Want to commit a crime? Try Italy.

Earlier this year, the Italian parliament approved the so-called "indulto" or pardon law. The law, supported by both government and opposition MPs, wipes three years off the sentences of people convicted of crimes before May 2nd, 2006. Some crimes have been excluded but not fraud, corruption and tax evasion.

Almost 25,000 convicted criminals have been freed. The result, critics claim, is a crime wave and a serious blow to fighting organized crime.

But the really interesting part is that the law applies not only to those convicted of an offense but also to those charged but not yet tried. Nonetheless, trials are continuing at great expense even though the judiciary has claimed over 90 % will be pointless because the normal sentence if convicted would be less than three years.

While the law was passed ostensibly to relieve Italy's overcrowded prison system, critics suggest other reasons. A former top prosecutor, Antonio di Pietro, claims it is really an "agreement between the government and opposition to resolve the murky affairs of people close to them." The people with murky affairs include the opposition leader and former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who faces trials for corruption and fraud. The sentences for these crimes would likely be less than three years which means, even if convicted, he would serve no time at all.

There must be a lot of smiling Mafiosi in Palermo these days.