The new feminicide crime arrives: what the text provides for, from life imprisonment to confiscation of property
Now the text goes to the Chamber of Deputies for the final go-ahead
5' min read
Key points
- The new crime of feminicide
- When the sentence discount is triggered
- The confiscation of assets
- The Guardasigilli's report to Parliament
- Jurisdiction over proceedings for crimes against family members and cohabitants
- The right of the offended person to be informed about the plea agreement
- Enhanced electronic bracelet: minimum distance to the offended person at 1000 metres
- New rules for witness examination
- Restrictive intervention on prison benefits
- Awareness-raising campaigns and educational initiatives in schools
- Access of child victims to anti-violence centres
- Application for legal aid
5' min read
First green light in the Senate for the bill introducing the crime of feminicide in Italy. Now the text, unanimously approved in Palazzo Madama, passes to the Chamber of Deputies for the final green light.
The new crime of feminicide
."Whoever causes the death of a woman when the act is committed as an act of hatred or discrimination or prevarication or as an act of control or possession or domination as a woman, or in relation to the woman's refusal to establish or maintain an affective relationship or as an act of restriction of her individual freedoms shall be punished by life imprisonment". So says the new Article 577-bis, introduced into the Penal Code by the bill presented by the Ministers for Justice, the Interior, the Family and Institutional Reforms and amended during the examination in the Senate Justice Committee. Enhanced bracelets, with a minimum distance of 1,000 metres from the victim, confiscation of goods used for ill-treatment against family members and cohabitants, restrictive intervention on prison benefits for offenders. Admission to legal aid is also extended. Awareness-raising campaigns
When the sentence discount is triggered
.Where only one mitigating circumstance applies or where a mitigating circumstance concurs with aggravating circumstances (and the mitigating circumstance is prevalent), the sentence may not be less than 24 years. When there are several mitigating circumstances or when several mitigating circumstances concur with aggravating circumstances, but the mitigating circumstances prevail, the sentence cannot be less than 15 years. The text also provides that the punishment is increased by a third when 'the act is committed as an act of hatred or discrimination or prevarication or as an act of control or possession or domination as a woman, or in relation to the woman's refusal to establish or maintain an affective relationship or as an act of restriction of her individual freedoms'.
The confiscation of assets
.In the course of parliamentary scrutiny, a new Article 572-bis of the Penal Code was introduced into the text, which provides for the mandatory confiscation of property, including computer or telematic tools or mobile phones, found to have been used in the commission of the offence of 'ill-treatment against family members and cohabitants' where there has been a conviction or the application of the penalty at the request of the parties.
The Guardasigilli's report to the Houses
.Also in the course of parliamentary scrutiny was the annual submission to the Houses of Parliament of a report by the Minister of Justice on the state of implementation of the regulations on feminicide and combating violence against women. A report to be submitted by 30 June each year. It provides for the precise indication of convictions and acquittals for the crime of feminicide and murder, broken down by gender and aggravating circumstances.
