Giulia Cecchettin was 22 years old and almost graduated as a biomedical engineer from the university of Padua, northern Italy, when her ex-boyfriend Filippo Turetta ended her life with a knife. The brutal murder, on November 11, 2023, sent shockwaves through Italy. Italians took to the streets en masse to express their dismay.
The strong sense of public outrage also spurred Italian politics into action. On Tuesday evening, on the global day of action on violence against women, the Italian House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill that would make femicide a separate crime in criminal law, punishable by life in prison. The Senate had previously approved the text.
Almost one in three women between the ages of 16 and 75 in Italy will experience some form of physical or sexual violence during her lifetime. And on average every three days a woman is murdered in Italy, often by her husband, partner or ex. Awareness of this has increased noticeably in recent years. Newspapers always pay a lot of attention to new cases of femicide. Everyone in Italy now knows the red pumps as the symbol of resistance against gender-based violence.
Aggravating circumstances
With the new law, Italy now joins Cyprus, Malta and Croatia, the small one group of countries in Europe who have included femicide in their criminal code. Belgium passed a law in 2023 to help prevent and combat femicide, but its implementation is proving complex. In France, Spain and Portugal, murders of women are considered aggravating if they are based on gender or motivated by discrimination. Spain also established specialized courts to hear cases of violence against women. In the Netherlands, femicide is not a separate crime, but the government introduced an action plan against femicide last year, aimed at early warning signals by the police and the judiciary.
According to Gino Cecchettin, the father of the murdered student Giulia, the new law does not make much difference; After all, his daughter’s murderer was also sentenced to life in prison before this law, he said to the BBC. He finds it much more important to focus strongly on education, which is why he speaks to young people in schools throughout Italy.
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Italy draws a yellow card for violence against women
At the same time, Italy is already doing prevention, especially through a striking measure that is lacking in the rest of Europe. In Italy, anyone – a neighbor, a teacher, a friend – can report domestic violence to the police without an immediate complaint being filed. The police may then decide to officially give the person concerned a ‘yellow card’, as in football, and formally warn that he – or she – is being watched. This is an administrative measure that is not part of criminal proceedings. But this can happen if the ‘yellow card holder’ does not adjust his behavior. A large majority of the warned men understand the message and do not come into contact with the law afterwards.
Awareness campaigns
Italy is further committed to prevention and education, including awareness campaigns about the dangers of so-called rape drugs. From now on, it should become easier to determine that a victim was administered such a drug, so that it can be used as evidence in court.
The training of magistrates and healthcare providers is also being improved. This should prevent women from being asked hurtful questions that could further increase their trauma. In the past, victims of sexual or physical violence in Italy were often asked what clothes they were wearing at the time, sometimes making women feel guilty, as if they had provoked the violence.
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