PEr years, Despite repeated numbers, stories and tragediescontinued to argue that it did not serve a specific crime: “The murder is enough,” it was said. Now that paradigm breaks. With The first unanimous yes of the Senate, Italy approaches the autonomous crime of femicide in its own criminal code. A rule that still awaits the final passage to the Chamber, but which already marks a historical passage. It is the official recognition that, killing a woman as a woman, is not any crime.
Crime of femicide: when violence has a precise motive
The new law, once approved definitively, will therefore introduce The crime of femicide with a formula that speaks clearly: kill a woman for hatred, domain, possession or because he said no to a relationship, It is a distinct and aggravated crime. It will no longer be a murder “like the others”, but an act that affects a person as belonging to a genre historically victimized. It is an awareness, not only legal but social.
Not only life imprisonment: what really changes
The introduction of the new autonomous crime brings with it a wider revision of the system. The penalties become much more rigid: so much, in the absence of mitigating, The rule is that it is punished with life imprisonment. However, even when there are mitigating circumstances, the sentences remain heavy: minimum 24 years, or 15 if the mitigating are prevalent. The message is clear: gender violence can no longer find shortcuts.
Until yesterday it was only “murder”. From today there is a precise definition for the violence that has the genre as a motive (Getty Immages)
Protection before it’s too late
The law does not just punish those who have already affected. Also try to prevent. The electronic bracelet enhanced is one of the most advertised news of the law. Its task is to promptly report the overcoming of the minimum distance, now extended to 1000 meters, and activate the police. If it really works, but everything to see. Many devices in use today, in fact, are obsoleteinaccurate or poorly monitored. And more than once it has already happened that the bracelet has not prevented yet another tragedy.
Domestic and digital violence: confiscated tools
Another novelty concerns The compulsory confiscation of the assets used for the crimes of mistreatmentincluding cell phones and digital devices. Because today, control and violence also pass (and more and more often) through technology. The rule directly affects who Use these tools to dominate, monitor or threaten.
More transparent processes, new guarantees for minors, witnesses and orphans
Those who report can be informed about each step of the process: requests for plea bargaining, release, benefits. It is a way to restore power to those who have lost it, to allow the victims to no longer feel in the dark about the fate of those who have injured them. The legislator also looked at the shadow areas. Minors over 14 years old They will be able to access the anti -violence centers without going to parents. The orphans of femicideeven born out of an official link, will finally be recognized and protected. And in the processes, who testifies as a victimwill no longer have to be exposed to languages and questions that harm their dignity.
Free patronage and prevention
To those who suffer attempted femicide, murder or serious injuries, Free legal aid extends, also in derogation from the income limits. A way to say that justice cannot be a luxury, especially when we have already survived violence. In addition to penalties, however, The law invests in prevention. Dedicated programs will arrive in schools, aimed at young people. Judges, health workers and law enforcement agents will form, in order to break down a culture that continues to normalize violence against women. Finally, every year, the Minister of Justice must submit a report on the implementation of the law: data, convictions, acquittals.
Crime of femicide, a promise to keep
In front of the numbers of women who died because they killed families, disappointed and ex lovers who do not accept the end, Good intentions are no longer enough . Serve a constant political will , a concrete response . Of course, one should not deceive that a rule alone is enough to stop the long trail of blood of which we are witnessed almost daily. But, the step forward is there, because it gives the right name to a phenomenon, makes it visible, distinguishes it . Because it gives tools, protection and limits . Because it recognizes that femicide is not just a black chronicle. But the symptom of a larger social male.
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