Coinciding with , the Italian Parliament approved this Tuesday a law that introduces the crime of femicide into the penal code and punishes it with life imprisonment. The project, promoted by (Brothers of Italy), had received the approval of the Senate and this Tuesday it was approved by a majority in the Chamber of Deputies, so it is now a firm law and will come into force after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Italian State.
Specifically, the new norm stipulates that anyone who kills a woman “as an act of hatred, discrimination, abuse of power, control over her, to limit her freedom or in relation to her refusal to establish or maintain an emotional relationship,” faces life imprisonment in the most serious cases. In cases where some mitigating circumstance can be recognized, the sentences range from 15 to 24 years in prison.
Until now, Italian legislation provided for a specific aggravating factor for murders that may fall within the definition of feminicide, that is, the intentional murder of a woman for the fact of being a woman – which is the case in Spain – but it was not considered a crime in itself, as it will be from now on.
In addition, the norm contemplates aggravating factors and greater punishments for crimes of abuse of women (known as revenge porn). The law responds to a series of cases of gender violence and murders of women at the hands of their partners or ex-partners, many very young, which have changed social consciousness in the transalpine country.
Last year, the National Institute of Statistics (Istat) recorded a feminicide every three days. There have been recent cases that have marked a before and after in Italy and have transformed the public and political debate. A series of murders of women have awakened. One of the cases is that of Giulia Cecchettin, a 23-year-old university student brutally murdered in 2023 by her 23-year-old ex-partner – sentenced to life imprisonment last year – when she was about to graduate from university.
to increase social pressure on authorities and political parties. The widespread public indignation allowed the debate on gender violence and its causes in the country’s patriarchal culture to stop being almost marginal and become a central issue.
“An important sign of political cohesion”
For Meloni, the new law approved with a large majority represents “an important sign of political cohesion against the barbarity of violence against women.” “We have doubled funding for anti-violence centers and shelters, promoted an emergency hotline and carried out innovative education and awareness activities,” the prime minister stressed. And he added: “These are concrete advances, but we will not stop here. We must continue to do much more every day.”
Although the center-left opposition has supported the law in Parliament, it has criticized that the government’s approach only addresses the criminal aspect of the problem, while failing to address underlying causes such as economic and cultural factors. Among other things, in the transalpine country the debate has intensified about the introduction of sexual and emotional education in classrooms as a way to prevent gender violence.
For the moment, in primary school students and plans to require explicit parental consent for any lesson that raises these topics in secondary schools. The conservative coalition considers that in this way they are protecting minors from what they call “ideological activism”, while the opposition describes this approach as “medieval”.
“Italy is one of the seven countries in Europe where sexual and relationship education is not yet mandatory in schools, and we are asking for it to be mandatory in all school years,” protested the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein. And he added: “Repression is not enough without prevention, which can only begin in schools.”
The norm, which has just been approved, was announced on March 8, International Women’s Day, and immediately sparked a debate among jurists, magistrates, lawyers, feminist movements and associations that deal with the fight against sexist violence against women.
The issue is complex. The most critical sectors put forward two main arguments: they consider that the new rule was not necessary and they doubt its effectiveness. Some experts warn that classifying feminicide as an autonomous crime does not guarantee a real reduction in these crimes. And they point out that there is a risk that the norm remains a symbolic gesture and that it is intended to be resolved solely through criminal law – focused on sanctions -, a problem that has deep cultural and social roots. Therefore, they must take into account the set of social, political, public and institutional practices that justify or favor sexist violence against women.
On the other hand, those who support the law maintain that the crime of femicide will allow public agencies to act with greater precision and effectiveness. They also believe that the measure will contribute to making visible the structural dimension of gender violence and will make it possible to promote social, cultural and institutional changes to overcome the numerous factors that still perpetuate violence against women.
At the same time, another legislative reform to introduce the concept of consent in cases of sexual violence is being debated in Italy and there is broad consensus on the issue. A few days ago, Meloni and Schlein reached an agreement to include this principle in the Penal Code. This is an unusual pact between opposing political forces in Italy.
