Car theft, a bill provides for harsher penalties and confiscation of assets from the fence

Imagine a snake of cars, one after the other, over 600 kilometres long. Slightly more than the distance between Rome and Milan. These are the cars stolen in Italy in 2024, a good 136,000 vehicles. An increase of 3% over the previous year. And with a doubling of stolen commercial vehicles, even a 112% increase over 2023. The stolen goods are dismantled within 24 hours, with the parts sent immediately along the routes of Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It is an increasingly widespread criminal business that a bill now wants to combat by including heavier penalties for car theft. On Parlamento24 we spoke about this with the first signatory of the bill, Senator Dario Damiani of Forza Italia.

An ad hoc measure is necessary, explains Senator Damiani, 'for three reasons. First of all, because the phenomenon is a social scourge throughout Italy and particularly affects certain regions. The cruelty and unscrupulousness with which these thefts take place in broad daylight is also a problem of public order. Secondly, from an economic point of view too, not only because of the damage that families suffer, but also because insurance companies, in many regions and provinces, absolutely do not want to insure vehicles any more. And then there is also inequality. A vehicle bought and insured in a specific province where the number of thefts is high, has a different price than an insurance policy in another part of Italy. Thirdly, there is also environmental damage, because cars are dismantled and the carcasses of the cars are dumped in the countryside, also causing enormous damage to the environment'.

The text - in the Justice Committee, in redraft, which is an accelerated approval procedure - provides for the introduction of some aggravating circumstances. 'We are not adding an offence,' Damiani emphasises, 'but aggravating factors. In particular, they concern the penalties, which are harsher, so from 2 to 6 years. First of all, the certainty of punishment, because there are cases in which the perpetrators, immediately arrested, are unfortunately immediately released. There will be no more extenuating circumstances. Another very important aspect is the confiscation of assets for the receivers, who are the economic force behind this criminal chain'. Damiani hopes that, given the recrudescence of the phenomenon, maximum agreement can be found on the text, including among the opposition forces. And that proposals to improve the text will arrive in Parliament.