Anti-stalking bracelets, in two years the number has grown sixfold

Jessica Stapazzollo Custodio de Lima, killed in October by her ex-partner, Douglas Reis Pedroso. Tiziana Vinci (August 2025), Celeste Palmieri and Camelia Ion (October 2024), Roua Nabi (September 2024), Concetta Marruocco (October 2023) are all women victims of feminicide in Italy, killed by their partners or ex-partners, despite the fact that the latter wore or should have worn an electronic bracelet. Vicissitudes that have obviously turned the spotlight on the functioning of electronic anti-stalking devices: discussions are currently under way between the supplier company Fastweb and the institutions. The issue is that the use of anti-stalking devices has grown exponentially in two years: from 1000 in November 2023, to over 6000 in October 2025.

Law 168 of 2023 laying down 'provisions for combating violence against women and domestic violence' - which came into force in December 2023 after the feminicides of Giulia Cecchettin and Giulia Tramontano - has in fact extended the scope of application of electronic bracelets with anti-stalking functions, leading to a significant increase in requests for activation, but without increasing the resources to manage these devices, as magistrates often point out.

In November 2023 there were 1018 active devices in Italy for code red offences (out of 5695 total), now, according to end-October data from the Ministry of the Interior, there are 6,700, up from 5,929 in August (out of 12,192 total). The contract with Fastweb provides for the activation of an average of 1,000 electronic bracelets per month, with peaks of up to 1,200.

"Over the years, Fastweb has always duly executed all activation requests received, but as a result of changes in the legislative framework, activation requests have increased exponentially, leading to the rapid and systematic saturation of the current contractual thresholds and making it impossible to meet all requirements, despite the fact that Fastweb has constantly activated more than 1,200 devices per month over the past few months in a spirit of maximum cooperation," the company has explained several times.

The director of the territorial control service of the state police department, Francesca Fava, explained during the hearing in the feminicide commission on 29 October that the major criticalities in the use of electronic devices are delays in the enforcement of judicial authority orders, excessive alarms arriving at the operation rooms and the difficulties in applying more than 1,200 devices monthly.