caps.


It is not through choice, that people become homeless [although, if it is, then that 'choice' would be the last resort.] Neither is it through laziness [which is another fallacy that people like to spout about.]

In the city I work in on Extremely hot(over 95) days and extremely cold (under 20) days we have a rash of petty homeless crimes they do this to get in from the bad weather. I think it is sad that we have no homeless shelter anymore due to budgets.

Secure

reply to post by Awolscout


So, being sent to prison as punishment is now a good thing to do for people less fortunate than the rest.

I get it. Great concept.

We can do away with mental hospitals too, we can send them to prison, it's got three hots and a cot, and all the wonderful companionship of fellow citizens who may be rapists, murderers, violent scumbag psychopaths, but it's a good thing.

Hell, make not having a job a crime. We can keep all of society in prison and only let the elite few out to work.

I think I read about this sort of society somewhere....

Compassion for ones fellow human beings has died in the west..
Disgusting the judge sending the man to jail for being homeless and begging just so he could survive.. Whats next execution of all "undesirables" ..

Originally posted by tristar
What evil overlord are you talking about. The so called Judge should have placed him into a work program and not thrown him in jail for 3 square meals and a hot shower. Is that your solution to the homeless ? . In my books, ALL THEY NEED IS AN OPPORTUNITY AND JAILS DO NOT OFFER THAT..!

excuse the caps.


It is not through choice, that people become homeless [although, if it is, then that 'choice' would be the last resort.] Neither is it through laziness [which is another fallacy that people like to spout about.]

edit on 19-2-2011 by tristar because: (no reason given)

Trust me I know what its like to be homeless. It's not exactly the most fantastical spot in the world. But your basically saying black and white. When nearly everything in life is shades of grey. Could it have been handled better? Yes absolutely. Was it however handled poorly? Not a chance in hell. The man has 10 days to get three meals, sleep well, shower etc. everything I said earlier.

Not to mention, you negate whether or not this is a recurring problem with this guy. Has he been warned before? Has he gone to court before? Has he been told many many many times over that its not an okay area to do this in? I don't believe that panhandling should be illegal anywhere, however it is. Negating the fact of whether I agree with circumstances or not and going with what seems to be an implication of a black and white only situation, then he was in fact panhandling in an area where that wasn't allowed. Hell for all we know that area could carry a minimum penalty, your assuming that the judge was cold hearted about this, when in their mind for all we know they were doing all they could think of to help this man.

And on a side note of homelessness, I've been there, I've seen what homeless folk are and are not. And it's not all rainbows and ponies. It's not a matter of oh he lost his job his house all at the same time so he must be the victim, for all we know he was high out of his mind at the time. Don't even try to tell me thats just an uneducated view, try sleeping at a shelter with a bunk mate thats coked out beyond belief.

Your arguing that their are work programs and shelters, hell I even go one further half-way homes, mental institutions, catholic work homes etc. Yes these all exist, but again how do you know that this guy didn't already do all these things and continue a downward spiral?

Originally posted by badw0lf
reply to post by Awolscout

 

So, being sent to prison as punishment is now a good thing to do for people less fortunate than the rest.

I get it. Great concept.

We can do away with mental hospitals too, we can send them to prison, it's got three hots and a cot, and all the wonderful companionship of fellow citizens who may be rapists, murderers, violent scumbag psychopaths, but it's a good thing.

Hell, make not having a job a crime. We can keep all of society in prison and only let the elite few out to work.

I think I read about this sort of society somewhere....

Again, your all taking this the exact wrong way to take a news piece like this.

There is no statement of the mans history, no statement of his condition at the time of the arrest etc.

You keep assuming that its some evil entity trying to keep the little man down, to keep the less fortunate man away from being able to improve.

A man is arrested for stealing a chicken, okay cool. Wait why did he steal the chicken? Was he sober when he stole the chicken? Did he cause any property damage when he stole the chicken? These are all normal questions yet all of you are just looking at the statement, a man stole a chicken.

And of course I don't think that any of what you said is a good idea, those are terrible things. But you can't be at an extreme and be able to operate properly in a society, just as you can't attempt to control and punish for things that are non-crimes, I.E. pan-handling, you can't go to the other extreme and say "How dare they!" without knowing every aspect.

reply to post by Awolscout


What i am pointing out, is that the so called educated with his cerebral cortex thought it prudent to lock him up instead of taking avenues that do exist within the system regardless of nation. But i guess its far easier to say "guilty" but requires balls of steel to say not guilty and place ones weight behind any person in order for him or her to gain that extra push in life to re-establish them into society. I guess i should point that in the past and will continue to do so in the future and due to the people within my reach i have and do help individuals who are simply down on their luck in life. All people require even you and myself and they guy down the road, is a small push in life, it doesn't cost much, perhaps a simple cell call charge and thats its.