You make a mess on the street? Then clean the gardens. For three months, free, and with a broom in hand.

The story of Tiziano, who had a bad habit of throwing out garbage bins, is exemplary. Instead of the usual fine, perhaps never paid, and a lengthy trial, the boy will take on the role of park cleaner. In Rome's filthy city.

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How to erase a criminal conviction

HOW TO ERASE A CRIMINAL CONVICTION

Ultimately, it's just a prank, considering the protagonist's age. Tiziano C., 19, had a bad habit of throwing out garbage cans in the Monte Sacro neighborhood of Rome, considered the dirtiest capital in Europe. This was due to decades of mismanagement of public services, but also to the notoriously bad and uncivilized habits of many of its residents.

Tiziano was caught red-handed, and more than a fine (150 euros) for graffiti, if and when he pays it, he risks a trial, a conviction, and a tainted criminal record, a very serious thing for a young man. Instead, thanks to the reasonableness of a good magistrate, the preliminary hearing judge Livio Sabatini, and a lawyer who doesn't just try to prolong the proceedings to inflate the fees, Andrea Forte, nineteen-year-old Tiziano has agreed an alternative punishment compared to the many criminal risks he ran. He will go to work, for free of course, for three months at the Garden Service of the 1st Municipality of Rome and in particular will take care of the greenery of Villa Borghese, the largest urban park in Europe sometimes reduced to a landfill, and of the area of gardens of Colle Oppio.

ALSO READ: Defending urban greenery is up to us. Let's clean our streets and isolate vandals (photo)

THE STORY OF TITIAN

Equipped with a broom and a brush, Tiziano will have to collect the papers that he, stupidly, threw in the air from a dumpster, recover the leaves Death, tree trimming, and whitewashing a few dirty walls. All these are valuable, useful jobs, or small jobs, that foster lifestyles inspired by the idea of ​​"Do Not Waste." First and foremost, urban greenery, the closest environment to our community life: historic houses parks, gardens, streets.

TO KNOW MORE: It Takes Just a Little: The Simplest Ways to Protect Green Spaces and Clean Air for Everyone. The story in this article book

CANCELLATION OF CRIMES

But the most convincing thing about this wise conciliation before a judge is the fact that another waste has been avoided, In time and resources of the justice machine (for a long process anyway, if you only consider that the crime committed by Tiziano dates back to 2015), and also of finesYes, going to clean a park for three months after you've littered a street is a much more effective punishment than a €150 fine and a criminal record for what may just be a prank. There's always a proportion between the guilt, the crime, the harm done to the community, and the sentence the guilty party must serve: and this way the proportion holds. Without closing everything down "with biscuits and wine," that is, with the usual Italian impunity, and without persecuting a young man who committed a serious act, perhaps with the unawareness of a drunken youth on a Saturday night. Finally, we at Non sprecare repeat it almost obsessively: il Verde, the environment, sustainability, it's usAll of us. And everyone can contribute, even better if they've been on the other side of the fence, with those who not only fail to protect the parks but risk ruining them.

In the cover image: Villa Borghese (Rome)

HOW WE CAN PROTECT OUR GREEN SPACE, EVERY DAY:

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