Until now, Italian criminal law only recognized the aggravated murder of a woman if the perpetrator was her husband or a member of his family.
A new advance in transalpine law. Italian lawmakers voted unanimously on Tuesday in favor of a bill that would insert into Italy’s penal code the specific crime of femicide, punishable by life in prison.
The text, which was the result of a government initiative and was approved by the Senate in July, received 237 votes in favor and no votes against. The new article of the Criminal Code introduced by this law introduces certain categories of murder “based on the characteristics of the victim”, we can read in the bill’s presentation file.
“Article 577 bis, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code (…) is punishable by acts of life imprisonment intended to cause the death of a woman, through discrimination, hatred or violence, as well as through acts of control, possession or domination of the victim because of her gender, or murder committed in connection with the woman’s refusal to establish or maintain an emotional relationship, or as an attack on her individual freedom,” the document added.
“Political cohesion”
Until now, Italian criminal law regulated aggravating circumstances in the event of the murder of a woman, but only if the perpetrator was married or related to the victim.
“I am pleased with the unanimous passage of the government’s bill in Parliament introducing the crime of femicide. This is an important sign of political cohesion against barbarism and violence against women,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed in a video message, saying the law was an “additional instrument” to “defend the freedom and dignity of every woman.”
According to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (Istat) on this International Day against Violence Against Women, of the 327 murder cases recorded in 2024 in Italy, 116 were female victims, a stable figure compared to 2023. In 92.2% of cases, they were killed by men.
