Imprisonment up to 16 years

Security Decree: sentences of up to 16 years for attacks on headmasters, teachers and train conductors

The final text of the Security Decree intervenes in the Criminal Code, supplementing Article 583-quater with two new protected categories: school managers and teachers and railway personnel. Two categories that join public officials, health officials and referees

by Lorenzo Pace

26 February 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

School and railway staff
Access to referees in protected categories
Aggravation
The case of the train conductor killed in Bologna
The other points of the decree: from 'anti-marriage' interventions to the knife crackdown. And here come the competitions

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Up to sixteen years imprisonment for anyone who assaults those working in schools or stations. That is, the same maximum penalty as in the case of grievous bodily harm against an officer, a judicial police officer or a public security officer. The final text of the Security Decree directly intervenes in the Criminal Code.

School and Railway Personnel

It does so by supplementing thearticle 583-quater with two new protected categories: they are school principals, and more generally any teacher within a school, and personnel who carry out, on board trains, activities of prevention and detection of infringements of the rules on the regularity and safety of rail transport services.

The entry of referees into the protected categories

Both join three other groups of workers.

In addition to the public officials already mentioned above, there is an aggravating circumstance for anyone who assaults personnel exercising a health care or socio-health care profession during 'the performance of or because of their duties or service'. As well as, it reads, 'to anyone who performs auxiliary care, health care or rescue activities'.

The third category was added last summer, with Decree No. 96 of 30 June 2025, which introduced enhanced criminal protection also for arbitrators, or in any case to 'other persons who ensure the technical regularity' of sporting events.

A necessity, according to Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, given that in football alone, at the end of the 2024/25 season, attacks amounted to more than 640, a sharp increase from the 520 or so in the previous year.

And it is a topic that has also come up again in recent days, with the wave of threats that swept over the referee Federico La Penna after the Serie A match between Inter and Juventus, in which a simulation by the Nerazzurri defender Alessandro Bastoni was not seen by the match director, who penalised the Bianconero Pierre Kalulu.

L’aggravante

In order to protect public officials, health workers, referees and now also school and railway personnel, heavy penalties are imposed.

They start from two to five years' imprisonment for 'grievous bodily harm'. They increase from four to ten years for 'serious injuries' and even more - from eight to sixteen years - for 'very serious injuries'.

The case of the train conductor killed in Bologna

The integration of the article in the Criminal Code has been a topic of reflection in recent weeks, so much so that the inclusion of railway personnel has been provided for in the final text (in the first draft only special protection for school workers appeared).

On the other hand, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Matteo Salvini has repeatedly stated that he wants to strengthen the staff inside the stations. Such as during question time at the Chamber of Deputies on 21 January, two weeks after the murder of Alessandro Ambrosio, a 34-year-old train conductor who was stabbed to death in a car park near Bologna station.

Studente accoltellato, Valditara: "Metal detector nelle scuole più a rischio"

The other points of the decree: from the 'anti-martial' interventions to the knife crackdown. And here come the competitions

There are also many incidents of violence in schools. Not only against headmasters and teachers. The case that made the drafting of the decree accelerate was the stabbing last 16 January, which led to the death of 18-year-old Youssef Abanoub in an institute in La Spezia. This is why there are two other pillars in the text, among its 33 articles: one on youth violence and in particular, as the League claims, on the 'maranza', and one on knives.

The first establishes penalties of up to one thousand euros for parents of minors who commit 'offences again after a warning'. But there is also theft by stealth extended to electronic means of payment, identity documents, computer equipment or mobile phones, and the introduction of measures against robberies committed by so-called gangs.

In particular, 10 to 25 years' imprisonment and fines of up to EUR 9,000 are envisaged for organised groups that attack banks, post offices, bank counters, vehicles or safekeeping premises using explosive devices, weapons or harmful chemical and bacteriological substances.

With regard to knives, the penalty is up to three years - in addition to administrative sanctions - for anyone who takes instruments with a sharp or pointed blade of more than eight centimetres out of their home without a justified reason.

And should minors be involved, the responsibility would fall on the parents (again with a fine of up to one thousand euro), with an eye also on those selling knives and similar objects, subject to a penalty if the customer is under eighteen years of age.

All measures that require more controls. And that is why the decree provides for two extraordinary competitions: in 2026 for 1,800 senior police inspector posts and in 2027 for 2,400.