"... who is 52 and has no permanent address ..."

Is this truly criminal? Desperation sounds more like it.

lets-do-the-numbers: YES, it is criminal to enter a home uninvited (its called TRESPASSING) and stealing someones personal property ](aka ]THEFT! Your question astonishes me.

@lets-do-the-numbers

You ask "is this truly criminal?" Yes, of course it's criminal. But I understand the intent of your question, which is "Surely, in the interest of social justice and reparations and 400 years of oppression, aren't we oppressors obligated to let people steal whatever they want?"

Berkeley is the only city I know of where the residents are so deranged by identity politics that they actually debate whether one should call the police when they see someone stealing from a home or a car.

Chesa Boudin, former DA of San Francisco, decided that as long as someone stole less than $950 in each instance, that was just fine. (Of course, it wasn't fine for the stores, which were forced to close their doors and layoff their employees, or for the customers)

Perhaps the increase in lawlessness over the past decade is partially due to the emergence of this extreme viewpoint and its instantiation by DAs like Boudin, Gascon in Los Angeles and Price in Alameda County Web Link Oakland now has the highest per capita auto theft rate in the country, up 36% this year, currently about 12,000 per year.

@ Barron Parker Too

Agree 100 percent. The justification for "theft" is terrifying. Not to mention, if the family at home had come in physical contact with this person brazenly wandering through their house stealing, who knows what would've happened. There were CHILDREN at home! Thankfully everyone in the family is safe and OK.

It's a very sad day, and reveals the root of crime skyrocketing, when people's comments (let's-do-the-numbers) are sympathy for the burglar ("desperation") instead of sympathy for those whose home was broken into while they were home with children! Their safety was put at high risk, personal property stolen, and the security of their home was violated. I'm sorry that happened to them. How awful.

Article says "a woman whom they don’t know enter their home through the front door, which was unlocked"

On page 4, paragraph 3 of universal guide to care and feeding of children says always lock the front door because that is how you keep your children from running into intruders who just turned the knob and walked in as if they had been invited.

@Barron Parker Too, @Forever Name: there's no sympathy for the burglar. There's no social justice. The question is whether tax dollars should be spent fending off this crime, or actually fighting something more insidious. I personally view the reported crime as a joke -- not police-worthy, not news-worthy, not even conversation-worthy. Tax dollars deserve better.

Crimes WERE committed.

@lets-do-the-numbers & Barron Parker Too

And so the question is...if a crime is committed, is the the perpetrator a criminal or a victim of social injustice?

All things considered, it could be a combination of both factors and considerations.

The next question...how should this incident be handled from the standpoint of ensuring public safety (law and order) VS social justice (racial factors, substance abuse and/or mental health issues)?

400 years of oppression is not a valid excuse for breaking into someone's residence but neither is simply ignoring the underlying conditions that give rise to various crimes and misdemeanors.